Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction (CSLI Lecture Notes)

Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction by Ivan A. Sag, Thomas Wasow, and Emily M. Bender is a comprehensive textbook that provides a step-by-step introduction to English syntax. The authors focus on developing precisely formulated grammars whose predictions can be directly tested, with an emphasis on integrating syntactic hypotheses with matters of semantic analysis. The book covers core areas of English syntax from the last quarter century, including complementation, control, raising constructions, passives, and long distance dependency constructions. It also includes extensive problem sets drawing from a variety of languages, which help to illustrate key concepts and provide practical experience for readers. This second edition has been thoroughly reworked to include revised and extended problem sets, updated analyses, additional examples, and more detailed exposition throughout. Suitable for students and researchers in linguistics, this textbook presents a theoretical perspective on language processing within the context of current models. Its constraint-based, lexicalist grammatical architecture has already demonstrated practical value in computer language processing applications.