Formal Grammar

This volume draws together fourteen previously published papers which explore the nature of mental grammar through a formal, generative approach. The book begins by outlining the development of formal grammar in the last fifty years, with a particular focus on the work of Noam Chomsky, and moves into an examination of a diverse set of phenomena in various languages that shed light on theory and model construction. Many of the papers focus on comparisons between English and Norwegian, highlighting the importance of comparative approaches to the study of language. With a comprehensive collection of papers that demonstrate the richness of formal approaches, this volume is key reading for students and scholars interested in the study of grammar.

Terje Lohndal is Professor of English linguistics at NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, where he also serves as Deputy Head of Research in the Department of Language and Literature. Additionally, he holds an Adjunct Professorship in the Department of Language and Culture at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø.

Introduction Part A: Transformational constraints 1 Brief Overview of the History of Generative Grammar 2 Noam Chomsky: A selected annotated bibliography 3 Comp-t Effects: Variation in the Position and Features of C 4 Freezing Effects and Objects 5 Medial-wh Phenomena, Parallel Movement, and Parameters 6 Sentential subjects in English and Norwegian 7 Be careful how you use the left periphery Part B: The syntax-semantics interface 8 Negative Concord and (Multiple) Agree: A Case Study of West Flemish 9 Medial adjunct PPs in English: Implications for the syntax of sentential negation 10 Neodavidsonianism in semantics and syntax 11 Interrogatives, Instructions, and I-languages: An I-Semantics for Questions Part C: Multilingualism and formal grammar 12 Generative grammar and language mixing 13 Language mixing and exoskeletal theory: A case study of word-internal mixing in American Norwegian 14 Grammatical Gender in American Norwegian Heritage Language: Stability or attrition?