Lexical-Functional Grammar: An Introduction

Description

A clear introduction to lexical-functional grammar (LFG), this outstanding textbook sets out a formal approach to the study of language using a step-by-step approach and rich language data. Data from English and a range of other languages is used to illustrate the main concepts, allowing those students not accustomed to working with cross-linguistic data to familiarize themselves with the theory, while also enabling those interested in how the theory can account for more challenging data sets to extend their learning. Exercises ranging from simple technical questions to analyses of a data set, as well as a further resources section with a literature review complete each chapter. The book aims to equip readers with the skills to analyze new data sets and to begin to engage with the primary LFG literature.

Kersti Boerjars is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Manchester and Professor (II) of Nordic Languages at Oslo University. Her current research focuses on syntactic description and analysis and on linguistic change. She has taught courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels on English grammar, syntactic theory and diachronic linguistics. She has held grants to study linguistic change in Pennsylvania German (ESRC) and for a study of the English possessive (AHRC). She is editor of the Journal of Linguistics and co-author (with Kate Burridge) of Introducing English Grammar (2010). Rachel Nordlinger is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, Australia, Director of the Research Unit for Indigenous Language and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. She completed her Ph.D. in Linguistics at Stanford University in 1997. Nordlinger's research centres around the description and documentation of Australia's Indigenous languages, and their implications for syntactic and morphological theory, working within the framework of lexical-functional grammar. Louisa Sadler is professor of Linguistics at the University of Essex, where she has taught courses at graduate and undergraduate level on syntactic theory (lexical-functional grammar - LFG and Head-driven phrase structure grammar - HPSG), the description of English, semantics, argument structure, morphology, PROLOG and computational linguistics. She has been involved in a number of research projects using LFG with a number of languages, including Welsh, Archi and Portuguese. Her current research interests centre on LFG, syntax and its interfaces to morphology and semantics and the grammatical description of the Arabic vernaculars, including Maltese. She currently holds a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for research on Arabic syntax.

'This lucid and entertainingly written textbook is an excellent introduction to the theory of Lexical Functional Grammar. It presents the fundamentals of the theory in a way that is both accessible for beginners and engaging for linguists who are familiar with other frameworks.' Mary Dalrymple, University of Oxford '... a clear and comprehensive introduction both to syntax and to the LFG framework, covering many core phenomena that have been central to syntactic analysis. Readers are skilfully guided through an impressive range of data reflecting the wide spectrum of languages.' Peter Sells, University of York 'Developed by three notable linguists who are also gifted teachers, the book distinguishes itself by its accessibility, its rich coverage of morphology and f-structure, and its up-to-date references to current research in lexical-functional grammar.' Joan Bresnan, Stanford University, California 'This is an ideal introduction to formal syntax and can also be used by practising syntacticians to familiarise themselves with the research developed within the framework of lexical-functional grammar.' Alex Alsina, University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona