An Introduction to Syntax

by Robert D. Van Valin Jr.

This comprehensive textbook is an engaging introduction to syntax. Clearly organized and accessible, it provides students with a thorough grounding in the analysis of syntactic structure using data from a typologically wide variety of languages. The book guides students through the basic concepts involved in syntactic analysis and goes on to prepare them for further work in any syntactic theory, using examples from a range of phenomena in human languages. It also includes a chapter on theories of syntax. Each chapter includes generous exercises and recommendations for further study. The emphasis on languages and data sets this book apart from other introductions to syntax. This book is an essential text for undergraduate and graduate students on courses devoted to the study of syntax. It will also be very valuable to students in other cognitive science fields who are interested in language.

Genres: Linguistics, Reference, Language

256 pages, ebook

First published April 25, 1997

Reviews

[Achraf Ismaili · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it jumps from simplicity to complexity in some (very few) occasions, it is a very good start for anyone interested in syntax.

[Kourosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

There might be a better 'introduction to syntax'-type book out there, but if there is, I haven't read it.

In combination with "A Dictionary of Grammatical Terms in Linguistics" (Trask, 1996) (which I also think is great), this book is excellent for the following reasons (in no particular order):
1: It neatly breaks down syntactic analysis into two views (dependency vs., constituency), but not without forewarning (and later explaining how) they aren't exactly so easily separable.
2: It offers simple methods for defining all the different 'types of words' you could come across, like lexical categories, constituent phrases and grammatical relations. Lots of introductory syntax books do this, but here Van Valin makes it concise, easy to follow, and (almost) self-contained (it is a bit hazy in parts - for example, I'm still not really sure what syntagmatic vs., paradigmatic relation(ship)s are)?
3: It ends you up in a position (at least feeling) ready to take on tougher texts. The pages are all pretty dense, and the final chapter seems to offer really good mini-introductions to various theories and ideas, which are all either currently relevant or have been important in the build-up to the present state of research.

[Adam Pechtel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this "Introduction" to not be clearly organized. For an introductory student such as myself, I would have expected a more contextual presentation of the ideas in Chs. 2-5 as well as fluid transitions between ideas. Instead, I found myself reading lists of examples demonstrating a point, the significance of which was lost on me. However, Ch. 6 did provide a comparison among contemporary theories of syntax, which I found to be illuminating.

[Era Bawarti · Rating 3 out of 5]

buku pelajaranku, that's all...