Understanding Minimalism

Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics

by Norbert Hornstein, Jairo Nunes, Kleanthes K. Grohmann

Understanding Minimalism, first published in 2005, is an introduction to the Minimalist Program - the model of syntactic theory within generative linguistics. Accessibly written, it presents the basic principles and techniques of the minimalist program, looking firstly at analyses within Government and Binding Theory (the Minimalist Program's predecessor), and gradually introducing minimalist alternatives. Minimalist models of grammar are presented in a step-by-step fashion, and the ways in which they contrast with GB analyses are clearly explained. Spanning a decade of minimalist thinking, this textbook will enable students to develop a feel for the sorts of questions and problems that minimalism invites, and to master the techniques of minimalist analysis. Over 100 exercises are provided, encouraging them to put these skills into practice. Understanding Minimalism will be an invaluable text for intermediate and advanced students of syntactic theory, and will set a solid foundation for further study and research within Chomsky's minimalist framework.

Genres: Linguistics, Textbooks, School

424 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2005

Reviews

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned that minimalism is not just a project for understanding how language works, but also a project for melting my brain.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly straightforward, entertaining read for a textbook. The issue of course, is whether or not you believe a word of it.

[Mahmoud · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to learn about minimalist syntax, this is *the book.* Crucial here is the authors' decision to use the Government-and-Binding era of the generative enterprise as a foil against which they accentuate the unique character of Minimalism. Due to that, the book not only introduces the new framework, but also shows the reader how generative syntax evolved over the years to reach its current state.

Example: Case was originally seen to be "assigned" via movement to certain non-uniform configurations, then it was analyzed as being "checked" via movement to special functional projections (AgrS, AgrO...etc), either overtly or covertly. Then, these functional projections and covert movement were both abandoned, and now case was seen as "checked" via movement of a nominal's formal case feature to a case-checking head, and, if the morphology dictates so, the nominal itself is pied-piped to a Spec position of that case-checking head. Finally, case is now seen as a reflex of a mutual agreement relationship between the nominal and a local head with a person feature. It is "specified" as opposed to "assigned" or "checked." It happens in situ: the movement of the nominal itself may take place to check a strong D/N feature.

[Yakoushi · Rating 4 out of 5]

O que escrevi do «Teoria da Gramática» do Raposo pode-se igualmente aplicar aqui, com as diferenças de que este livro constituiu minha introducção ao minimalismo e que o estilo do texto é não tanto elegante quanto enleante, quando nota-se que uma dada secção foi redigida pelo Hornstein, que tem uma das prosas mais gostosas que já vi no campo da Linguística. O glossário de definições ao fim do livro é utilíssimo; e o capítulo sobre a Teoria da Ligação é de enorme suporte à leitura do «A minimalist program for linguistic theory», do próprio Chomsky, na parte em que este reanalisa o fenômeno da reconstrucção — justamente uma das, se não a porção mais complexa do texto. Os exercícios e indicações bibliográficas são uma fonte ainda preciosa de conteúdo sobre o minimalismo pré-«Three factors in language design». Por certo bem mais que um «mero» manual.

[pantelis xatzoudis · Rating 4 out of 5]

"κουλ θείος που κάθεται με τη νεολαία" ass βιβλίο

[Brian Beakley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice clear survey. Walks the reader through both the evidence for Government and Binding theory, and how (and why) this is re-analyzed in Minimalism.