Core Syntax: A Minimalist Approach

Oxford Core Linguistics

by David Adger

This is an introduction to the structure of sentences in human languages. It assumes no prior knowledge of linguistic theory and little of elementary grammar. It will suit students coming to syntactic theory for the first time either as graduates or undergraduates. It will also be useful for those in fields such as computational science, artificial intelligence, or cognitive psychology who need a sound knowledge of current syntactic theory.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Language, Textbooks

407 pages, Paperback

Published May 29, 2003

Reviews

[Mikhael Hayes]

Some stuff tracks. Some doesn’t. Adger makes a lot of stuff clear/accessible on the surface, but enough poking around will probably reveal minimalism isn’t enough to model language adequately.

[AJ]

Core Syntax by David Adger is an interesting book, especially, for those who lack a solid background in syntax theory. It is based on the minimalist approach that is proposed by Noam Chomsky. There are three basic notions on which the author based his Core Syntax: theory, analysis, and data. Therefore, he presents these three significant elements lucidly throughout his textbook.

This textbook has ten chapters. In the first chapter, the author introduces some main concepts of linguistics. Then, in the second chapter, he discusses the requirement of feature checking on the basis of the notions of interpretable and uninterpretable. The third chapter includes the semantic aspect and its role in syntax. The fourth chapter has introduced three main areas: the structure of phrases, the significance of c-command, ditransitivity, and the syntactic architecture of the system. In the fifth chapter, the author provides theories of functional categories and describes empirically how they represent basic units of sentences; he includes examples from other languages, mainly French and German. Also, this chapter has covered such areas as head-movement and do-support. In chapter six, the author shows how almost the same theories can be applied to noun phrases which comprise primarily subjects and objects. Again, in chapter seven the author argues that functional categories are significant in relation to subjects and objects. However, the main focus is on the determiner phrase (DP), while chapter 8 is reserved for the complementizer phrases (CP). Approaching the end of the textbook, the notion of wh-movement is discussed in chapter 9. Finally, in chapter 10, the author concludes with the subject of locality and phases or islands.

All in all, this textbook is recommended for students who do not have a deep background in syntax. I find some exercises confusing because some of them have a number of typos.

[Verena]

This book was taught to me in my undergraduate linguistics class and as far as my interest in syntax goes it was way to much to even comprehend. I can only tell from my experience but it is definitely not suited for beginners in this field of studies. There are a lot of examples from sometimes rather exotic languages and the variety of contradictions was confusing. At least it contains summaries of every chapter to convey the general ideas. If studied in detail and with due diligence, the book can really give an extensive amount of information about the minimalist approach.

[Achraf Ismaili]

While reading the first three chapters of the book, I disagreed with the majority of reviews that said the book is not for beginners. However, from chapter four on, I can really see where this comes from. In addition, the author presents rather new ways to look at things, such as the position of adjuncts and the shaping of x-bar structure for instance. However, the book is rich though it sometimes goes against the stream and leaves loose ends. But, definitely, it is not for beginners.

[Ghada]

I wouldn't be really fair if I tried to judge it as good or bad, as we were required to read it before we were fully introduced to the basic syntactic theories. So, it seemed really dense, with so many technical terms introduced. I would not recommend it to any beginner in syntax. It is rather oriented towards students of an advanced level. Yet, it still gave me some useful new information.

[Othman]

This is actually a textbook. it's good. it explains syntax under minimalism

[Ray]

This book might be too ambitious for most people: it tries to teach the basics of syntax and theory-building all at once, and it wasn't entirely successful with either. Adger does not always explain concepts adequately or clearly, and I found it much more difficult to learn the material without a professor to explain exactly what was going on.

[Elizabeth Brightman]

Adding this book to my "read books" was a must. I had to read the whole book for my Theory of Grammar class, I've invested plenty of hours reading each chapter over and over again, draw syntax trees as crazy, spent hours trying to solve the exercises in the end of each chapter, having every time the fear I might have not understood at all until I was able to compare with my classmates. They were of course as insecure and doubtful as me.
Syntactic features are very arbitrary wtf!

So the book gave me moments where I felt like I understood and I was even smart and moments where I had to read a simple phrase over and over.
It is nothing agains the book but maybe I just had not the best professor, and yet how something so complicated can be somehow interesting and fun.
With that been said, I guess I am ready to take the subject again because naturally I did not approve it.

[Gabi]

I had to read this book for my undergraduate course in Syntax. I don't think the book is that bad, but you have to read it very carefully, especially when English is not your native language and not even your strong language. The structure is quite good, but what I didn't like, was that there was usually a system or a theory introduced that was incorrect or not applicable in some way. And then the correct one. Sometimes I was very confused by it and asked what was the best way to explain the stuff. The exercises in the back of the chapters were useful, but I wish there was some additional material so I could check my answers.

[soph]

Including this because I genuinely did read it cover to cover for my module. not the most accessible textbook for a beginners syntax module but Adger does do a good job at making certain points really explicit and easy to digest, it's just a shame that isn't consistent across each chapter and some parts get a bit unclear.

[Maryam]

کامل و روشن

[Ted Waite]

no cause why did he write it like that?

[finki]

david hat Sachen mit mir gemacht...

[Aleja]

FINALLY FREE! worst experience of my fucking life

[recht]

Made me cry.

[Kiana Gardner]

apparently my prof also used this in uni so

[Ash]

There is a general theme for linguistics tracts on library cataloguing sites and book-related social media: bad reviews unless it's pop-science drivel full of bad takes, and worse reviews if it mentions syntax. (And isn't the absolute PoS that is The Language Instinct, for some reason.)

While Adger might be too ambitious for his own good in this - it is challenging at points without help for beginners -, and I might be inclined in other directions to his views theoretically, this book is excellent. Any undergrad who paid attention in syntax 101 should be able to help you when you are stuck.

[André]

I really dislike Syntax and this book didn't change my attitude. It wasn't that badly written, but I don't think it was particularly easy either... I'd also like to add that I own this book as a copy, not as the book itself.

[People say my name should be Jeff]

Great intro to Minimalism.

[Nathan Glenn]

Great content, but easy to get lost. This will definitely require 3-10 reads to be well understood by me.

[L.D.]

A little harder of read for just a simple review, however I found it interesting and helpful.

[Sara]

It's not the worst textbook I've had for linguistics, and I've had some bad ones.

[Litborne]

Good book to start learning about generative grammar. Only for starters; not professionals.

[Malayan Horned Frog]

I have not crashed out to a textbook this hard ever

[Xiaozhou Zhang]

A good introduction to Minimalism, but confusing now and then.