Structure in Language: A Dynamic Perspective (Routledge Studies in Linguistics) - Hardcover

Berg, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415991358 ISBN 13: 9780415991353

Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

This book examines one of the allegedly unique features of human language: structure sensitivity. Its point of departure is the distinction between content and structural units, which are defined in psycholinguistic terms. The focus of the book is on structural representations, in particular their hierarchicalness and their branching direction. Structural representations reach variable levels of activation and are therefore gradient in nature. Their variable strength is claimed to account for numerous effects including differences between individual analytical levels, differences between languages as well as pathways of language acquisition and breakdown. English is found to be consistent in its branching direction and to have evolved its branching direction in line with the cross-level harmony constraint. Structure sensitivity is argued to be highly variable both within and across languages and consequently an unlikely candidate for a defining property of human language.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Berg is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and is the author of Language Structure and Change.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415991358
• ISBN 13: 9780415991353
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408