Exploring Interfaces

A collection of original studies that explore how grammatical rules interact with other language-related areas, such as word meanings, meaning of idioms and sentences, and the different possible orders in which sentences are articulated. Ideal reading for scholars and advanced students in formal and theoretical linguistics.

Models of theoretical linguistics now emphasize the meeting points, or interfaces, between different aspects of our language capacity. Syntactic operations include structure-building, checking long-distance relationships between units, and connecting alternative word orders. This volume presents a collection of original studies that explore the mapping between these operations and other language-related areas such as word meanings, discourse contexts, the construction of meaning for larger units, and the alternative expressions of word order. It differs from previous traditional research on interfaces by bringing together studies and analyses from a range of languages, using monolingual varieties that include second language phenomena. Case studies of different types of interfaces, as well as studies based on lesser known sets of linguistic data, provide important examples that propose a new view of the connections between syntactic processes and other areas of grammar.