Finiteness

Irina Nikolaeva is a Research Associate in Linguistics at the University of Oxford. She has a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Leiden. Her interests include syntax, morphology, typology, lexicalist theories of grammar, and the documentation of endangered languages. She has published books on Uralic, Altaic, and Palaeosiberian languages, as well as papers on the syntax-semantics and syntax-information structure interface, phonology, and historical-comparative linguistics.

The book's value lies in the fact that it broadens our perspective on finiteness by providing ample discussion of 'exceptional' configurations, such as non-finite forms used in independent clauses or inflected infinitives.

• 1. Introduction ; PART I FINITENESS IN FORMAL THEORIES ; 2. Three Domains of Finiteness: A Minimalist Perspective ; 3. Finiteness in Non-Transformational Syntactic Frameworks ; PART II FINITENESS IN FUNCTIONAL THEORIES AND TYPOLOGY ; 4. Deconstructing Finiteness: Finiteness in a Functional-Typological Perspective ; 5. Categories That Make Finiteness: Discreteness From a Functional Perspective and Some of its Repercussions ; 6. Constructional Economy and Nonfinite Independent Clauses ; PART III FINITENESS IN INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGES ; 7. Clausse Structure and Verbal Forms in Nakh-Daghestanian Languages ; 8. In What Ways can Finite and Non-Finite Clauses Differ? Evidence from Russian ; 9. Verbal and Nominalised Finite Clauses in Turkish ; PART IV FINITENESS IN DIACHRONY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION ; 10. Diachrony and Finiteness: Subordination in the Dialects of Southern Italy ; 11. Insubordination and its uses ; 12. Finiteness in L1 and L2 Acquisition ; References ; Subject Index ; Author Index