'The contributions are informed, up-to-date and lucid, and many of them make unusual - in fact, unprecedented - efforts to present opposing viewpoints fairly and to look at what they have in common rather than at what divides them. … The mixture of detached overviews and strongly argued positions works very well, in my view, and the editor is to be congratulated for the high standards that are maintained throughout. The tremendous intellectual energy and excitement of the field come through strongly, and I shan't hesitate to recommend many of the chapters to students.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

• Preface; 1. Extensions and implications of linguistic theory: an overview Frederick J. Newmeyer; 2. Grammar and language processing Lyn Frazier; 3. Grammatical principles of first language acquisition: theory and evidence Thomas Roeper; 4. Second language acquisition and grammatical theory Suzanne Flynn; 5. Brain structures and linguistic capacity Mary-Louise Kean; 6. Abnormal language acquisition and the modularity of language Susan Curtiss; 7. Grammatical aspects of speech errors Victoria A. Fromkin; 8. Grammar and conversational principles Ruth Kempson; 9. Discourse analysis: a part of the study of linguistic competence Ellen F. Prince; 10. Speech act distinctions in grammar Jerrold M. Sadock; 11. Computer applications of linguistic theory Per-Kristian Halvorsen; 12. Metrics and phonological theory Bruce Hayes; 13. Grammatical theory and signed languages Carol A. Padden; 14. Creole languages and the bioprogram Derek Bickerton; 15. Are creoles a special type of language? Pieter Muysken; 16. A dialog concerning the linguistic status of creole languages Derek Bickerton and Pieter Muysken; Subject index; Name index.

'The contributions are informed, up-to-date and lucid, and many of them make unusual - in fact, unprecedented - efforts to present opposing viewpoints fairly and to look at what they have in common rather than at what divides them. … The mixture of detached overviews and strongly argued positions works very well, in my view, and the editor is to be congratulated for the high standards that are maintained throughout. The tremendous intellectual energy and excitement of the field come through strongly, and I shan't hesitate to recommend many of the chapters to students.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

• Preface; 1. Extensions and implications of linguistic theory: an overview Frederick J. Newmeyer; 2. Grammar and language processing Lyn Frazier; 3. Grammatical principles of first language acquisition: theory and evidence Thomas Roeper; 4. Second language acquisition and grammatical theory Suzanne Flynn; 5. Brain structures and linguistic capacity Mary-Louise Kean; 6. Abnormal language acquisition and the modularity of language Susan Curtiss; 7. Grammatical aspects of speech errors Victoria A. Fromkin; 8. Grammar and conversational principles Ruth Kempson; 9. Discourse analysis: a part of the study of linguistic competence Ellen F. Prince; 10. Speech act distinctions in grammar Jerrold M. Sadock; 11. Computer applications of linguistic theory Per-Kristian Halvorsen; 12. Metrics and phonological theory Bruce Hayes; 13. Grammatical theory and signed languages Carol A. Padden; 14. Creole languages and the bioprogram Derek Bickerton; 15. Are creoles a special type of language? Pieter Muysken; 16. A dialog concerning the linguistic status of creole languages Derek Bickerton and Pieter Muysken; Subject index; Name index.