Yafei Li – författare

The past quarter of a century has seen a surge in Chinese syntactic research that has produced a sizeable literature on the analysis of almost every construction in Mandarin Chinese. This guide to Chinese syntax analyses the majority of constructions in Chinese that have featured in theoretical linguistics in the past 25 years, using the authors' own analyses as well as existing or potential alternative treatments. A broad variety of topics are covered, including categories, argument structure, passives and anaphora. The discussion of each topic sums up the key research results and provides new points of departure for further research. This book will be invaluable both to students wanting to know more about the grammar of Chinese, and graduate students and theoretical linguists interested in the universal principles that underlie human languages.

The past quarter of a century has seen a surge in Chinese syntactic research that has produced a sizeable literature on the analysis of almost every construction in Mandarin Chinese. This guide to Chinese syntax analyses the majority of constructions in Chinese that have featured in theoretical linguistics in the past 25 years, using the authors' own analyses as well as existing or potential alternative treatments. A broad variety of topics are covered, including categories, argument structure, passives and anaphora. The discussion of each topic sums up the key research results and provides new points of departure for further research. This book will be invaluable both to students wanting to know more about the grammar of Chinese, and graduate students and theoretical linguists interested in the universal principles that underlie human languages.

Taking a new look at some widely accepted analyses of such syntactic patterns as minimality, head-movement and LF, this book offers alternative theories while still working within the general Universal Grammar framework. It is the first of its kind to present an explicit and candid examination of how Motivated Reasoning (MR), the psychological tendency to substitute emotional reward for cold reasoning, affects the formulation and assessment of new ideas. Actual cases are used to illustrate the role of MR in the (subconscious) collection and interpretation of language data, and the association of such practices with theorization. It is also highlighted that the relation between MR and independent thinking is a double-edged sword, capable of either suppressing ideas not 'to one's taste' or facilitating the formulation of new ideas unique to each individual researcher. Covering a range of technical and meta-theoretical topics, this book is essential reading for theoretical syntacticians.

Taking a new look at some widely accepted analyses of such syntactic patterns as minimality, head-movement and LF, this book offers alternative theories while still working within the general Universal Grammar framework. It is the first of its kind to present an explicit and candid examination of how Motivated Reasoning (MR), the psychological tendency to substitute emotional reward for cold reasoning, affects the formulation and assessment of new ideas. Actual cases are used to illustrate the role of MR in the (subconscious) collection and interpretation of language data, and the association of such practices with theorization. It is also highlighted that the relation between MR and independent thinking is a double-edged sword, capable of either suppressing ideas not 'to one's taste' or facilitating the formulation of new ideas unique to each individual researcher. Covering a range of technical and meta-theoretical topics, this book is essential reading for theoretical syntacticians.

Within linguistics, the formal and functional approaches each offer insight into what language might be and how it operates, but so far, there have been hardly any systematic attempts to integrate them into a single theory. This book explores the relationship between universal grammar - the theory that we have an innate mechanism for generating sentences - and iconicity - the resemblance between form and meaning in language. It offers a new theory of their interactions, 'UG-iconicity interface' (UG-I), which shows that not only do universal grammar and iconicity coexist, but in fact collaborate in intricate and predictable ways. The theory explains various recalcitrant cross-linguistic facts surrounding the serial verb constructions, coordination, semantically and categorically obscure 'linkers', the multiple grammatical aspects of the external argument, and non-canonical arguments. This groundbreaking work is essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students in linguistics, as well as scholars in psychology and cognitive science.

Within linguistics, the formal and functional approaches each offer insight into what language might be and how it operates, but so far, there have been hardly any systematic attempts to integrate them into a single theory. This book explores the relationship between universal grammar - the theory that we have an innate mechanism for generating sentences - and iconicity - the resemblance between form and meaning in language. It offers a new theory of their interactions, 'UG-iconicity interface' (UG-I), which shows that not only do universal grammar and iconicity coexist, but in fact collaborate in intricate and predictable ways. The theory explains various recalcitrant cross-linguistic facts surrounding the serial verb constructions, coordination, semantically and categorically obscure 'linkers', the multiple grammatical aspects of the external argument, and non-canonical arguments. This groundbreaking work is essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students in linguistics, as well as scholars in psychology and cognitive science.