15.2850, Books: Linguistic Theories/Syntax: Seuren

LINGUIST List linguist at linguistlist.org
Tue Oct 12 14:06:05 UTC 2004


LINGUIST List: Vol-15-2850. Tue Oct 12 2004. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 15.2850, Books: Linguistic Theories/Syntax: Seuren

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org)
        Sheila Collberg, U of Arizona
        Terry Langendoen, U of Arizona

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, Wayne
State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Megan Zdrojkowski <megan at linguistlist.org>
================================================================

Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers
are available at the end of this issue.


===========================Directory==============================

1)
Date: 08-Oct-2004
From: Jared Wright < jared.wright at oup.com >
Subject: Chomsky's Minimalism: Seuren


	
-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 10:02:16
From: Jared Wright < jared.wright at oup.com >
Subject: Chomsky's Minimalism: Seuren

Title: Chomsky's Minimalism
Publication Year: 2004
Publisher: Oxford University Press
	   http://www.oup.com/us
	

Book URL: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/view=usa&ci=0195173066


Author: Pieter A.M. Seuren, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics

Hardback: ISBN: 0195173058 Pages: 256 Price: U.S. $ 72.00
Paperback: ISBN: 0195173066 Pages: 256 Price: U.S. $ 29.95


Abstract:

Noam Chomsky's current theory, published in 1995, is known as 'The Minimalist
Program' and has been presented as his crowning achievement. It argues,
familiarly, that there exists a universal grammar that is hardwired, and that,
like an efficient machine, this grammar will tend to use the least possible
number of constraints (phonetically and syntactically) to produce an utterance.
Minimalism has spawned in linguistics an entire research program, despite being
fundamentally misguided, according to distinguished linguist and philosopher of
language Pieter Seuren.

Seuren's accessible and spirited attack argues that the Minimalist Program is
deeply flawed. He proposes that it fails to satisfy the basic criteria for sound
scientific work, such as respect for data, unambiguous formulations, and
falsifiability. Seuren points to the original acrimonious split in the 1960s and
1970s between Chomsky's generative grammar and the alternative generative
semantics proposed by his followers, and argues that the latter theory was
sounder and unfairly suppressed. Seuren maintains that this suppression--and the
cult surrounding Chomsky and Minimalism more generally--has done great damage to
linguistics by impairing open discussion of empirical issues and excluding valid
alternatives. 'Chomsky's Minimalism' will generate controversy among linguists
in its attack on the fundamental assumptions used by an entire generation of
researchers.



Linguistic Field(s): Linguistic Theories
                     Syntax


Written In: English  (Language Code: ENG)
	
See this book announcement on our website:
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=11833


MAJOR SUPPORTERS

	Blackwell Publishing
		http://www.blackwellpublishing.com	

	Cambridge University Press
		http://www.cup.org	

	Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
		http://www.continuumbooks.com	

	Edinburgh University Press
		http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/	

	Elsevier Ltd.
		http://www.elsevier.com/locate/linguistics	

	Equinox Publishing Ltd.
		http://www.equinoxpub.com/	

	Georgetown University Press
		http://www.press.georgetown.edu	

	John Benjamins
		http://www.benjamins.com/	

	Kluwer
		http://www.springeronline.com	

	Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
		http://www.erlbaum.com/	

	Lincom GmbH
		http://www.lincom-europa.com	

	MIT Press
		http://mitpress.mit.edu/	

	Mouton de Gruyter
		http://www.mouton-publishers.com	

	Oxford University Press
		http://www.oup.com/us	

	Rodopi
		http://www.rodopi.nl/	

	Routledge (Taylor and Francis)
		http://www.routledge.com/	

OTHER SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS	

	Anthropological Linguistics
		http://www.indiana.edu/~anthling/

	Arawak Publications
		

	CSLI Publications
		http://csli-publications.stanford.edu/

	Canadian Journal of Linguistics
		http://www.utpjournals.com/jour.ihtml?lp=cjl/cjl.html

	Cascadilla Press
		http://www.cascadilla.com/

	Graduate Linguistic Students' Assoc., Umass
		http://glsa.hypermart.net/

	International Pragmatics Assoc.
		http://ipra-www.uia.ac.be/ipra/

	Kingston Press Ltd
		http://www.kingstonpress.com/

	Linguistic Assoc. of Finland
		http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/

	MIT Working Papers in Linguistics
		http://web.mit.edu/mitwpl/

	Multilingual Matters
		http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

	Pacific Linguistics
		http://pacling.anu.edu.au/

	Palgrave Macmillan
		http://www.palgrave.com

	Pearson Longman
		http://www.pearsoneduc.com/discipline.asp?d=LG

	SIL International
		http://www.ethnologue.com/bookstore.asp

	St. Jerome Publishing Ltd.
		http://www.stjerome.co.uk

	Utrecht Institute of Linguistics
		http://www-uilots.let.uu.nl/
	


-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-15-2850	

	



More information about the LINGUIST mailing list