33.2205, Books: Gradient Acceptability and Linguistic Theory: Francis

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-2205. Wed Jul 06 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.2205, Books: Gradient Acceptability and Linguistic Theory: Francis

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Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2022 00:32:25
From: Tyler Simnick [Tyler.Simnick at oup.com]
Subject: Gradient Acceptability and Linguistic Theory: Francis

 


Title: Gradient Acceptability and Linguistic Theory 
Series Title: Oxford Surveys in Syntax & Morphology  

Publication Year: 2022 
Publisher: Oxford University Press
	   http://www.oup.com/us
	

Book URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/gradient-acceptability-and-linguistic-theory-9780192898944?utm_source=linguistlist&utm_medium=listserv&utm_campaign=linguistics 


Author: Elaine J Francis

Hardback: ISBN:  9780192898944 Pages: 288 Price: U.S. $ 100
Paperback: ISBN:  9780192898951 Pages: 288 Price: U.S. $ 40


Abstract:

This book examines a challenging problem at the intersection of theoretical
linguistics and the psychology of language: the interpretation of gradient
judgments of sentence acceptability in relation to theories of grammatical
knowledge. Acceptability judgments constitute the primary source of data on
which such theories have been built, despite being susceptible to various
extra-grammatical factors. Through a review of experimental and corpus-based
research on a variety of syntactic phenomena and an in-depth examination of
two case studies, Elaine J. Francis argues for two main positions. The first
is that converging evidence from online comprehension tasks, elicited
production tasks, and corpora of naturally-occurring discourse can help to
determine the sources of variation in acceptability judgments and to narrow
down the range of plausible theoretical interpretations. The second is that
the interpretation of judgment data depends crucially on the theoretical
commitments and assumptions made, especially with respect to the nature of the
syntax-semantics interface and the choice of either a categorical or a
gradient notion of grammaticality. The theoretical frameworks considered in
this book include derivational theories (e.g. Minimalism, Principles and
Parameters), constraint-based theories (e.g. Sign-based Construction Grammar,
Simpler Syntax), competition-based theories (e.g. Stochastic Optimality
Theory, Decathlon Model), and usage-based approaches. The volume shows that
while acceptability judgment data are typically compatible with the
assumptions of various theoretical frameworks, some gradient phenomena are
best captured within frameworks that permit soft constraints-non-categorical
grammatical constraints that encode the conventional preferences of language
users.
 



Linguistic Field(s): Linguistic Theories
                     Morphology
                     Syntax


Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=162034




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