35.1037, Review: Beginning Syntax: Roberts (2023)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-35-1037. Mon Mar 25 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.1037, Review: Beginning Syntax: Roberts (2023)

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Date: 25-Mar-2024
From: Fauzia Mughal [Fmugh068 at uottawa.ca]
Subject: Syntax: Roberts (2023)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/34.3163

AUTHOR: Ian Roberts
TITLE: Beginning Syntax
SUBTITLE: An Introduction to Syntactic Analysis
SERIES TITLE: Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2023

REVIEWER: Fauzia Mughal

SUMMARY

Ian Roberts’s “Beginning Syntax: An Introduction to Syntactic
Analysis” is the first installment of a three-part series. This is an
introductory textbook on generative syntax that is meant to guide
undergraduate students through this framework without assuming any
prior knowledge of the topic. It addresses core aspects of the theory
that form the bedrock of any syntax course. With respect to its
layout, the book is a bit over 200 pages in length. There is an
Introduction, eight chapters, and a Conclusion. Every chapter begins
with an introductory section that provides a brief roadmap, and the
introductions to Chapters 2–8 further include recaps of the core
concepts covered in the immediately preceding chapter. Each chapter
ends with hands-on exercises, broad discussion questions, and an
annotated list of references for further reading. The book ends with a
glossary and an index. The much-anticipated subsequent textbooks
(Volumes II and III), entitled “Continuing Syntax” and “Comparing
Syntax”, will further lead students through syntactic theory at the
intermediate and advanced levels, respectively.
The Introduction lays the foundation for the text. It does so by
defining what it means to be a language as a natural object of study
and what it means for syntax (and linguistics more generally) to be a
cognitive science. There are three factors that constitute our
capacity for language: 1) our innate genetic endowment for language,
2) the stimuli we are exposed to in early life, and 3) our general
cognitive abilities. Universal Grammar (UG) is a theory that
represents the first of these factors. The focus of syntax is to
develop a formal theory of one aspect of UG, namely, how relatively
simple units (words) are systematically combined to form relatively
complex ones (phrases and sentences), by analyzing language from an
internal, individualized perspective (i.e., I-language).
Chapter 1 discusses the fundamental properties of natural language
syntax that form one’s tacit knowledge of a given language using a
single English word: fish. Here, readers are introduced to
conventional formalizations of their innate judgements about their
native language (i.e., I-language), including structural ambiguity,
phrasal categories, recursivity, competence vs. performance, and
silent material, among others, that will be further explicated in the
following chapters. The juxtaposition of English and Italian data
throughout illustrates the (near-)universality of syntax.
Chapter 2 covers the two building blocks of syntactic theory:
categories and constituents. Standard morphological, syntactic,
phonological, and semantic criteria are first used to identify phrasal
categories in English and to distinguish lexical ones from functional
ones, with the caveat that these are not foolproof, particularly in
isolation. Next, the ways in which categories combine to form
constituents and constituent structures are explored. For ease of
exposition, tree diagrams are used to illustrate the core hierarchical
relations of (immediate) dominance and (immediate) constituency.
Although the notion of category and constituent, as well as the
X'-template, are assumed to be a part of UG, it is made clear that
languages may differ with respect to the number and types of
categories they possess and in their constituent structures.
Chapter 3 introduces the formal mechanisms involved in computing
structural descriptions of sentences, viz., Phrase-Structure
(PS)-rules and their ability to apply ad infinitum to their own
output, capturing a crucial property of natural languages: a finite
set of rules can be used to produce an infinite set of structures.
PS-rules encode constituent information regarding linear precedence,
hierarchical relations (viz., dominance/constituency), and category
labels. Such rules and the tree diagrams (or labeled bracketings) that
they produce are substantiated by a complete array of constituency
tests, which are shown to be generally successful with respect to
English data; the question as to whether such diagnostics provide
clear results in other languages remains open.
Readers are met with X'-theory in Chapter 4, which constrains the
possible PS-rules used to derive lexical and functional categories in
English to those that are well-formed. With the proposed X'-schema
comes the universal principle of endocentricity, requiring phrases to
always contain a head. The basic structural relations of the
X'-template are established here (viz., specifier, complement, and
adjunct), with the pivotal differentiation among these being that only
heads select for their complements. Constituency  tests are used to
independently justify the postulation of intermediate phrasal levels
(e.g., N', P', and A'). Relatedly, the apparently exocentric
categories S(entence) and S' that were assumed prior to X'-theory are
analyzed as T(ense) P(hrase) and C(omplementizer) P(hrase),
respectively.
Chapter 5 introduces three types of movement rules that augment the
X'-theory established so far and that are to be discussed in greater
depth in Volume II of this series. The first rule is head-movement,
which is empirically illustrated by subject–auxiliary inversion in
English questions that involve T-to-C movement. The second rule that
is introduced is NP-movement—a transformation that is exemplified by
English passivization, which incorporates the pivotal notions of
argument structure and thematic roles (e.g., Agent and Patient, etc.).
Here, it is described how the complement of a verb raises to become
the subject of the sentence and the original subject is demoted to an
optional by-phrase, though the constituents’ respective thematic roles
remain intact. The third movement rule is wh-movement, which is
illustrated yet again by English data, wherein wh-phrases raise to the
specifier of CP to form content questions. Wh-movement uniquely
produces constructions with an unbounded dependency, is triggered by
features in the narrow syntax (viz., [Q] and [wh] on C), and is
blocked by constraints in certain contexts (viz., syntactic islands).
All of these movement rules leave behind an unpronounced copy (or
trace) in the base-generated position, but they crucially differ from
PS-rules in that they manipulate (rather than generate) structure.
Chapter 6 further enriches the proposed X'-theory by incorporating
interpretative rules, with a specific focus on binding relations. This
completes the text’s introduction to the core mechanisms underlying
syntactic computation. Binding theory differs from PS-rules in that it
does not generate structure, and it is different from movement rules
in that it does not manipulate the structures that PS-rules produce.
Rather, binding theory licenses the semantic interpretation of
relationships between constituents that are generated by PS-rules.
Specifically, Principles A, B, and C of binding theory, which capture
the distribution and interpretation of anaphors, pronominals, and
R(eferential)-expressions, respectively, are illustrated via English
data. This discussion further introduces the fundamental notions of
c(onstituent)-command and co-reference, variable binding, and the
distinction between A-positions and A'-positions (wherein the former
is an XP position associated with a grammatical function and the
latter is not).
Chapter 7 extends the theory of syntax established in the previous
chapters to facts beyond English, in keeping with the central aim of
forming a description of a universal (rather than language-specific)
model of syntax. It is emphasized that while universal principles and
operations governing sentence structure exist (e.g., the X'-template,
the principles of binding theory, and syntactic movement as a strictly
upward process), such principles and operations are subject to
parametric variation. With reference to cross-linguistic facts from
the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) (https://wals.info/) and
language-specific data, three parameters of two types are introduced
for illustrative purposes: The first type relates to the
presence/absence of movement rules such as 1) the V-to-T Parameter
(which is set to positive in verb-raising languages like French and
German and is set to negative for languages without verb raising like
English and possibly Japanese); and 2) the wh-movement Parameter
(which is set to positive for languages with overt wh-movement like
English, French, and German and is set to negative for languages
without overt wh-movement like Chinese and Japanese). The second type
of parameter, referred to as 3) the Head Parameter, captures the
various attested word orders of natural languages by establishing
whether the categories of a given language are head-initial (as in,
for example, English and French); head-final (as in, for example,
Japanese); or a mixture of the two (as in, for example, German and
Chinese). The question as to whether an NP-movement Parameter
analogously exists is tentatively answered in the affirmative (based
on the absence of passives in several natural languages).
Chapter 8 pieces together the various aspects of the syntactic theory
outlined in the previous chapters and ties them into the general
discussion in the Introduction. It provides a brief description of the
assumed ‘inverted-Y’ architecture of the grammar. The lexicon houses
idiosyncratic information and constitutes a numeration of lexical and
functional items associated with c(onstituent)-selection and
s(emantic)-selection features, a phonological representation, and a
specification of said items’ semantics. The syntactic representations
that PS-rules generate constitute D(eep)-structure; lexical and
functional items (in line with the Projection Principle) are also
introduced at this step of the derivation, as are arguments bearing
specific thematic roles in particular structural positions (as far as
these are structurally determined). S(urface)-structure comprises
syntactic representations to which the various movement operations
have applied, and it branches out into two independent interface
levels: 1) P(honological) F(orm) takes the S-structure representations
as input and outputs their phonological representations after
hierarchically organized PF operations have applied (e.g., ‘downward’
T-to-V movement in English (i.e., m(orphological)-merger) precedes
copy-deletion and ellipsis); such processes have no effect on the
structures’ interpretation. 2) L(ogical) F(orm) takes S-structure
representations and outputs their semantic interpretations. Operations
that take place at the S-structure–LF interface (e.g., covert
wh-movement in wh-in situ languages like Chinese and Quantifier
Raising to derive quantifier-scope ambiguities) have no effect on the
surface output of syntactic structures.
The Conclusion provides a brief summary of the main concepts covered
in the various chapters and raises pertinent questions related to some
of the key assumptions that the proposed syntax model evokes, several
of which are to be addressed in Volume II of this series. These
include the following: 1) To what extent can syntactic domains be
expanded (akin to TP expanding to include categories like M(ood),
Agr(eement), and Asp(ect)), and are there cross-linguistic differences
in this regard? 2) Why does the [wh] feature on C trigger wh-movement,
and what causes other movement operations (viz., head-movement and
NP-movement) to occur? 3) What types of syntactic mechanisms can be
parameterized (cf. head-movement and wh-/NP-movement, which concern
the presence/absence of movement, and the Head Parameter, which does
not); how much can be parameterized?; and how are parameter settings
acquired? 4) Would it be more economical to abandon the distinction
between D- and S-structure and alternatively assume that
representations simply branch out to the interface levels (i.e., PF
and LF) post-syntactically?

EVALUATION

This textbook is an excellent introduction to contemporary syntax for
undergraduate students that have no prior knowledge of the matter; it
thus succeeds in its goal. Roberts has the exceptional ability to
discuss the highly abstract and complex notions that constitute
syntactic theory with engaging and extremely succinct prose, which is
by no means an easy feat (a sentiment that I recall feeling while
reading his “Diachronic Syntax” as an undergraduate student myself).
The data are clearly analyzable for a novice, and the use of real-life
analogies for illustrative purposes are clever and effective.
The overall organization of the textbook is extremely coherent. The
conceptual progression from one chapter to the next is seamless
throughout, and the use of boldface font to highlight key terminology
is a useful visual aide in discerning core takeaways—a property that
students new to the subject matter will surely appreciate. In a
similar vein, I believe that the text may have benefitted from
incorporating movement arrows in its tree diagrams to better visualize
and reiterate the direction in which constituents move, particularly
in discriminating upward head movement from downward T-to-V movement
(i.e., m-merger). The exercises and discussion questions at the end of
each chapter are carefully constructed and will indeed serve as useful
tools for instructors and teaching assistants alike in reinforcing key
concepts in the classroom and/or tutorials, as intended (p. xiv).
This text’s discursive simplicity and overall brevity, I believe, have
a two-pronged effect. While these characteristics certainly set this
textbook apart from its competitors (e.g., Tallerman 2020; Carnie
2021) by etching the fundamentals of syntax in an arguably more
effortless fashion, from a utilitarian perspective, its lack of
in-depth discussion may make it perhaps difficult to extend its use
beyond the intended audience (as in, for example, introductory
graduate courses) in a way that some of its predecessors can. However,
the novel conception of breaking down the different levels of
syntactic theorizing into three smaller volumes may compensate for
this, affording instructors the ability to use different installments
of the series for courses of differing levels of academic rigor.
The discussion is largely based on English data, and a proper
treatment of cross-linguistic facts is unfortunately limited to only
one chapter (viz., Chapter 7), the impetus of which is “expository
convenience” (p. 153). Nevertheless, I believe that a better
interleaving of more cross-linguistic data throughout would not have
been detrimental to the pedagogical straightforwardness of the text
and would have only enriched it. From the student’s perspective, the
use of English data in learning the complex and abstract concepts that
underlie syntactic theory is only advantageous in so far as the
student has a native competency in the language, which is not always
the case, particularly in a classroom with students of diverse
linguistic backgrounds.
Overall, Roberts has skillfully compiled a clear, precise, and easily
digestible introduction to syntactic analysis, which is an immensely
difficult task. This textbook is thus nothing short of a triumph and
serves as an attractive pedagogical resource for both students and
instructors.

REFERENCES

Carnie, A. Syntax : A Generative Introduction (4th edition). Oxford:
Blackwell.

Roberts, I. 2007. Diachronic Syntax. Oxford University Press.

Tallerman, M. 2020. Understanding Syntax (5th edition). London:
Routledge.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Fauzia Mughal is a Ph.D. candidate in Linguistics at the University of
Ottawa, Canada. Her specialization is in theoretical syntax, and she
is primarily interested in clausal ellipsis, with an empirical focus
on Hindi-Urdu.



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