37.3185, Reviews: The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Syntax: Sjef Barbiers, Norbert Corver and Maria Polinsky (eds.) (2025)

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Subject: 37.3185, Reviews: The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Syntax: Sjef Barbiers, Norbert Corver and Maria Polinsky (eds.) (2025)

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Date: 05-Oct-2026
From: Dennis Ott [dennis.ott at post.harvard.edu]
Subject: Sjef Barbiers, Norbert Corver and Maria Polinsky (eds.) (2025)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/36-3184

Title: The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Syntax
Series Title: Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
           http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics
Book URL:
https://www.cambridge.org/ch/universitypress/subjects/languages-linguistics/grammar-and-syntax/cambridge-handbook-comparative-syntax?format=HB

Editor(s): Sjef Barbiers, Norbert Corver and Maria Polinsky

Reviewer: Dennis Ott

SUMMARY
In addition to the editors’ extensive introduction, the volume under
review contains a total of 30 substantive chapters, divided into four
parts.
The editors’ introduction states as the collection’s goal “to
highlight the progress achieved in the field of comparative syntax
within the generative framework,” whose “central research question is:
What is an (im)possible human language?” (2). The editors rightly
identify Chomsky’s (2001:2) Uniformity Principle (“In the absence of
compelling evidence to the contrary, assume languages to be uniform,
with variety restricted to easily detectable properties of
utterances”) as “a guiding principle of comparative syntactic
research” (3) in this framework, in sharp contradistinction to the
structuralist-typologist tradition. The introduction closes with an
overview of the volume’s chapters.
Part I contains eight chapters and is titled “Comparative syntax:
Theory, methodology, and data collection”. The chapters cover
theoretical, quantitative, computational, and sociolinguistic
approaches, databases for cross-linguistic data, formal and functional
perspectives on linguistic variation, as well as diachrony and
acquisition.
Barbiers et al.’s Chapter 2, titled “Theoretical approaches to
comparative syntax”, surveys some standard proposals for parameters as
well as the “Borer–Chomsky Conjecture” that variation resides
exclusively in features of lexical items (although Embick’s chapter 27
cautions against the common but somewhat naive interpretation of the
conjecture offered here as well as in chapters 7 and 8). Various
approaches to morphophonology are discussed in connection with order
and doubling phenomena, as are the micro- and macro-comparative
approach and parameter hierarchies.
Ivani & Bickel’s Chapter 3 surveys “Databases for comparative
syntactic research”. After a general introduction to the nature of
linguistic databases and desiderata for their design, the chapter
discusses a number of databases directly, grouped according to whether
their scope is language-specific, specific to a group of languages or
language family, areally defined, or all-encompassing (such as WALS).
Chapter 4 by van Craenenbroeck & van Koppen introduces “Quantitative
approaches to syntactic variation”. The discussion compares approaches
based on the degree to which they seek to integrate qualitative
(formal-theoretical) and quantitative (statistical) methodological
considerations, then proceeds to a series of case studies where
integrated approaches have proven beneficial in the authors’ estimate.
In Chapter 5, Hunter & Frank discuss “Computational approaches to
syntactic variation”. The chapter largely focuses on the question of
how the nature of a given formal system constrains the possible
patterns of dependency, constituency, and (potentially unbounded)
discontinuity it generates, with some added discussion of how
variation can fit into this picture. Hunter & Frank identify four
“computationally significant dimensions of grammatical variation”
(165).
Pleshak & Polinsky’s Chapter 6, titled “Comparative syntax from formal
and functional perspectives”, largely focuses on the tensions between
“top-down” formal grammatical analysis and “bottom-up” linguistic
typology, the latter located within the “functional perspective” (a
non-essential but de-facto accurate classification), including “the
main ideological, conceptual, and methodological differences” (177)
between these schools of thought. To highlight these differences, the
authors discuss a number of case studies concerning word order and
case.
Barbiers’s Chapter 7 is titled “Micro-comparative syntax,
dialectology, and sociolinguistics”. The chapter discusses how micro-
and meso-comparative research on closely related languages/dialects
interfaces with the other two disciplines mentioned in the chapter
title, making a case that the latter provide methods that can
fruitfully inform the former in service of theory construction.
Under the title “Change”, Ledgeway’s Chapter 8 discusses comparative
syntax and diachrony. The chapter echoes some of Barbiers’s remarks in
the previous chapter about the usefulness of closely related languages
for the investigation of (in this case) parametric change. Ledgeway
contrasts endogenous change due to acquisition and exogenous change
due to language contact. The chapter concludes with a series of
specific case studies.
In Chapter 9, Guasti & Pagliarini discuss “Universal and
language-specific properties of language” from the point of view of
language acquisition. Reviewing a number of case studies, they show
that structure dependence and the lexical/functional distinction are
understood from a very early age, as are some variable properties such
as head-directionality, whereas others (such as negative concord and
inverse scope) are acquired later, apparently because built-in
defaults must be overridden.
Part II contains nine chapters and is titled “Comparative syntax:
Building blocks and combinatorial properties”. The chapters focus on
the lexicon, the functional architecture of major phrases (NP, AP,
PP), tense and voice, coordination, and clause types.
“Words and features” is the topic of Fenger & Kouneli’s Chapter 10.
The chapter’s focus is the question of the scope and limits of
variation in features, the bundling of these features into syntactic
terminals, and their eventual realization. The authors show how
various frameworks address this question and the cross-linguistically
variable degrees of morphological synthesis, and how such variation
reverberates up to the sentential level, for instance in variation in
“configurationality”.
Ritter & Wiltschko’s Chapter 11 discusses “Pronouns”, focusing on
“Structure, binding, and classification”. The chapter first discusses
the historical role pronouns have played in theory construction, from
early pronominalizing transformations to Binding Theory to Postal’s
determiner hypothesis, then turns to theoretical approaches to
pronouns. Ritter & Wiltschko discuss both variation in the analysis of
pronouns (e.g., as true pro-forms or concealed definite descriptions)
and variation in the pronominal inventory of languages.
Chapter 12 by Alexiadou focuses on the “Functional architecture of
nominal phrases”. The chapter traces the development of the theory of
nominal expressions from Abney’s DP hypothesis to the present,
including the NP/DP debate revolving around article-less languages and
variation in the realization of D. The chapter then discusses specific
functional projections (NumberP, GenderP, KaseP) that have been
proposed in turn and how they might be implicated in cross-linguistic
variation.
Alexiadou’s NP chapter is followed by Corver’s Chapter 13 on the
“Functional architecture of adjectival phrases”. The chapter starts
with a discussion of the cross-linguistic universality of the category
“adjective”, then turns to a number of phenomena of AP-internal
syntax, such as agreement/concord, degree expressions and measure
phrases, gradability, and scrambling. The chapter closes with a brief
discussion of Slavic-type left-branch extraction from AP.
The functional-architecture trio is concluded by den Dikken & Dékány’s
Chapter 14 on the “Functional architecture of prepositional phrases”.
The chapter opens with a discussion of the universality of P
(considered likely by the authors, albeit not necessarily as an overt
category), then focuses on the internal syntax of PP. The discussion
includes “aspectual” distinctions in spatial PPs (place/path,
boundedness), deixis, case, and Figure/Ground partitioning (where
Ground is the complement of transitive P), argued to “[enhance] the
argument for a deep structural parallel between the functional
hierarchy of adpositional phrases and clauses” (446).
Demirdache & Sun’s Chapter 15 focuses on “Analyzing tenselessness” and
its implications for the universality of tense. After a general
discussion of approaches to tense, the authors discuss tense as a
syntactic and “semantic” category; while the former, or at least its
overt realization, is commonly absent in languages, the authors argue
that “topic time” is indeed universal and likely instantiated
syntactically (as the “temporal equivalent of an NP” (490)), where it
serves as the adjunction site for time adverbials. Some novel
arguments in support of this conclusion based on “tenseless” Mandarin
and Cantonese.
Chapter 16 by Wood & Tyler surveys “Voice”, specifically the proposal
that voice is instantiated as a functional head, following Kratzer and
others. Among the possible functions the authors attribute to this
head are the introduction of the external argument and causative
semantics, case assignment, voice morphology, and categorization.
Against the backdrop of the idea that languages can “bundle” these
kinds of information to a higher or lesser degree, the chapter
discusses canonical voice alternations such as active/passive and
causative/anticausative as well as other related phenomena, as well as
Voice’s variable morphological realizations as affix, light verb,
reflexive marker, etc.
Zwart’s Chapter 17 is titled “Coordination”. As a universal syntactic
phenomenon (provided our definition includes asyndetic and
polysyndetic realization), coordination “shows relatively little
morphosyntactic variation” (538) compared to other phenomena discussed
in the volume. The chapter discusses these variable aspects of the
internal and external syntax of coordination, such as positioning and
category-sensitivity of the coordinator, agreement with coordinate
structures and their opacity for extraction, and indications of
asymmetric structuring. The last section briefly discusses theoretical
approaches to the syntax of coordination.
Zanuttini et al.’s Chapter 18 focuses on “Clause type”, which the
authors construe more abstractly than the typologist’s notion of
“sentence type” based on surface realization (analogous to the
morpheme/morph distinction). Part I of the chapter discusses the major
clause types (and their subtypes) and introduces theories of clause
typing. Part II then discusses specific clause types taken to be
universal and their cross-linguistic realization against this
background: interrogatives, declaratives, and imperatives.
Interestingly, the authors note that other readily conceivable types
(e.g., threats) are not attested.
Part III contains seven chapters and is titled “Comparative syntax:
Dependency relations and dependency marking”. The chapters cover
agreement, head movement, A-movement, anaphora, nominal quantifiers,
and A-bar dependencies.
Chapter 19, by Clem & Norris, surveys “Agreement and concord”, both of
which instantiate “covariance in form”—the former, of a verb with its
arguments, the latter, of nominal dependents and the head noun. For
each of these phenomena, the chapter discusses first their typological
properties, then theoretical approaches. In the case of agreement, the
discussion largely revolves around the AGREE approach and its
developments; the concord discussion is primarily focused on the
question of whether or not the phenomenon warrants a distinct
treatment or can be subsumed under theories of AGREE.
Roberts’s Chapter 20 deals with “Head dependencies”, specifically head
movement as postulated to deal with various forms of inversion and
incorporation phenomena. Much of the chapter is devoted to the
question of whether such head-raising and incorporation processes
ought to be exorcised from narrow syntax in view of their exceptional
nature, emphasized by Chomsky and others. Roberts discusses
alternative views (PF-movement, remnant movement, etc.) as well as his
own earlier proposal to model head-raising as a by-product of AGREE.
The chapter closes with a novel proposal for cyclic head-raising
predicated on the assemblage of complex heads prior to their
combination with dependents.
Fong & Halpert’s Chapter 21 turns to “A-dependencies”, specifically
their cross-clausal instantiation in raising and control. In
discussing the universality of these dependencies but the apparently
non-universal role of case in A-chain formation, the authors suggest
that “phi-agreement may be the basic A-dependency” (687), with
peripheral effects of case and positioning. Against this background,
the authors discuss cross-clausal and in particular long-distance
A-dependencies in finite control and hyperraising and their potential
connections to other properties of languages permitting these, such as
pro-drop.
Everaert & Reuland in Chapter 22 discuss “Anaphoric dependencies”,
specifically syntactic anaphors. Building on their own earlier work,
the authors adopt the view “that binding does not involve indices, in
line with [Chomsky’s] inclusiveness condition” (715) and propose two
general modes of binding: reflexivization of a predicate, and “binding
of phi-deficient anaphors by shared copies of features formed by
[AGREE]” (ibid). The chapter establishes a typology of relevant
expressions roughly along the lines of traditional Binding Theory,
before turning to universals and variation in this domain. Arguing for
a “deconstruction” of binding into various factors structural,
lexical, and interpretive, the authors turn, in the last section, to a
discussion of how binding and variation therein can be accommodated in
a model of grammar.
Chapter 23, by Peter Jenks, presents an extensive discussion of “The
comparative syntax of nominal quantifiers”. The discussion builds on a
fundamental distinction between adnominal “D-quantifiers” (whose
universality Jenks considers likely when not limited to D-heads) and
adverbial “A-quantifiers”, whose universality “has a very good chance
of being true” (753). After discussing treatments of quantification in
logical syntax and how they determine the syntactic behavior of
quantifiers, the chapter embarks on a detailed exposition of
cross-linguistic variation in the syntactic expression of both types
of quantifiers, before closing with a discussion of quantifier float.
Cheng’s Chapter 24 discusses “A-bar dependencies and successive-cyclic
movement” and specifically the cross-linguistic evidence for movement
through vP and CP. Cheng first turns to (variable) CP-level reflexes
of (universal) successive-cyclic movement before scrutizing the more
contentious role of the vP edge, argued to be revealed in stranding
patterns and other effects. The chapter then discusses the reasons for
successive cyclicity (phases and/or intervention), before synthesizing
the reported observations into three generalizations: effects at CP
and vP are different in character; languages tend to exhibit one or
the other, but not both; and overall, CP-level effects are more
prevalent.
Continuing the theme of A-bar dependencies, Chapter 25 by Šimík
considers the use of WH-expressions on the spectrum “From
interrogatives to relatives”. The chapter starts with a discussion of
the internal organization of WH-words before turning to the derivation
of WH-constructions. Šimík’s claim is that WH-words are constructed
according to a “nanosyntactic” hierarchy in which each functional
layer corresponds to a particular use of these expressions.
Simplifying the complex discussion, the chapter argues that this
intrinsic hierarchy translates into a hierarchy of constructions, with
interrogatives at the bottom (whose meaning is computed independently
of movement, resulting in widespread in-situ uses) and relatives at
the top (where overt WH-movement is universally required to form a
derived predicate).
Part IV contains six chapters and is titled “Comparative syntax:
Interfaces”. The chapters cover the traditional interfaces (LF, PF),
linearization, sign languages, information structure, and sentence
processing.
Abels and Dayal’s Chapter 26, somewhat curiously titled “Syntax
semantics”, discusses the interface between (core) syntax and what is
commonly called “semantics” (logical syntax). The chapter focuses on
question formation and quantifier scope, arguing that both employ two
distinct scope-taking mechanisms. The variable scope of indefinites is
argued to be due to their inherent quantificational/referential
ambiguity, enabling existential/wide scope unconstrained by structural
factors. By contrast, universal quantifiers are argued to take scope
via clause-bounded covert movement. Based on a discussion of sluicing,
the authors argue that both scope-taking mechanisms are likewise
available to WH-phrases, accounting for “significant cross-linguistic
morphosyntactic variation in question formation, but overall semantic
uniformity” (894).
Under the heading “Comparative syntax, morphology, and
‘externalization’”, Embick’s Chapter 27 pithily asks: “What happens at
PF?”. The discussion is divided into three sections. The first asks
what it means to view syntactic variation as limited to morphology/the
lexicon. Against common but naive interpretations of the so-called
Borer–Chomsky hypothesis, Embick shows that it is not straightforward
to pin down what such a view amounts to. The second section asks what
is universal and what is variable in morphology, where languages may
exploit universally defined operations to various degrees. The third
and last section asks what it means to say that variation is limited
to the PF mapping, or what Chomsky has more recently (and somewhat
misleadingly) referred to as “externalization”.
The related issue of “Linearization” is the central theme of
Neeleman’s Chapter 28, “Syntax and externalization”, which asks: “How
are the structural and linear aspects of the grammar connected?”
(938). The chapter discusses specific proposals to derive ordering
generalizations, such as Cinque’s attempted derivation of Universal 20
and the Final-over-Final Condition, as well as phenomena in which
linear order has been argued to be referenced directly. In concluding
the chapter, Neeleman deems it “not clear whether the syntax should be
allowed to refer to linear order or whether the effects can be
captured in other ways” (960) and presents the issue as “logically
independent” (ibid) from the structure-dependence of rules (although,
as Chomsky has emphasized, at least from perspective of acquisition
this is not quite correct, bearing on the “What is an (im)possible
language?” question raised in the editors’ introduction).
Chapter 29, by Pfau & Quer, discusses “Cross-modal comparative
syntax”, focusing on sign languages and in particular their
modality-dependent properties. The chapter discusses
linearization/ordering (including simultaneity and bimodal
expression), WH-questions, and subordination and coordination, each of
which, while arguably relying on core cross-modal operations, “show
some effect of the visual-gestural modality” (990).
Hamlaoui & Szendrői’s Chapter 30 is titled “Syntax and information
structure” and primarily concerned with syntactic correlates of
topical and focal status of constituents. Hamlaoui & Szendrői contrast
the cartographic approach, which directly encodes these
information-structural categories as syntactic heads, and the
“interface approach” that assumes no such direct coding but instead
postulates LF–PF correspondence rules. (A third alternative, in which
non-compositional, pragmatic notions are not part of sentential
grammar at all, is not considered.) The approaches are compared for
focus and topic in turn, as well as with respect to topic–focus
interactions such as topic-before-focus ordering.
The volume is concluded by Dillon & Keshev’s Chapter 31 on “Syntactic
dependency in sentence processing”. Cautioning at the outset that
“psycholinguistic research overwhelmingly focuses on standard
varieties of English and a handful of typologically Western European
languages” (1032), the chapter reviews the psycholinguistic mechanisms
involved in the parsing of dependencies (using agreement attraction
and reflexive processing as case studies), chiefly “backward-looking”
and “forward-looking” processes of memory retrieval and prediction,
respectively. While these processes are plausibly universal and give
rise to phenomena such as agreement attraction, they are informed by
language-specific properties (e.g., case marking guiding the
prediction of VP structure in OV languages).
EVALUATION
It is hard to disagree with Guglielmo Cinque’s back-cover blurb’s
praise of the volume under review as “a monumental work of reference”.
By coming together to compile this volume, the editors and their
authors have no doubt done an invaluable service to the field. The
resulting volume is a wonderfully rich resource for anyone engaged in
research or teaching graduate courses in syntax. Hovering around the
30–40 pages mark, the chapters are detailed and comprehensive; and
while some meander a bit, overall they inform the reader about their
subject matter profusely and efficiently. Most chapters present a
reasonably broad range of cross-linguistic data, although some revert
to the habit of illustrating basic concepts with English examples.
The primary drawbacks of the volume concern formatting and layout
choices that the editors are not responsible for, chiefly the
uncomfortably small rendering of examples. While the choice was
presumably made to keep the volume from expanding significantly past
the 1000-pages mark, it nonetheless strains the reading flow
considerably. (As a random illustration, the bracketed representation
showing successive-cyclic movement on p. 792 will challenge even
readers blessed with impeccable eyesight.) This, along with a number
of harmless typesetting errors, should be corrected in future
editions.
Handbooks are an invaluable resource not only for graduate teaching
and independent study but also for researchers interested in topics
outside their narrow domain of expertise. In my view, this function is
best served by chapters that present a broad overview of the empirical
and conceptual issues raised by a particular phenomenon or analysis,
rather than presenting novel proposals or defending a particular
approach, goals best left to research articles. The ideal chapter, to
my mind, is sufficiently self-contained for it to be appropriate as an
assigned reading for a graduate introductory syntax course; Zwart’s
chapter on coordination is a commendable specimen of this sort. As is
to be expected, the chapters in this volume are somewhat heterogenous
in this respect, with some (few) deeply steeped in their authors’
personal convictions. In my view, this rather misses the mark given
the purpose at hand, but of course the result may still be valuable
and interesting to the researcher.
What, then, of the state of current comparative syntax? The editors’
introduction approvingly cites Marcel den Dikken’s cogent observation
that the feature-centric view of syntax and variation that has
dominated the last several decades of research “has mostly been
unproductive, at best resulting in descriptive discoveries but never
genuinely advancing our understanding of linguistic variation” (8).
For the very same reason, one can certainly disagree with the editors’
identification of the “common ground in comparative generative syntax
… at the intersection of the core tenets of minimalist analyses …,
Distributed Morphology …, and cartography …” (5) in the section on
“the future of comparative syntax” in their introduction. The time
seems ripe for a paradigm change if comparative syntax is to overcome
the philological urge and make strides towards genuine explanation.
One productive way forward might be for the field to draw inspiration
from Chomsky’s (2020:27) assessment, cited and insightfully discussed
in Embick’s chapter, “that just about everything that’s been studied
in linguistics for the last 2500 years is not language [but] some
amalgam of language and sensory-motor systems.”
In fact, one might argue that in the absence of an explanatory
framework, comparative syntax ought to first and foremost serve to
isolate robust, universal aspects of language, to skim off the foam as
it were, and linguists should focus, first and foremost, on developing
explanatory accounts of the empirical core so identified. As Chomsky
cautioned in Aspects, “The critical problem for grammatical theory
today is not a paucity of evidence but rather the inadequacy of
present theories of language to account for masses of evidence that
are hardly open to serious question” (1965:19f.)—we can interpret
“today” without modification, some 60 years later. Already 15 years
earlier, Rosenbloom (who was not even a linguist but recognized the
relevance of Post’s ‘production systems’ to linguistics) had cautioned
that “The wealth of detail and the manifold irregularities of natural
languages have often obfuscated the simple and general principles
underlying linguistic phenomena” (1950:163; see Pullum 2025). It seems
unlikely that our understanding of these “simple and general
principles” will be advanced by the methods of the social sciences, as
opposed to those emphasizing abstraction and idealization commonplace
in the natural sciences.
REFERENCES
Chomsky, N. 1965. Aspects of the theory of syntax. MIT Press.
Chomsky, N. 2001. Derivation by phase. In M. Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken
Hale: A life in language. MIT Press.
Chomsky, N. 2020. The UCLA lectures. Ms.,
https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/005485
Pullum, G. 2025. The prehistory of generative grammar and Chomsky’s
debt to Emil Post. Historiographia Linguistica 52(2).
Rosenbloom, P. 1950. The elements of mathematical logic. Dover.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Dennis Ott is associate professor of linguistics at the University of
Ottawa, where he teaches syntax and philosophy of language. His
research interests center narrowly on displacement and dislocation
phenomena and more broadly the differential “modes of construction”
employed in sentential syntax and discourse grammar.



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