Overview

This book examines one of the allegedly unique features of human language: structure sensitivity. Its point of departure is the distinction between content and structural units, which are defined in psycholinguistic terms. The focus of the book is on structural representations, in particular their hierarchicalness and their branching direction. Structural representations reach variable levels of activation and are therefore gradient in nature. Their variable strength is claimed to account for numerous effects including differences between individual analytical levels, differences between languages as well as pathways of language acquisition and breakdown. English is found to be consistent in its branching direction and to have evolved its branching direction in line with the cross-level harmony constraint. Structure sensitivity is argued to be highly variable both within and across languages and consequently an unlikely candidate for a defining property of human language.

Full Product Details

Author:   Thomas Berg (University of Hamburg, Germany)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.750kg
ISBN:  

9780415542241

ISBN 10:   0415542243
Pages:   396
Publication Date:   20 September 2012
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface Chapter One: A Structural Model of Language Production Chapter Two: Constituent Structure and Branching Direction in English Chapter Three: Level-specific Differences in Hierarchicalness Chapter Four: Structural Variation across Time Chapter Five: Structural Variation across Languages Chapter Six: Branching Direction (and Hierarchicalness) from a Typological Perspective Chapter Seven: How Structure is Acquired Chapter Eight: How Structure Breaks Down Chapter Nine: Structure across Output Modalities Chapter Ten: The Whys and Wherefores of Structure Notes Bibliography Index

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Author Information

Thomas Berg is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and is the author of Language Structure and Change.

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