Mark C. Baker investigates the fundamental nature of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. He claims that the various superficial differences found in particular languages have a single underlying source which can be used to provide better definitions of these "parts of speech." The new definitions are supported by data from languages from every continent. Baker's book argues for a formal, syntax-oriented, and universal approach to the parts of speech, as opposed to the functionalist, semantic, and relativist approaches that have dominated the subject.

Henry Smith develops a theory of syntactic case and examines its synchronic and diachronic consequences. Within a unification-based framework, he draws out pervasive patterns in the relationship between morphosyntax "linking" and grammatical function. Beginning with a detailed study of dative substitution in Icelandic, the author moves on to examine a wide array of synchronic and diachronic data and to construct a typology of case.

Panel methods employing surface distributions of source and vortex singularities based on the solution of boundary integral equations have been extensively used for modeling external and internal aerodynamic flows. Part 1 describes the surface vorticity method and illustrates applications of this technique over a wide range of engineering problems in aerodynamics and turbomachines, including lifting aerofoils and cascades, mixed-flow and rotating cascades for fans, pumps or turbines, meridional flows in turbomachines, flow past axisymmetric bodies, ducts and ducted propellers or fans. Part 2...

This is the first detailed study of the behavior in war of the military aristocracy in England and Normandy from the Norman Conquest to the reign of King John (1066-1217). Though methods of warfare are integral to the book, the emphasis is on conduct in battle and siege rather than with tactics and strategy. It explores ideas of ransom and the treatment of prisoners, the extent to which there was a "brotherhood in arms" among noble opponents, and how the knights treated the peasantry and churchmen in wartime.

This study uses evidence from early English poetry to determine when certain sound changes took place in the transition from Old to Middle English. It builds on the premise that alliteration in early English verse reflects faithfully the identity and similarity of stressed syllable onsets; it is based on the acoustic signal and not on the visual identity of letters. Examination of the behaviour of onset clusters leads to new conclusions regarding the causes for the special treatment of sp-, st-, sk-, and the chronology and motivation of cluster reduction.

This new and important study of semantic change examines the various ways in which new meanings arise through language use, especially the ways in which speakers and writers experiment with uses of words and constructions. Drawing on extensive research from over a thousand years of English and Japanese textual history, Traugott and Dasher show that most changes in meaning originate in and are motivated by the associative flow of speech and conceptual metonymy.

Slavic Prosody is about the Slavic languages and how they changed over time, especially in their syllable structure and accent patterns. This is not a traditional comparative grammar but rather a discussion of selected problems in Slavic and how they relate to contemporary linguistic theory.

In this extraordinary new work, Dr. Backhouse undertakes a semantic study of taste terms in modern spoken Japanese. Through an investigation of the range of vocabulary available for the description of taste qualities, and their interrelationship in terms of meaning, Dr. Backhouse presents a sensitive elucidation of the structure of Japanese taste terms, which has significant implications for anthropological linguistics. He explores important semantic issues, such as the relationship between evaluative and descriptive meaning, the intralinguistic mechanisms at work in metaphor, and draws...

Matthew Chen's landmark study offers the most comprehensive analysis to date of the rich and complex patterns of tone used in Chinese languages. Chinese has a wide repertoire of tones that undergo often surprising changes when they are connected in speech flow. This tonal alternation is known as tone sandhi. Chen examines tone sandhi phenomena across a variety of Chinese dialects. His book is the culmination of a ten-year research project and explores a range of important theoretical issues against a wealth of empirical data not previously accessible to linguists.

Alessandra Giorgi and Giuseppe Longobardi's important study of the argument structure of lexical projections, in particular of noun phrases, makes substantial advances in this relatively neglected area. Working within a Government and Binding framework, the authors present strong new arguments in favor of the existence of empty categories, and evidence for the correct understanding of word order parameters and of Chomsky's Projection Principle. In particular, they elaborate and discuss a number of tests intended to define under which lexical and syntactic conditions an empty prenominal...