This book presents the latest thinking on the nature and causes of language change. The authors consider how far changes in morphology (e.g. inflectional word endings) cause changes in syntax (e.g. word order). They examine such phenomena from the perspective of current syntactic and psycholinguistic theory, in particular addressing the issues raised by the hypothesis that grammatical change is driven by how children acquire language.

This book presents the latest thinking on the nature and causes of language change. The authors consider how far changes in morphology (e.g. inflectional word endings) cause changes in syntax (e.g. word order). They examine such phenomena from the perspective of current syntactic and psycholinguistic theory, in particular addressing the issues raised by the hypothesis that grammatical change is driven by how children acquire language.

This study treats human language as the manifestation of a faculty of the mind, which is seen as a mental organ whose nature is determined by human biology and whose functional properties should be explored as physiology explores the functional properties of physical organs. The book surveys the nature of the language faculty in its various aspects: the systems of sounds, words, and syntax, the development of language in the child and historically, what is known about its relation to the brain.

Work on the movement of phrasal categories has been a central element of syntactic theorizing since the earliest work on generative grammar. Work on the movement of lexical elements, heads, however, has been much less central until recent years. Chomsky's Empty Category Principle, requiring empty elements to be properly governed and requiring certain movement traces to act as proper governors, stimulated research on the properties of heads and how they behave with respect to movement operations. This in turn led to Travis' Head Movement Constraint and Baker's work on incorporation, and to...

New languages are constantly emerging, as existing languages diverge into different forms. To explain this fascinating process, we need to understand how languages change and how they emerge in children. In this pioneering study, David Lightfoot explains how languages come into being, arguing that children are the driving force. He explores how new systems arise, how they are acquired by children, and how adults and children play different, complementary roles in language change. Lightfoot makes an important distinction between 'external language' (language as it exists in the world), and...

New languages are constantly emerging, as existing languages diverge into different forms. To explain this fascinating process, we need to understand how languages change and how they emerge in children. In this pioneering study, David Lightfoot explains how languages come into being, arguing that children are the driving force. He explores how new systems arise, how they are acquired by children, and how adults and children play different, complementary roles in language change. Lightfoot makes an important distinction between 'external language' (language as it exists in the world), and...

A language develops over time, it develops in a child, and the capacity for language has evolved in the human species.

On behalf of the Steering Committee we are pleased to present the proceedings of the 2006 Joint Modular Languages Conference (JMLC), organized by Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK and held at Jesus College, Oxford. The mission of JMLC is to explore the concepts of well-structured programming languages and software and those of teaching good design and programming style. JMLC 2006 was the seventh in a series of successful conferences with themes including the construction of large and distributed software systems, and software en- neering aspects in new and dynamic application areas. We...

This study treats human language as the manifestation of a faculty of the mind, which is seen as a mental organ whose nature is determined by human biology and whose functional properties should be explored as physiology explores the functional properties of physical organs. The book surveys the nature of the language faculty in its various aspects: the systems of sounds, words, and syntax, the development of language in the child and historically, what is known about its relation to the brain.

This volume provides an authoritative overview of Government and Binding Theory, and -- in crucial new papers by Noam Chomsky and Alec Marantz -- of the subsequent development of the Minimalist Program.