Grammar of Raising and Control - by William D Davies & Stanley Dubinsky (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The Grammar of Raising and Control surveys analyses across a range of theoretical frameworks from Rosenbaum's classic Standard Theory analysis (1967) to current proposals within the Minimalist Program, and provides readers with a critical understanding of these, helping them in the process to develop keen insights into the strengths and weaknesses of syntactic arguments in general.

• Distills a very successful graduate course in syntax from two prominent figures in the field, covering analyses from a range of theoretical frameworks.
  
• Provides readers with an understanding of the various perspectives represented in generative syntax, using a particular class of grammatical constructions as a means of examining the evolution of syntactic theory over the last thirty years.
  
• Helps students to develop keen insights into the strengths and weaknesses of syntactic arguments.
  
• Includes excerpts from six important works that allow students to familiarize themselves with the original literature while also providing discussion of the theoretical context in which they were written.

From the Back Cover

Where most syntax texts and readers provide a broad introduction to the components of a particular theory, The Grammar of Raising and Control: A Course in Syntactic Argumentation uses a particular class of grammatical constructions as a means of examining the evolution of syntactic theory since the 1960s. A distillation of a very successful graduate course in syntax, this book focuses primarily on raising-to-object structures, but does not fail to consider control constructions, as well as data from a wide variety of languages. The volume includes excerpts from six important works that allow students to familiarize themselves with the original literature while also providing discussion of the theoretical contexts in which they were written.

Review Quotes

"The Grammar of Raising and Control is a remarkable book by many criteria. I was extremely impressed by the skillful way in which it interweaves grammatical analysis with the history of the treatment of two central grammatical constructions, at each point zeroing in on how linguists go about arguing for structures and rules. This book belongs on the shelf of every syntactician and student of syntax."

Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington, Seattle

"This book will be appreciated both as a practical history of contemporary syntactic theory and as an innovative approach to the teaching of syntax. Its sharp and sustained focus on the interplay of data and theory makes it an especially valuable text."

Judith Aissen, University of California at Santa Cruz

About the Author

William D. Davies is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Iowa and is author of Choctaw Verb Agreement and Universal Grammar (1986).

Stanley Dubinsky is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of South Carolina. He is co-editor of Objects and Other Subjects: Grammatical Functions, Functional Categories, and Configurationality (with William D. Davies, 2001).