Verb First: On the syntax of verb-initial languages

Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today #73

by Andrew Carnie (editor), Heidi Harley (editor), Sheila Ann Dooley (editor)

This collection of papers brings together the most recent crosslinguistic research on the syntax of verb-initial languages. Authors with a variety of theoretical perspectives pursue the questions of how verb-initial order is derived, and how these derivations play into the characteristic syntax of these languages. Major themes in the volume include the role of syntactic category in languages with verb-initial order; the different mechanisms of deriving V-initial order; and the universal correlates of the order. This book should be of interest to scholars who work on theoretical approaches to word order derivation, typologists, and those who work on the particular grammars of Celtic, Zapotec, Mixtec, Polynesian, Austronesian, Mayan, Salish, Aboriginal, and Nilotic languages.

445 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Professor of Linguistics
Faculty Director, Graduate College and Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs
University of Arizona