Rachel Nordlinger

A clear introduction to lexical-functional grammar (LFG), this outstanding textbook sets out a formal approach to the study of language using a step-by-step approach and rich language data. Data from English and a range of other languages is used to illustrate the main concepts, allowing those students not accustomed to working with cross-linguistic data to familiarize themselves with the theory, while also enabling those interested in how the theory can account for more challenging data sets to extend their learning. Exercises ranging from simple technical questions to analyses of a data set, as well as a further resources section with a literature review complete each chapter. The book aims to equip readers with the skills to analyze new data sets and to begin to engage with the primary LFG literature.

A clear introduction to lexical-functional grammar (LFG), this outstanding textbook sets out a formal approach to the study of language using a step-by-step approach and rich language data. Data from English and a range of other languages is used to illustrate the main concepts, allowing those students not accustomed to working with cross-linguistic data to familiarize themselves with the theory, while also enabling those interested in how the theory can account for more challenging data sets to extend their learning. Exercises ranging from simple technical questions to analyses of a data set, as well as a further resources section with a literature review complete each chapter. The book aims to equip readers with the skills to analyze new data sets and to begin to engage with the primary LFG literature.

Felicity Meakins was awarded the Kenneth L. Hale Award 2021by the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) for outstanding work on the documentation of endangered languages This volume provides the first comprehensive description of Bilinarra, a Pama-Nyungan language of the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory (Australia). Bilinarra is a highly endangered language with only one speaker remaining in 2012 and no child learners. The materials on which this grammatical description is based were collected by the authors over a 20 year period from the last first-language speakers of the language, most of whom have since passed away. Bilinarra is a member of the Ngumpin subgroup of Pama-Nyungan which forms a part of the Ngumpin-Yapa family, which also includes Warlpiri. It is non-configurational, with nominals commonly omitted, arguments cross-referenced by pronominal clitics and word order grammatically free and largely determined by information structure. In this grammatical description much attention is paid to its morphosyntax, including case morphology, the pronominal clitic system and complex predicates. A particular strength of the volume is the provision of sound files for example sentences, allowing the reader access to the language itself.

Australian Aboriginal languages have many interesting grammatical characteristics that challenge some of the central assumptions of current linguistic theory. These languages exhibit many unusual morphosyntactic characteristics that have not yet been adequately incorporated into current linguistic theory. This volume focuses on the complex properties of case morphology in these nonconfigurational languages, including extensive case stacking and the use of case to mark tense/aspect/mood. While problematic for many syntactic approaches, these case properties are given a natural and unified account in the lexicalist model of constructive case developed in this book, which allows case morphology to construct the larger syntactic context independently of phrase structure.