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BOOK NOTICES A theory of phrase markers and the extended base. By Robert A. Chametzky . (SUNY series in linguistics.) Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996. Pp. xxiii, 206. The principles and parameters framework of syntactic theory accounts for all syntactic phenomena in terms of structural relations such as dominance, precedence, and command. This methodological premise is conveniently referred to as the primacy of configuration (Peter W. Culicover, Principles and parameters: An introduction to syntactic theory, Oxford ; Oxford University Press, 1997). Sustaining these configurational relations is a set of standard assumptions concerning well-formed configurations used as the basis for syntactic analysis, but they are rarely themselves directly theorized, as Chametzky points out. In this work, C focuses on these configurational properties and proposes a theory about the possible base phrase structures, the minimal phrase structure theory (MPST). Insofar as the author takes this work as his theoretical attempt at tool-cleaning, it falls within the current minimalist movement in syntactic theory. The book is divided into an introduction, five chapters, and a conclusion. The chapters develop the MPST in its formal and substantive dimensions and provide an analysis of islands within the context of MPST while incorporating other insights. Arguing against the standard view of a tree as a complex 5-tuple by discussing the insights in the alternatives , in Ch. 1, 'Minimal phrase structure theory ' , C proposes the general framework of his MPST comprising two vectors, a formal theory of phrase markers (PM) with a single primitive relation, immediate dominance, and a substantive minimal X-bar theory of phrase structure reduced to a single principle , Project Alpha, with minimal and maximal projections defined structurally. The argument against precedence as a primitive explains the nonparameterizability of dominance-mediated relations. Ch. 2, 'The explanation of C-command', gives an account of C-command within the MPST, reconceived from the point of view of the commandée and generalized from the sister relation, viz., the Ccommanders of A being all the sisters of every node which dominates A. C argues that this shift of perspective allows for insight into C-command as basic among command relations, the relation itself being nonempirical and nonlinguistic, a fact which other approaches obscure. The substantive dimension ofthe theory is pursued in Ch.3, 'Coordination', and Ch.4, 'Adjuncts and adjunction ', which develop the idea of the 'extended base'. The idea is that there are PMs that are not projected from the lexicon but still are subject to the MPST. Two ways are suggested to extend the set of PMs, node joining and label joining, which respectively analyze the coordinate conjunction constructions (CCC) and adjuncts. The extended base is licensed by the rules of generalized transformation and the unextended base by Project Alpha. Ch.5, 'Islands as noncanonical phrase structure', elaborates the theory by providing an understanding of the specialness of islands, which are licensed by base-extension rules and thus belong with the periphery . So explicit phrase structure rules are reintroduced that complement generalized transformations. Problems raised by the coordinate structure constraint and wh islands are discussed in an appendix to the chapter. Finally the conclusion of the book discusses some residual issues and in particular differences from the minimalist program, which eliminates D-structure altogether. Theoretical justifications are proposed for retaining this stratum. A coherent and simple theory of PMs emerges from the elegant organization and lucid exposition. The work should be of interest to those concerned with recent minimalist work. However, in the introduction , C distances this piece of theory construction from much analytic work in syntax. Indeed very few data are discussed in the book. This may make the work hard for the uninitiated. [Ren Zhang, York University .] Linguistics in the Netherlands 1995. Ed. by Marcel den Dikken and Kees Hengeveld. Amsterdam & Philadelphia : John Benjamins, 1995. Pp. x, 238. These nineteen selected papers were presented at the 26th annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of the Netherlands held on January 21, 1995, in Utrecht. The articles concern morphology, syntax and semantics , phonetics, phonology, and language acquisition. Cécile de Barker (1-12) argues that a good deal of variation in the Old French ('/-construction results from the interaction of pro-drop...

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