Universals of Human Language: Word structure
Author | : Joseph Harold Greenberg |
Publisher | : Universals of Human Language |
Total Pages | : 488 |
Release | : 1978 |
ISBN-10 | : STANFORD:36105007959781 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (81 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: The 46 papers in this 4-volume collection pro-vide clear and certain evidence that the search for "implicational universals" of human language (that is, for valid empirical generalizations such as "if property Y exists in a language, then property X must exist as well") has established itself, once and for all, as a powerful and dynamic force in modern linguistics. Concomitantly, the collection attests to a broadened use among scholars engaged in universals re-search of a theoretical and methodological strategy-pioneered, elaborated, and most extensively applied by Joseph Greenberg- that contrasts in fundamental respects with procedures favored by generative grammarians. Finally, and most impressive of all, the papers present abundant "results," a profusion of concrete findings that should persuade even the most hardened skeptics that implicational principles have a great deal to tell about what human language is and how it got to be that way. -- from http://www.jstor.org (May 21, 2014).