The architecture of the human language faculty has been one of the main foci of the linguistic research of the last half century. This branch of linguistics, broadly known as Generative Grammar, is concerned with the formulation of explanatory formal accounts of linguistic phenomena with the ulterior goal of gaining insight into the properties of the 'language organ'. The series comprises high quality monographs and collected volumes that address such issues. The topics in this series range from phonology to semantics, from syntax to information structure, from mathematical linguistics to studies of the lexicon.

This book presents a development of Jean Lowenstamm's idea that phonological constituent structure can be reduced to a strict sequence of non-branching Onsets and non-branching Nuclei. The approach at hand is known as 'CVCV', and emerged from Government Phonology. Since its very beginnings in the early 80s, the central claim of this theory has been that syllable-based generalisations are due to lateral relations among constituents, rather than to the familiar arboreal structure. This book shows that Standard Government Phonology did not go far enough in implementing this idea. CVCV completes the missing steps: structure and causality are fully lateralised. Detailed discussion is offered how basic phonological objects and processes such as Codas, closed syllables, long vowels, geminates, syllabic consonants, vowel-zero alternations, closed syllable shortening, compensatory lengthening, lenition and the like can be represented within the CVCV frame. The first part of the book is called "What is CVCV ?". It presents the properties of the theory. The second part focuses on the reasons why it is worthwhile considering CVCV a valuable and viable approach. The primary goal of the book is not to engage the dialogue with other phonological theories. Rather, it aims at establishing a player in the general game: defining the properties of a theory is always prior to its comparison with other models. In the current OT-dominated phonological scene, then, CVCV appears as a true theory of the 80s insofar as it is representational at core: representations exist and are primitive, rather than arising as accidental results from a heterogeneous set of constraints. The original analyses presented in this book are grounded in the languages that the author is best familiar with, i.e. (Western) Slavic, French, German and some Semitic. Particular attention is paid to diachronic evidence in its relation to the synchronic state of languages.

Harry van der Hulst's model of Radical CV Phonology has roots in the framework of Dependency Phonology, but proposes a rather different 'geometry', which reduces the set of unary elements to just two: |C| and |V|. The model explains the phonological distinctions that function contrastively in the world's languages rather than presenting it as a 'random' list. Van der Hulst shows how this model accounts for a number of central claims about markedness and minimal specification. He explains how the representational system accounts for phonological rules and shows how this theory can be applied to sign language structure. Through comparison to other models, he also provides insight into current theories of segmental structure, commonly used feature systems, as well as recurrent controversies.

Any notion linguistically expressed, even one such as the syllable, is always the result of several different viewpoints. In order to take this into account, this book draws inspiration from the scheme of quaternion, as conceived by Sir William Rowan Hamilton and later introduced in theoretical linguistics by Ferdinand de Saussure. The first term of the quaternion (The Dawn of the Syllable) is provided by historical observations. The second term (Beyond the Sound of Syllables) is composed of different descriptive analyses of the syllable carried out in some particular languages and dialects. The third term (The Body of Syllables) presents the analytical-instrumental analysis of the syllable, while the fourth (De Syllaba Ventura) proposes some theoretical considerations.

The book is a collection of 10 papers on theoretical and applied linguistics, and is divided into two sections. Part I, devoted to Theoretical Linguistics, addresses a range of issues pertaining to phonology, morphophonology, morphology, cognitive semantics, syntax and lexicology, and consists of six chapters. Part II, Applied Linguistics, comprises four chapters, which investigate the intricacies of language acquisition, psycholinguistics and pragmatics, discourse analysis, and translation studies. The languages analysed include Polish, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Middle English, Middle French, Anglo-Norman and Bangor Welsh. Some of the phenomena analysed in the volume are the properties of Bangor Welsh diphthongs in the light of the Lateral Theory of Phonology, Polish palatalization within Element Theory, lexical convergence in Psalters, bilingual acquisition, impoliteness in talk-show political discourse, and translation and localisation of video games, among others.