Parametric variation in linguistic theory refers to the systematic grammatical variation permitted by the human language faculty. This book is a defence of the parametric approach to linguistic variation, set within the framework of the Minimalist Program.

This book provides an accessible and original account of null subject phenomena, and encompasses the most recent findings and developments.

In this handbook, renowned scholars from a range of backgrounds provide a state of the art review of key developmental findings in language acquisition. The book places language acquisition phenomena in a richly linguistic and comparative context, highlighting the link between linguistic theory, language development, and theories of learning. The book is divided into six parts. Parts I and II examine the acquisition of phonology and morphology respectively, with chapters covering topics such as phonotactics and syllable structure, prosodic phenomena, compound word formation, and processing continuous speech. Part III moves on to the acquisition of syntax, including argument structure, questions, mood alternations, and possessives. In Part IV, chapters consider semantic aspects of language acquisition, including the expression of genericity, quantification, and scalar implicature. Finally, Parts V and VI look at theories of learning and aspects of atypical language development respectively.

This new edition of Andrew Radford's outstanding resource for students is a step-by-step, practical introduction to English syntax and syntactic principles, written by a globally-renowned expert in the field. Assuming little or no prior background in syntax, Radford outlines key concepts and how they can be used to describe various aspects of English sentence structure. Each chapter contains core modules focusing on a specific topic, a summary recapitulating the main points of the chapter, and a bibliographical section providing references to original source material. This edition has been extensively updated, with new analyses, exercise materials, references and a brand-new chapter on adjuncts. Students will benefit from the online workbook, which contains a vast amount of exercise material for each module, including self-study materials and a student answerbook for these. Teachers will value the extensive PowerPoints outlining module contents and the comprehensive teacher answerbook, which covers all workbook and PowerPoint exercises.

Using the Null Subject Parameter theory in cross linguistic variation, Brazilian Portuguese is studied in this book from a diachronic and a synchronic perspective, and from the language acquisition point of view.

This book considers the null-subject phenomenon, whereby some languages lack an overtly realized referential subject in specific contexts. It explores novel empirical data and new theoretical analyses covering the major approaches to null subjects in generative grammar, and examines a wide range of languages from different families.