The book aims at providing a precise description of part of the Gothic syntax in the context of a formal theory of syntax. The following questions are addressed: To what extent can Gothic - despite its limited corpus - be used as data material? Further, which of the ascertained syntactic characteristics does Gothic have in common with other old Indo-European languages? Which of these features can be characterized as typically Germanic? It is shown that - despite a certain Greek influence - the Gothic Bible is indeed a rich source of data which can with some certainty be regarded as typically Gothic. Phenomena concerning the left periphery like personal pronouns, topicalization, left-dislocation and discourse particles are described and discussed within the generative framework, with additions from pragmatic and cognitive linguistics for those issues where syntax seems to be inadequate to cover the whole range of the phenomena concerned. The readership aimed at is that of linguists and philologists, and of scholars interested in the interrelation between both disciplines.

This book examines the diachronic development of negation in Low German, from Old Saxon to Middle Low German. It is the first substantial diachronic analysis of these changes and looks at both the development of standard negation and the changing interaction between the expression of negation and indefinites in its scope.

This handbook provides a critical guide to the most central proposition in modern linguistics: the notion, generally known as Universal Grammar, that a universal set of structural principles underlies the grammatical diversity of the world's languages. Part I considers the implications of Universal Grammar for philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language, and examines the history of the theory. Part II focuses on linguistic theory, looking at topics such as explanatory adequacy and how phonology and semantics fit into Universal Grammar. Parts III and IV look respectively at the insights derived from UG-inspired research on language acquisition, and at comparative syntax and language typology, while part V considers the evidence for Universal Grammar in phenomena such as creoles, language pathology, and sign language. The book will be a vital reference for linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists.

The bibliography includes material published from 2010 to 2012. Following on from the first bibliography (Brill, 1988) and its updates (Brill 2006, 2008, 2011) this volume covers recent literature on: Archaeology, Liturgy, Monasticism, Iberian-Gallic Patristics, Paleography, Linguistics, Germanic and Muslim Invasions, and more. In addition, peoples such as the Vandals, Sueves, Basques, Alans and Byzantines are included. The book contains author and subject indexes and is extensively cross-indexed for easy consultation. A periodicals index of hundreds of journals accompanies the volume. Further updates are to be expected at intervals of three years.

This volume presents the first comprehensive generative account of the historical syntax of German. Leading scholars in the field survey a range of topics and offer new insights into central aspects of clause structure and word order, outlining the different stages of their historical development. Each chapter combines a solid empirical basis with descriptive generalizations, supported by a detailed discussion of theoretical analyses couched in the generative framework. Reference is also made throughout to the more traditional descriptive model of the German clause. The volume is divided into three parts that correspond to the main parts of the clause. Part I explores the left periphery, looking at verb placement (verb second and competing orders), the prefield, and adverbial connectives, while Part II discusses the middle field, including pronominal syntax, the order of full NPs, and the history of negation. The final part examines the right periphery with chapters covering basic word order (OV/VO), prosodic and information-structural factors, and the verbal complex. The book will be a valuable resource for researchers and students in historical syntax and the Germanic languages, and for both descriptive and theoretical linguists alike.

Particle verbs (combinations of two words but lexical units) are a notorious problem in linguistics. Is a particle verb like look up one word or two? It has its own entry in dictionaries, as if it is one word, but look and up can be split up in a sentence: we can say He looked the information up and He looked up the information. But why can't we say He looked up it? In English look and up can only be separated by a direct object, but in Dutch the two parts can be separated over a much longer distance. How did such hybrid verbs arise and how do they function? How can we make sense of them in modern theories of language structure? This book sets out to answer these and other questions, explaining how these verbs fit into the grammatical systems of English and Dutch.