The Universal Structure of Categories: Towards a Formal Typology

By Martina Wiltschko

Book Overview

Using data from a variety of languages such as Blackfoot, Halkomelem, and Upper Austrian German, this book explores a range of grammatical categories and constructions, including tense, aspect, subjunctive, case and demonstratives. It presents a new theory of grammatical categories - the Universal Spine Hypothesis - and reinforces generative notions of Universal Grammar while accommodating insights from linguistic typology. In essence, this new theory shows that language-specific categories are built from a small set of universal categories and language-specific units of language. Throughout the book the Universal Spine Hypothesis is compared to two alternative theories - the Universal Base Hypothesis and the No Base Hypothesis. This valuable addition to the field will be welcomed by graduate students and researchers in linguistics.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1009342452
• ISBN13: 9781009342452
• Release Date: December 2022
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"