Syntax: A Generative Introduction

Citation

Carnie, A. (2021). Syntax: A Generative Introduction (4th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Chapter Summary

The book has nineteen chapters in four parts (Preliminaries, The Base, Movement and Advanced Topics), followed by a short chapter of conclusions and directions for further study, references and an index; the index ends on page 521. Every chapter in the printed contents closes with a list of ideas, rules and constraints introduced, a set of general problem sets and a set of challenge problem sets. Chapter 1, which the publisher offers as a free excerpt, opens with learning objectives and includes a further-reading list. The author explains in Chapter 1 that the book builds its theory by proposing a simple hypothesis and revising it as more data arrive, so that early rules are later refined, not simply discarded.

Part 1, Preliminaries: Chapters 1–5

Chapter 1, "Generative Grammar", treats syntax as a science. It introduces the scientific method with a worked example in which a rule about anaphors such as himself is revised from gender agreement to agreement in person, gender and number. It then compares corpora with native-speaker acceptability judgments as sources of data, and discusses syntax as part of cognitive science, competence versus performance, i-language versus e-language, learning versus acquisition, arguments for Universal Grammar, and the levels of descriptive and explanatory adequacy. Chapter 2, "Parts of Speech", Chapter 3, "Constituency, Trees, and Rules", and Chapter 4, "Structural Relations", introduce word classes, phrase structure rules, tree drawing, constituency tests, dominance, precedence and c-command. Chapter 5, "Binding Theory", applies these relations to anaphors, pronouns and R-expressions.

Part 2, The Base: Chapters 6–9

Chapter 6, "X-bar Theory", refines the simple rules of Part 1 into bar-level projections and the distinction among complements, adjuncts and specifiers, and treats word-order parameters. Chapter 7, "Extending X-bar Theory to Functional Categories", adds determiner phrases, complementizer phrases and tense, perfect, progressive and voice phrases. Chapter 8, "Constraining X-bar: Theta Theory", introduces thematic relations, theta roles, the lexicon and the Extended Projection Principle, and Chapter 9, "Theta Grids and Functional Categories", applies theta grids to complementizers, determiners and English auxiliaries.

Part 3, Movement: Chapters 10–13

Chapter 10, "Head-to-Head Movement", covers verb movement to T, T movement to C and do-support. Chapter 11, "DP Movement", starts from a puzzle for theta theory and covers passives, Case, raising and unaccusatives. Chapter 12, "Wh-movement and Locality Constraints", treats wh-questions, relative clauses, islands and the Minimal Link Condition, and Chapter 13, "A Unified Theory of Movement", unifies the movement types and discusses cross-linguistic differences, scope and covert movement.

Part 4, Advanced Topics: Chapters 14–19

Chapter 14 is "Ditransitives". Chapter 15, "Raising, Control, and Empty Categories", contrasts raising with control and introduces little pro. Chapter 16, "Ellipsis", compares LF-copying with PF-deletion. Chapter 17, "Advanced Topics in Binding Theory", revisits levels of representation and the definition of binding domain. Chapter 18, "Polysynthesis, Incorporation, and Non-configurationality", covers polysynthesis, incorporation, scrambling and non-configurationality. Chapter 19, "Merge", is the new chapter of this edition, covering external and internal Merge in about ten pages.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–5

• Falsifiable hypotheses: in Chapter 1, syntactic rules are hypotheses, and each must make predictions that data could contradict.
• Competence and performance; i-language and e-language: the distinctions between what speakers know and what they do, and between internal knowledge and its outward expression.
• Universal Grammar and the logical problem of language acquisition: the argument that the innate part of grammar is needed to explain how children acquire an unbounded system.
• Constituency and c-command: the tree-based notions on which later chapters depend.
• Binding theory: the conditions governing anaphors, pronouns and R-expressions.

Chapters 6–13

• X-bar schema with complements, adjuncts and specifiers.
• Theta roles and the Extended Projection Principle.
• Head movement, DP movement and wh-movement, with islands and the Minimal Link Condition.

Chapters 14–19

• Control and little pro, ellipsis, non-configurationality, and external and internal Merge.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A method the student can follow. Chapter 1 states and demonstrates the propose-test-revise cycle, and the part structure repeats it: according to Chapter 1, each part revises the grammar built in the one before.
• Problem sets of two kinds. The Chapter 1 excerpt shows nine general and twelve challenge problem sets, each labelled with the skills it uses and a level (such as Basic or Intermediate), with challenge sets described as sets that either question the main text or add enrichment. The publisher says the fourth edition adds problem sets to every chapter.
• Study support. The publisher lists learning objectives, discussion questions, and online resources, and Chapter 1 cross-refers to exercises in the separate Syntax Workbook.
• Data from many languages. The index lists, among others, Irish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Hebrew and Breton, and Irish and Japanese in particular recur across several parts.
• Attention to its own assumptions. A footnote in Chapter 1 records critiques of an exclusively deductive scientific approach to the study of indigenous languages, and the chapter discusses grammatical gender versus gender identity and non-binary they, consistent with the publisher's statement that new examples broaden the book's appeal.

Limitations

• One framework. The text states that it mostly follows the Principles and Parameters approach with occasional Minimalism; Lexical-Functional Grammar and Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar are covered only in bonus chapters on the book's website.
• Provisional early theory. Because rules are introduced and later replaced, a student has to learn phrase structure rules in Chapter 3 that X-bar theory revises in Chapter 6.
• Minimalism is brief. Chapter 19 on Merge is about ten pages, so readers who want current theory need further reading.
• Length and extras. The text runs to about 510 pages before the references, and the glossary and the LFG and HPSG chapters are online only.

Where It Fits in the Course

Carnie is the theory-committed core textbook of the syntax list. Burton-Roberts's Analysing Sentences is a step-by-step introduction to analysing English sentences that assumes no prior study, and Tallerman's Understanding Syntax is a largely theory-neutral, descriptive introduction drawing on data from many languages. Either suits a student who needs to learn constituents, categories and tree diagrams before committing to a framework; Carnie's Chapters 2–4 cover similar ground within a generative approach.

Chomsky's Syntactic Structures and Knowledge of Language are primary works of the tradition that Carnie teaches. They are best read after Parts 1–3 give the vocabulary of trees, movement and binding, so that their arguments can be placed in the longer development of the theory.

How to Use This Book

The publisher presents the book as a student-friendly introduction for undergraduate and graduate courses, and Chapters 2 and 3 introduce parts of speech and constituency from the start, so prior linguistics study is helpful but is not strictly required.

A practical plan:

• Core: Parts 1–3 (Chapters 1–13) in order. Do not skip Chapters 2–5, since later movement and binding chapters rely on trees and structural relations.
• Optional: Part 4 can be sampled by interest: Chapters 14–15 for argument structure and empty categories, Chapters 16–17 for ellipsis and binding, Chapter 18 for typological variety, Chapter 19 for Merge.
• Practice: do the general problem sets first and attempt the challenge sets afterwards. Add the companion Syntax Workbook for extra drawing practice.
• Alternatives: use the online chapters if a course also needs LFG or HPSG.