Subject: new books in syntax & morphology

syntax & morphology spontaneous spoken language : syntax and discourse jim miller , university of edinburgh , and regina weinert , university of sheffield the authors examine the types of clauses used by people when they are speaking off the cuff . they also analyze the devices speakers use when organizing larger chunks of language , such as conversations . using data from english , german , and russian , they develop a systematic analysis of spoken english and highlight cross-language properties . they argue that there are major and systematic differences between spoken and written language , and conclude by exploring the implications of their findings for typology , first-language acquisition , and education . may 1998 472 pp . ; 1 linecut 0-19 - 823656 - 5 $ 115 . 00 oxford university press coordination janne bondi johannessen , university of oslo ( oxford studies in comparative syntax ) johannessen focuses on coordination , i . e . structures with conjunctions such as and , but , and or . these are important words in their constructions because they have many properties in common with categories like verbs and prepositions . she has analyzed thirty-three languages and has found many striking similarities , presenting the first study of coordination from a cross-linguistic perspective . her theory of syntactic coordination aims to be general and universal , and is broadly compatible with chomsky 's minimalist framework . june 1998 304 pp . 0-19 - 823772 - 3 paper $ 35 . 00 0-19 - 823709 - x cloth $ 85 . 00 oxford university press _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ for more information about linguistics titles from oxford university press : visit the oxford university press usa web site at http : / / www . oup-usa . org or e-mail : linguistics @ oup-usa . org
