Review of Syntax: Structure, Meaning and Function

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Newman, John

• Syntax: Structure, Meaning and Function, henceforth Syntax, is a comprehensive and impressive Statement of a theory of syntax. The authors acknowledge certain components of the theory as being derived from other theories and the work of various individuals, but it is most obviously a development of Role and Reference Grammar. The theory as it appears here is not actually referred to as Role and Reference Grammar, indeed it is not baptized with any particular name at all. In its fundamental orientation, concepts, and notation, however, Syntax clearly continues the tradition of Van Valin & Foley (1980), Foley & Van Valin (1984), and Van Valin (1993). Indeed, quite a lot of the discussion, examples, and figures of Van Valin (1993) reappears in only a slightly changed form, and sometimes even in an unchanged form, in Syntax. The book is offered as a textbook for both introductory and advanced courses in syntax and I shall consider its appropriateness as such after reviewing other features of the book.

• Date created

  1998

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Review of Syntax: Structure, Meaning and Function, by Robert D. Van Valin, Jr. and Randy LaPolla
  • Book reviews

• Type of Item

  Review

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3697016T

• License

  © 1998 John Newman. This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.