Re: Books
| From: | Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Thursday, July 31, 2003, 2:46 |
|---|
Quoting Doug Dee <AmateurLinguist@...>:
> ianspackman@BTINTERNET.COM writes:
>
> > And while I'm at it, are there any other books essential to the
> > conlanger's bookshelf? (Not that I can afford many, but I can
> > probably stretch to another one if sufficiently recommeded!
>
> I can't think of anything really _essential_, but some books I'd recommend
> are:
>
> _Gender_ by Greville Corbett
> _Number_ by Greville Corbett
> _Case_ by Barry J. Blake
> _Ergativity_ by RMW Dixon
Right -- the Cambridge series is truly excellent for introduction
to basic typological issues. Some other ones I've found interesting /
think would be useful are:
_Case_ by Barry Blake
_Tense_ by Bernard Comrie
_Definiteness_ by Christopher Lyons
_Mood and Modality_ by F. R. Palmer
_Grammatical Roles and Relations_ by F. R. Palmer
(This last one especially should probably be read before reading
Dixon's _Ergativity_, as the latter is not a textbook so much as
a scholarly monograph)
I personally have not enjoyed Van Valin's volume _Syntax_ as it
is too closely associated with a particular syntactic theory.
=========================================================================
Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637
Reply