Edges, Heads, and Projections

This collection deals with central issues in the syntax of clauses and their interfaces with the conceptual-intentional system. The book targets the syntactic properties that have an impact on the interpretation of discourse and temporal dependencies, functional fields including CP, pragmatic markers at the syntax-pragmatic interface, and on the possible parameterization of these properties. The papers in this volume bring to the fore the role of the edges (specifier and adjuncts), heads and projections in the grammar and at the interfaces. They address the question to what extent the relevant configurations at the level of edges, head, and projections determine the syntax/semantic, semantic/pragmatic connections. The contributions clarify the notion of edge and bring evidence that this notion is core to the analysis of various phenomena at the left periphery of clauses and phrases. This volume also discusses functional heads and their projections, particularly insofar as the properties of these heads determine the composition of the CP field, and cases where a CP may or may not be projected.

Lengji Nudiya Danjuma, University of Jos, on Linguist List 23.5104, 2012:
The effort of the editors of this volume is highly commendable. The editors not only made a careful and insightful selection of relevant papers for this volume, but also ensured that the papers met the goals of the volume. Indeed, the papers are able to put into clear perspective the notion of phrase and the importance of heads, edges, and projections on interface legibility conditions that underlie development in linguistic minimalism. These ideas allow for a systematic parameterization of phasal heads cross-linguistically. [...] This volume is a useful resource for linguists and cognitive scientists who are interested in advances in minimalism and situating language within or outside human cognitive systems. Although the volume presupposes familiarity with the basics of linguistic minimalism, as espoused in Chomsky (1995), and more recently in Chomsky (2008), among others, it is also meant for interested members of the public with a more than casual interest in developments in theoretical linguistics, particularly, in minimalist linguistics.