Formal Studies in Slovenian Syntax

Although in the early days of generative linguistics Slovenian was rarely called on in the development of theoretical models, the attention it gets has subsequently grown, so that by now it has contributed to generative linguistics a fair share of theoretically important data. With 13 chapters that all build on Slovenian data, this book sets a new milestone. The topics discussed in the volume range from Slovenian clitics, which are called on to shed new light on the intriguing Person-Case Constraint and to provide part of the evidence for a new generalization relating the presence of the definite article and Wackernagel clitics, to functional elements such as the future auxiliary and possibility modals, the latter of which are discussed also from the perspective of language change. Even within the relatively well-researched topics like wh-movement, new findings are presented, both in relation to the structure of the left periphery and to the syntax of relative clauses.

Catherine Rudin, Wayne State College, in Language 94( 1), 220-223, March 2018,:
The publication of this book is a major event in Slavic linguistics. A glance at the table of contents engenders high expectations: the contributors are a who’s who of Slovenian generative linguistics, and the topics encompass the hot issues in Slavic syntax. And reading the articles does not disappoint. It is gratifying to see so much excellent work on one ‘minor’ Slavic language: a sign of the current vitality of generative Slavic linguistics as a whole [...]. This book is a mandatory read for new and seasoned scholars in the field of heritage language acquisition, as it provides the reader with a synthesis of theoretical and empirical knowledge relevant to researchers and practitioners who work with heritage language bilinguals.