Towards an Elegant Syntax

Developments in the study of natural language syntax have suggested that theoretical elegance is an aim that should be more central in this area of investigation. This collection of essays, written between 1980 and 2001, places the search for theoretical elegance at centre stage. The author shows that although the conceptual difference between "elegance" and the minimalist search for "perfection" may appear to be subtle, its consequences are in fact wide ranging and radical. These considerations lead to a markedly different and novel theory of syntax where most of the major features of minimalism, such as derivation, economy, merge, move, phrases and projection, are not just reanalysed or shifted to other components but in a majority of cases are dispensed with completely or reduced to much simpler notions. The four-part structure of this book investigates the rise of elegant syntax. Articles in the first part of the book examine the search for theoretical elegance within the principles and parameters approach. Essays in the second part (written in the 1980s) show how elegance becomes an organizing principle in the study of syntax. The second and third parts of this volume chronicl

'There are priceless lessons for any serious student of syntax to learn from Brody's TES ... This work is a marvellous course in theory construction: the reader witnesses how Brody's conception of elegant syntax has been shaped and sharpened through the different stages of theoretical/technical development.' - Linguist List'For close to a decade now, Michael Brody's publications have influenced linguistic theory to a considerable extent. Towards an Elegant Syntax (TES) is the best testimony tp that influence, as it retraces Brody's trajectory as a leader in syntactic theorizing.' - Linguistics, Volume 41

Michael Brody is Professor of Linguistics at University College London and Scientific Advisor at the Linguistics Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.