Adger truly manages to achieve a good balance between a formal theoretical model and its empirical coverage. Each chapter includes excellent problem sets and a list of further readings... The author takes a lot of time to illustrate each derivation step by step, thus helping students to see the workings of a formal syntactic system. Another very positive characteristic is ... Read morethe approach to crosslinguistic variation, which is given consistently in terms of features.... I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a text that presents minimalist syntax in a clear way and with data from a vast array of languages."
Artemis Alexiadou, Language
This book is intended as an introduction to three things. Firstly, the fact that syntax should be carried out using a consistent set of theoretical assumptions. Secondly, as the title says, 'core' areas of syntax are covered. Finally, the methodology of theory formation is emphasised as well. Overall I would say that the book has accomplished these aims admirably. I have found this to be an excellent introduction to Minimalist Syntax, and to syntactic theorising in general. All the ideas are presented clearly. Something I found particularly good was the way examples are worked through in detail, with each instance of feature checking specified. Also, the exercises were well presented, with some particularly difficult areas such as binding dealt with clearly ... This is a high quality textbook, which I would certainly recommend.
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