The Logic of Markedness / Edition 1

by Edwin L. Battistella

Overview

Theories of language espoused by linguists during much of this century have assumed that there is a hierarchy to the elements of language such that certain constructions, rules, and features are unmarked while others are marked; "play" for example, is unmarked or neutral, while "played" or "player" is marked. This opposition, referred to as markedness, is one of the concepts which both Chomskyan generative grammar and Jakobsonian structuralism appear to share, yet which each tradition has treated differently.

Battistella studies the historical development of the concept of markedness in the Prague School structuralism of Roman Jakobson, its importation into generative linguistics, and its subsequent development within Chomsky's "principles and parameters" framework. He traces how structuralist and generative linguistics have drawn on and expanded the notion of markedness, both as a means of characterizing linguistic constructs and as a theory of the innate language faculty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195103946
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/22/1996
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.82(d)
Lexile:	1530L (what's this?)

About the Author

Wayne State College

Editorial Reviews

"The Logic of Markedness is a good book to have around; it provides historical grounding for the concepts disclosed, placing them in a large, theoretical setting."—English Language Notes

From the Publisher