Presents the basic goals and tools of syntactic analysis. This book's framework is theory-neutral, presenting a scientific introduction to the field and to synchronic description. It examines variation and change, syntactic typology, language acquisition, and possible explanations from structural, evolutionary and functional perspectives.

PREFACE; PART I. INTRODUCTION; CHAPTER 1. WHAT IS SYNTAX?; 1. Preliminaries; 2. Studying the world; 3. Studying language; 4. Why syntax?; 5. Conclusions; NOTES. QUESTIONS; PART II. SYNTACTIC DESCRIPTION; CHAPTER 2. LINEAR ORDER; 1. Preliminaries; 2. Temporal relations: some possibilities; 3. Temporal relations of words: some facts; 4. Conclusions; NOTES; QUESTIONS; CHAPTER 3. SELECTION; 1. Preliminaries; 2. Selection: some possibilities; 3. Selection in syntax: some facts; 4. Conclusions; NOTES; QUESTIONS; CHAPTER 4. CATEGORIES; 1. Preliminaries; 2. Partonomy and taxonomy: some possibilities; 3. Partonomy and taxonomy in syntax: some facts; 4. Conclusions; NOTES; QUESTIONS; CHAPTER 5. SYNTAX, MEANING, AND SOUND FORM; 1. Preliminaries; 2. Symbolic equivalence: some possibilities; 3. Symbolic equivalence in syntax: some facts; 4. Conclusions; NOTES; QUESTIONS; CHAPTER 6. VARIATION AND CHANGE; 1. Preliminaries; 2. Variation and change: some possibilities; 3. Syntactic variation; 4. Syntactic change; 5. Conclusions; NOTES; QUESTIONS; PART III. CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 7. EXPLAINING SYNTAX; 1. Preliminaries; 2. Structural explanations; 3. Evolutionary explanations; 4. Functional Explanations; 5. Conclusions; NOTES; QUESTIONS; GLOSSARY; REFERENCES.