Welcome to Linguistic Analysis
A peer-reviewed research journal publishing articles in formal phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. The journal has been in continuous publication since 1976.
ISSN: 0098-9053
Please note that Volumes, Issues, Individual Articles, as well as a yearly Unlimited Access Pass (via IP Authentication or Username-and-Password) to Linguistic Analysis are now available here for purchase and for download on this website. For more information on rates and ordering options, please visit the Rates page. We will continue to add new material so come back to visit. Please Contact us if you are interested in specific back issues.
Current Issue
Linguistic Analysis Volume 43 Issues 3 & 4 (2024)
The Status of Function Words in Dependency Grammar, edited by Timothy Osborne.
Since some of the earliest works on syntax and grammar that can be definitively acknowledged as at least partially dependency-based (e.g., Clark 1847, Reed and Kellogg 1877, Kern 1883—see Imrényi and Mazziotta’s 2020 volume of essays on the history of DG), the hierarchical status of many function words has been unclear.
Examining the more modern history of DG, there have also been diverging views about the hierarchical status of many function words. Matthews (1981: 155-6), for instance, positioned auxiliary verbs as dependents of content verbs, whereas many grammarians at the time assumed the opposite, placing auxiliary verbs as heads over content verbs (cf. Ross 1969; Hudson 1976: 150; Pullum and Wilson 1977). Similarly, most DGs position determiners as dependents of their nouns, whereas Word Grammar started placing them as heads in the 1980s (cf. Hudson 1984: 90-2). Interestingly, however, by the early 2000s a consensus had mostly been reached concerning the status of auxiliary verbs and adpositions (cf. Osborne and Maxwell 2015), both of which were being consistently analyzed as heads over their co-occurring content words. Auxiliary verbs were positioned as heads over content verbs and other predicative expressions, prepositions were seen as the roots of their phrases.
Certainly from a linguistic point of view, the hierarchical status of function words influences how dependency-based approaches to the syntax of natural languages understand sentence structures. Their status can, for instance, have a major impact on dependency distance (cf. Hudson 2000, 2003; Temperley 2007; Liu 2008) and on dependency orientation, i.e., head-initial or head-final (cf. Liu 2010).
Issues in Preparation
Volume 44, 1-2 Pot-pourri
A selection of orthodox and alternate linguistic perspectives, including an in-depth examination of phonology in classical Arabic poetry, and 3 article-length studies of English grammar by Michael Menaugh.
Note: Volume 43, 3-4, will be the last issue of the journal published in paper. Beginning with volume 44, 1-2, all issues will be available in electronic form only on this website <www.linguisticanalysis.com>. Interested parties will be able to purchase single articles, whole issues, or take advantage of the annual All-Access pass to everything.
Note: We are also uploading all past volumes and issues of the journal and expect this process to be completed by the end of 2023.
Thank you for your patience and continued support.
