Categorial Features

Proposing a novel theory of parts of speech, this book discusses categorization from a methodological and theoretical point a view. It draws on discoveries and insights from a number of approaches - typology, cognitive grammar, notional approaches, and generative grammar - and presents a generative, feature-based theory. Building on up-to-date research and the latest findings and ideas in categorization and word-building, Panagiotidis combines the primacy of categorical features with a syntactic categorization approach, addressing the fundamental, but often overlooked, questions in grammatical theory. Designed for graduate students and researchers studying grammar and syntax, this book is richly illustrated with examples from a variety of languages and explains elements and phenomena central to the nature of human language.
'A welcome reconsideration of the notion of lexical category from a syntactic-decomposition perspective. Panagiotidis draws together insights from a diverse array of frameworks to formulate his central hypothesis concerning the 'perspective-taking' contribution of (N) and (V) features at LF. His proposal has explanatory power in a number of domains, particularly in providing an intuitive rationale for the long-recognized requirement that lexical roots must be categorized in order to participate in a syntactic derivation. Other outstanding contributions include the idea that the notion of 'functional' reduces to 'bears uninterpretable categorial features', and a substantive characterization of what 'semi-lexical' really means. A very stimulating read.'
Heidi Harley - University of Arizona