Let me use this post to announce Professor Jerrold M. Sadock's new book The Modular Architecture of Grammar (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics No.132). It is the latest version of Automodular Grammar (aka Autolexical Syntax), which he has been developing since early 1980s. To place an order, click here (Cambridge University Press) and/or here (Amazon.com).
What follows is just a digression. At the University of Chicago, I was privileged to work closely with Professor Sadock and became a linguist under his tutelage. In retrospect, it was a truly wonderful experience to be able to see him trying to lead a conflict of ideas to creativity. I am confident that by reading this work, everyone can achieve deep insights into the design of natural language even if s/he has differences in his/her theoretical persuasion. If you are a student of linguistics, I would particularly like you to learn how a first-ranked linguist thinks things in comparison with other grammatical frameworks.
"In this original and creative work, Sadock addresses one of the most fundamental issues in theoretical linguistics, the relationship among the different modules of grammar. He challenges established generative theory by introducing an elegant and well motivated non-derivational model of linguistic organization."
Jan Terje Faarlund, University of Oslo
Jan Terje Faarlund, University of Oslo
"Simply and clearly, Jerrold Sadock presents a new formulation of his idea that grammar is specified by a handful of completely autonomous, parallel modules, demonstrating it with stimulating accounts of major features of English."
Anthony C. Woodbury, University of Texas at Austin
