This volume differs from other collections because the essays it contains are specially written to address a particular theme. Its subject - Universal Grammar - is a central one in theoretical linguistics. Accessibly written and, now in paperback, it will be useful to advanced undergraduates.

This wide-ranging collection of essays provides penetrating insight into a variety of views on grammatical theory from a number of leading linguists. Contributors such as John Anderson and Jim Miller address, in different ways, the semantic basis for syntactic relations. John Alyons develops a theme underlying his work on "notional grammar"--the relationship between ontology and language. Steve Pulman's work on prepositional relatives in English, and Andrew Radford's essay on exclamative particles in modern spoken French, provide a detailed study of particular constructions in one language. The volume also contains a wealth of original work by leading figures in Universal Grammar such as Bernard Comrie on reference tracking systems, Bob Dixon on grammatical relations, Greville Corbett on gender systems, and John Hawkins on the explanation of Language Universals.