Current Morphology

Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy discusses current issues in morphology within linguistic theory, giving fair coverage to all approaches which have been influential over the last twenty years. He concentrates not only on the generative linguistic mainstream, discussing the lexicalist morphology initiated by Chomsky and the syntactically oriented approaches that have developed in the `80s, but also on approaches that are less fashionable or relatively unknown to English-speaking linguists.

More specifically, Current Morphology covers: lexicalist morphology in the tradition originating with Chomsky's 1970 article "Remarks on nominalization"; more syntactically oriented generative approaches which have developed since about 1985; and approaches which have focused on questions largely neglected in the generative mainstream, e.g. the organization of inflectional paradigms and the kinds of meaning which are typically expressed morphologically.

The book is intended for readers with some knowledge of linguistics, either as practicing linguists or as intermediate-to-advanced students. It will be useful for syntacticians, phonologists, and other specialists requiring an overview of a neighboring branch of linguistic theory.