Unbounded Dependency Constructions

Rui P. Chaves is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York. His work focuses on how linguistic knowledge interfaces with cognition, and in particular with probabilistic information that shapes linguistic behavior. He has specialized in formally explicit construction-based models of grammar.Michael T. Putnam is Associate Professor of German and Linguistics at Penn State University. His research focuses on achieving a more refined understanding of linguistic phenomena along the morphology-syntax-semantics continuum. He has a particular interest in Germanic languages and the effects of bilingualism across the lifespan.

• 1: Introduction2: Extraction types3: Extraction constraints4: Movement-based approaches5: Non-movement-based approaches6: Experience-based effects7: The acquisition of UDCs8: Conclusion

The fact that Chaves and Putnam are both arguing for certain positions and setting out a research programme makes this a work of considerable importance [...] If the book has the impact that it deserves, syntactic research will come to look rather different. Put simply, there will be more work aiming to develop analyses that can be incorporated into models of language use and more work utilizing appropriate experiments to disentangle the sources of speakers' judgements. It will be an important and very welcome change, perhaps even paradigm shift.