As has been variously discussed in the past, phonology and syntax manifest analogical structural properties. This volume is concerned with establishing something of the extent of these and the factors limiting them. These analogies are based on perceived similarities between the two planes of languages and the common cognitive apparatus that structures them. They reflect similarities between the respective mental domains that are represented grammatically by phonology and syntax: sound-perception and cognition. And limitations on analogy similarly reflect the differing demands of these domains ... More

As has been variously discussed in the past, phonology and syntax manifest analogical structural properties. This volume is concerned with establishing something of the extent of these and the factors limiting them. These analogies are based on perceived similarities between the two planes of languages and the common cognitive apparatus that structures them. They reflect similarities between the respective mental domains that are represented grammatically by phonology and syntax: sound-perception and cognition. And limitations on analogy similarly reflect the differing demands of these domains with which the two planes interface and their own interfacing via the lexicon. Representation by syntax of complex conceptualizations leads to greater structural elaboration, and the restricted perceptual domain grammaticalized by phonology, as well as physical constraints on its implementation as sound, imposes limitations not paralleled in syntax. The debate concerning the existence and nature of an autonomous universal grammar impinges on the notion of analogy, in so far as the latter depends on similarity in extralinguistic substance.The substantive basis, or groundedness, of both phonology and syntax is a basic analogy, as is hierarchization in terms of dependency. A range of further analogies and their compromises are also investigated: these include harmony phenomena, the redundancy of much of linearity, and the categorization of the basic unit, and associated phenomena such as contrastivity, neutralization, underspecification, polysystemicity, and grammaticalization. The greater complexity of syntax resides in properties not suitable or possible in the phonology, such as the distinction between functional and lexical categories, lexical derivation, and recursiveness and long-distance dependency.