It is a privilege for me to introduce readers to what I look upon as a gem of scientific theory construction in the field of language, a new and refreshing theory of syntax and syntax acquisition that should command the attention of all those concerned with language and its learning. Moulton and Robinson provide a new and satisfying orientation to many of the issues that have occupied linguists and psycholinguists since the advent of the Chomsky an revolution more than two decades ago. It draws upon the best features of modern behavioral and cognitive approaches.

There are at least three respects in which the Moulton-Robinson theory is distinctive.

First, it emphasizes the language learner's or user's powers of conceptualization as a basis for the organization of language structure, and stresses the role of the nonlinguistic environment in helping language learners to acquire that structure as it is realized in a particular language. These matters have been too long neglected in standard linguistic and psycholinguistic theories.

Second, it is explicit about what kinds of grammatical objects or entities are involved in language use and acquisition. These grammatical objects are structures embodied in the authors' highly original “orrery” and “syntax crystal” models, based on their notions of “scope” and “dependency.” The authors specify how these structures are manifested in particular constructions and arrangements in the English language – their “syntax modules.”