Tone in Chinese languages is distinct in two aspects: (i) the complexity in the tonal make-up and (ii) widespread sandhi. The former is often attributed to underlying complexity in tonal inventories and the latter to triggers immediately adjacent to the sandhi site. Morphosyntax, though highly relevant, is often left unarticulated in the description of tonal inventories and processes. This chapter unravels four major aspects in which morphosyntax condition tonal processes (a) the licensing and/or generation of tonal contours, (b) the neutralization of tone, (c) the triggering and blocking of sandhi; and (d) the impact on tonal prosody. While phonological patterns in other languages are sensitive to the word- and post-lexical levels divide, it is the structural constituency that is often more relevant than syntactic category in Chinese tonal processes. Lest one overstates the power of morphosyntax, note also that morphosyntactic conditioning of tonal processes is likely mediated through alignment and interface with prosody structure. Thus morphosyntax plays not a deterministic role, but a substantially contributive one in the intricacies of tonal processes in Chinese.

Morphosyntax describes the form and function of grammatical constructions in the world’s languages. The form of constructions includes both syntactic structure and relevant morphology. The function of constructions includes both information content (semantics) and information packaging of the content. The same semantic content can be packaged in different ways. The approach in this textbook is crosslinguistic and empirical: we compare grammatical constructions across languages and describe patterns of variation, universals constraining variation, and diachronic processes that give rise to the variation. Crosslinguistic comparison is done using crosslinguistically valid concepts (comparative concepts). Crosslinguistic constructions are defined as all grammatical forms expressing a particular function. Strategies are crosslinguistically defined formal means for expressing a function. The analysis of grammatical structure in a particular language is the categorization of constructions in the language by their form and their function. Language-particular analysis of constructions and crosslinguistic analysis of constructions can be united via the function of the construction.

The sociolinguistic situation of the Channel Islands has meant that English has been spoken there alongside the native language, Norman, for several centuries, albeit in a diglossic relationship, with English assuming “High” functions (administration, legislation, education, media, and so forth) and Norman “Low” functions (familiar discourse with family and friends). The fact that, today, all speakers of the three extant varieties of Insular Norman (Jèrriais, Guernesiais, and Sercquiais) are also fluent in English has had far-reaching linguistic consequences in that the Norman spoken in the Channel Islands has diverged from the varieties spoken on the French mainland, and distinctive local varieties of Channel Island English have developed. Based on original data, this chapter provides an overview of the sociolinguistic setting that gave rise to this language contact and discusses some representative examples of contact-induced influence in the lexis, phonology, and morphosyntax of both Channel Island Norman and Channel Island English.

This chapter models structural variation among Spanish varieties with a special focus on Latin America. Based on a database built on secondary sources, the author analyses structural data from 48 Spanish varieties and contact varieties. The results of the analysis show that contact influence is reflected in the grouping of varieties, especially from a global perspective. Among Latin American varieties, regional groupings appear, showing also traces of contact for individual varieties and the influence of national standards. The results reflect previous classifications of Spanish varieties, and show the usefulness of computational methods in comparative studies of global Spanish variation.

Usama Soltan brings his considerable expertise in generative theory to bear on Arabic morphosyntax in Arabic dialects and in Standard Arabic. He focuses on three topics: agreement phenomena, case marking, and negation structures. Using a Principles and Parameters approach, he discusses subject-verb agreement asymmetry (SVAA) in Standard Arabic and first conjunct agreement in both Standard Arabic and in Arabic vernacular. As he notes, both these topics have garnered the interest of generative linguists in terms of their wider impact on general grammatical theory. Case marking, his second topic, pertains to Standard Arabic only, but is rich in history, analysis, and speculative theory within the Arabic linguistic tradition. Soltan focuses on subject and object marking of NPs, noting the difference between case assigners for each and discussing the role of syntactic government. The morphosyntax of negation is Soltan’s third topic, contrasting the various negation processes of Standard Arabic with the extensive negative formulations of Cairene Egyptian Arabic (CEA) and finding ‘a rich ground for the analysis of clausal structure and its implications’ where the study of the syntax of modern Arabic dialects contributes significantly to general linguistic theory.

This chapter discusses some grammatical features of 'African urban youth languages', focusing on Camfranglais in Cameroonian cities such as Yaoundé and Douala. While anti-languages have been characterised as parasitic styles of speaking that graft onto the grammar of another language, developing an ephemeral emblematic lexicon but little or no grammatical structures of their own, Camfranglais stands out in that its grammatical features cannot be entirely reduced to a (Standard) French matrix. Rather, it presents various phonological, morphological and syntactical properties mostly transferred from Cameroonian Pidgin English and its Bantoid substrate languages, most probably via a spectrum of varieties of Cameroonian French. However, as long as the distribution of these features along the continuum Camfranglais–Cameroonian Pidgin English–second-language varieties of French (and English) remains unclear, it cannot be decided whether Camfranglais has indeed developed a hybrid grammar peculiar to itself. On the functional level, Camfranglais retains some typical anti-language characteristics with a tendency to expand as a style of speaking that indexes positive values such as integration, solidarity, progressiveness and a cosmopolitan Cameroonian identity.

Chapter 2, The Gifted Language Learner, outlines the long-standing fascination in SLA with those who are able to reach a native-like level in a second language (L2). Up to now, gifted language learning (GLL) is nearly exclusively investigated in terms of cognitive processing, e.g., as a function of aptitude, memory or musical talent, rather than as an outgrowth of language contact or cultural affiliation.

Understanding the need for greater consistency in empirical work in this area, we specify what “native-likeness” looks like in linguistic terms for lexicon, morphosyntax, phonology, pragmatics, etc. We also dig deeply into case studies of exceptional L2 learners in order to find commonalities in their approach. These in-depth examinations bring a number of issues into sharp focus, and build the argument that GLL is not the result of any singular source of influence. The interaction of numerous factors, playing out in context, tells the real tale.

This chapter gives an introductory overview of the strategies used in mainland Southeast Asian languages for making verbal predications in the core of clauses. There is an overview of verbal marking including patterns of negation, aspect, and modality. An important feature of the area’s languages is the heavy reliance on serial verb constructions (or multi-verb constructions) for packaging information in clauses and sentences. The chapter surveys various sub-categories of multi-verb construction, including depictive/adverbial constructions and complementation strategies. The chapter closes with a section on valency-changing strategies, including syntactic causatives, reflexives, and reciprocals.

This chapter gives an introductory overview of the patterns of reference and nominal syntax in the languages of mainland Southeast Asia. The chapter begins with the principles by which head nouns are modified, for example by adjectives or relative clauses, or in possessive constructions. Many languages of the area have systems of nominal classification, especially numeral classifiers and class terms. Personal pronoun systems range from extremely simple, such as in certain varieties of Chinese, to extremely complex, such as in the systems of Thai, Burmese, or Cambodian, whose systems of pronouns show elaborate distinctions in social-hierarchical structure and politeness. Demonstrative systems of the area span the range of complexity, ranging from two-term systems to systems with eight or more distinctions.

This chapter explores the relationships between grammar and intercultural communicative competence. It discusses what we mean by ‘grammar,’ the nature of L2 grammatical development, and key concepts in teaching L2 grammar. This discussion is followed by a re-evaluation of the native-speaker ideal, morphosyntactic language variation, the local situatedness of grammar, and deploying grammar for creating social meaning. The chapter concludes with practical suggestions for teaching L2/Lx grammar with an intercultural communication orientation, as well as sample language teaching tasks and activities.