Parameters have lain at the core of linguistic research in the generative tradition for decades. The theoretical questions they have raised are deep and broad: this reference text investigates how contemporary linguistics has best tried to answer them.

This book looks at how parameters might be properly defined and what their locus might be :lexical information, functional heads, the computational system, the phonological branch of the grammar. What kind of data forms trigger acquisition of a parameter? Are parameters necessary or can we study languages without making reference to them?

The questions looked at are not just theoretical: how can a theory of parameters be used to help understand second language acquisition, and what contributions can it make to the study of language typology?

This is the right time to gather all this information, dispersed in many different kinds of publications by single authors and groups, into one comprehensive volume.

This volume is a particularly welcome addition ... since it represents the first such systematic appraisal of the state of the art in parametric theory. The editors have done an excellent job at compiling an impressive volume representing the current understanding against a generative backdrop. * LINGUIST List *
This impressive set of chapters on the current understanding of parameters by some of the very best specialists is greatly to be welcomed. It constitutes compulsory reading for anyone interested in the limits of language variation. -- Guglielmo Cinque, Professor of Linguistics, Ca' Foscari University, Venice, Italy
A terrific collection of papers, this book represents the state of the art for the parametric theory of linguistic variation. I enthusiastically recommend it. -- Peter Svenonius, Professor of Linguistics, University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway

Antonio Fábregas is Professor of Hispanic Linguistics, University of Tromsø, Norway.

Jaume Mateu is Associate Professor of Catalan & Linguistics, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.

Michael Putnam is Associate Professor of German and Linguistics, Penn State University, USA.