Written by a scholar known for his innovative analyses of genetically and typologically varied languages, this comprehensive introduction will not disappoint the student or teacher yearning for a more diverse sampling of languages. At the same time, the discussion is attentive to various competing syntactic formalisms and offers a firm grounding in contemporary linguistic theory along with exposure to a wide range of typological variation. Engaging and logical from beginning to end, it opens with the practical, yet intriguing question, 'How does an Aborigine from central Australia, a Basque from Spain or an inhabitant of the island of Madagascar put a sentence together?' The answer to this deceptively simple question occupies the rest of the book.