Book review of "Basic Linguistic Theory" by R.M.W. Dixon, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

[Extract] Volumes 1 and 2 of Basic linguistic theory are the first of a three-volume set scheduled to be completed in 2011. The front matter describes the work as a 'new and fundamental characterization of the nature of human language and a comprehensive guide to their description and analysis'. This is an accurate portrayal. These books are monumental and destined to become classics, [End Page 899] equatable to the two volumes entitled Language by Sapir (1921) and Bloomfield (1933), and to Givón's Syntax, volumes 1 (1984) and 2 (1990), but in each case surpassing them in scope, detail, rigor, and coherence. Dixon presents a complete, fully articulated, and cohesive explication of grammar, with extensive elaboration on every major grammatical structure found in the world’s languages, as well as many minor ones