This ground-breaking volume sets out an original model of the dynamics of language processing, which can be used to explain the structural properties of language in a simple and elegant way. The model is introduced both informally and formally, and is applied to a range of languages.Alongside formal definitions, the authors use step-by-step derivations and detailed lexical definitions to illustrate this new form of syntactic analysis and to show how the model can be applied to a broad range of languages. In this way, the reader gets a sense of the rich potential the framework provides for general application to linguistic analysis.In bringing together explanations of knowledge of language, and the way language is used in parsing, the book challenges basic assumptions of linguistic theory, and is an essential read for anyone interested in what it means to know a language.