美国俄勒冈大学T.Givon教授是国际功能主义语言学的一位领军人物,是美国西海岸功能语法学派的代表性学者。他的众多重要著述,如《句法学导论》(Syntax:A Functional andTypological Introduction,上下册,1984年初版,2001新版),都对功能语法、类型学乃至整个语言学都产生过重要影响。2011年3月,Givon教授应邀在北京语言大学举行了一周的系列讲座,讲座主题围绕着他2009年的前沿性理论新著《句法复杂性的起源——从历时语言学、儿 Professor T. Givon of the University of Oregon is a leading figure in international functionalist linguistics and a representative scholar of the functional grammar school on the west coast of the United States. His numerous important writings, such as “Syntax: A Functional andTypological Introduction,” the first edition of 1984, the new edition of 2001, have had a significant impact on functional grammar, typology and even linguistics. In March 2011, Professor Givon was invited to hold a week-long lecture series at Beijing Language and Culture University. The lecture featured a new chapter in his 2009 frontier theory: "The Origin of Syntactic Complexity - From the Perspective of Linguistics,