Discourse Strategies (Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics)
By John J. Gumperz
* Publisher:Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages:240
* Publication Date:1982-09-30
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0521288967
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780521288965
Product Description:
To understand the role of language in public life and the social process in general, we need first a closer understanding of how linguistic knowledge and social factors interact in discourse interpretation. This volume is a major advance towards that understanding. Professor Gumperz here synthesizes fundamental research on communication from a wide variety of disciplines - linguistics, sociolinguistics, anthropology and non-verbal communication - and develops an original and broadly based theory of conversational inference which shows how verbal communication can serve either between individuals of different social and ethnic backgrounds. The urgent need to overcome such barriers to effective communication is also a central concern of the book. Examples of conversational exchanges as well as of longer encounters, recorded in the urban United States, village Austria, South Asia and Britain, and analyzed to illustrate all aspects of the analytical approach, and to show how subconscious cultural presuppositions can damagingly affect interpretation of intent and judgement of interspeaker attitude. The volume will be of central interest to anyone concerned with communication, whether from a more academic viewpoint or as a professional working, for example, in the fields of interethnic or industrial relations.
Formal Semantics and Pragmatics for Natural Language Querying (Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science)
By James Clifford
* Publisher:Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages:210
* Publication Date:1990-06-29
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0521354331
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780521354332
Product Description:
This discussion of the connection between two areas of semantics, namely the semantics of databases and the semantics of natural language, links them via a common view of the semantics of time. It is argued that a coherent theory of the semantics of time is an essential ingredient for the success of efforts to incorporate more "real world" semantics into database models. This idea is a relatively recent concern of database research but it is receiving growing interest. The book opens with a discussion of database querying that motivates the use of the paradigm of Montague Semantics and discusses the details of the intensional logic ILs. This is followed by a description of the author's own model, the Historical Relational Data Model (HRDM), which extends the RDM to include a temporal dimension. Finally the database querying language QEIII is defined and examples illustrate its use. A formal model for the interpretation of questions is presented in this work; it will form the basis for much further research. This text will be valuable for graduate students and researchers in theoretical computer science.
The Organization of Language
By Janice Moulton, George M. Robinson
* Publisher:Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages:400
* Publication Date:1981-02-27
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0521231299
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780521231299
Product Description:
What are the essential features that permit a sentence to convey a complex idea? What must language users do in order to produce and understand meaningful sentences? And what enables humans, and perhaps apes and robots, to learn this remarkable skill? Janice Moulton and George Robinson offer a fresh and readable approach to these questions. They present an important new theory that clarifies the relationship of language to thought. This theory, which will attract considerable critical attention, combines a general analysis of language with an original cognitive model of syntax and language acquisition; it is a refreshing alternative to recent theories that attempt to formalize all aspects of the relationship of language to thought. The authors provide a helpful review of current theories- including transformational grammar and case theory- and show how they are related to their own 'orrery' and 'syntax crystal' formulations. This book includes a series of simple simulations and 'games' to help readers master the model and test for themselves how well the theory explains the complexities of human language. An appendix describes a computer model that closely follows the authors' description of language processing. This clear account will be of interest to people concerned with language from a variety of perspectives: linguists, cognitive and developmental psychologists, philosophers, computer scientists, and their students will all find it a work of major significance, one that both advances theory and provides a stimulating introduction to the field.
Summary: One of the best treatments of language ever written
Rating: 5
This book is a gem of knowledge and analysis. I believe it to be the best book on linguistics and natural language ever written. The writing is clear, the arguments concise and cogent. I believe the book has stood the tests of time intact.The essential strength of the logic and analytic treatment of language remain exceptionally powerful. The book should have caused a revolution in the field when it was first published. Instead, it has been under appreciated by the mainstream, especially the adherents of the Choamsky view of language, which I believe, has been to their detriment. The book will be useful to those enaged in developmental psychology, and philosophy, as well as those interested in language and linguistics. I highly recommend this book.
Semantic Processing for Finite Domains (Studies in Natural Language Processing)
By Martha Stone Palmer
* Publisher:Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages:212
* Publication Date:1990-09-28
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0521362261
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780521362269
Product Description:
A primary problem in the area of natural language processing has been semantic analysis. This book looks at the semantics of natural languages in context. It presents an approach to the computational processing of English text that combines current theories of knowledge representation and reasoning in Artificial Intelligence with the latest linguistic views of lexical semantics. The book will interest postgraduates and researchers in computational linguistics as well as industrial research groups specializing in natural language processing.
Exceptional Language Development in Down Syndrome: Implications for the Cognition-Language Relationship (Cambridge Monographs and Texts in Applied Psycholinguistics)
By Jean A. Rondal
* Publisher:Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages:368
* Publication Date:1995-05-26
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0521361672
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780521361675
Product Description:
Advanced language acquisition is possible in spite of serious mental handicap. This is the conclusion reached at the end of a thorough study of the language of a Down syndrome adult woman, exhibiting virtually normal expressive and receptive grammar. This case, presented in this book, is compared to a small number of other exceptional cases of language development in mental retardation. The findings are powerful arguments against the claim that the acquisition of grammar is determined by prior nonlinguistic cognitive achievements. Moreover, data analysis and comparison with other observations in language pathology (specific language impaired children, aphasic syndromes, degenerative syndromes, dementias) suggest that linguistic knowledge consists of independent but interacting modules. These data also supply interesting arguments in favor of a conception of grammatical development as the gradual unfolding of innate species-specific dispositions, and undoubtedly this book will appeal to researchers and advanced students in language development, developmental psychopathology and special education.
Summary: An example of academic rigitity at its worst.
Rating: 1
Rondal reports on a person with Down syndrome who is communicating at a level above that to be expected from people with Down syndrome. Does he raise his estimate of her intelligence (or of the maximum intelligence of people with Down syndrome? No, he does not. Instead, he declares that communiation at that level requires less intelligence than has formerly been thought. An example of academic rigitity at its worst.
Advances in Language And Education (Continuum Studies in Linguistics)
By Rachel Whittaker, Anne Mccabe, Mick O'donnell
* Publisher:Continuum
* Number Of Pages:277
* Publication Date:2007-08-30
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0826489605
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780826489609
Product Description:
This book examines new functional approaches to language and education, and the impact of these on literacy in the classroom. The first section looks at issues of multimodality, in which the definition of a text is expanded to include not only that which is written down, but also the interaction of writing, graphics, and audiovisual material. The contributors explores ways in which language education can be expanded to deal with multimodal discourse, whether in children's books, in textbooks, or on the web. The second section looks at how critical discourse analysis and appraisal theory can be used as tools for assessing the effectiveness of student writing and literacy achievement, and also for helping developing writers to write more successfully. The final section argues that corpus-based studies of language have changed the way we see language, and that the way we teach language should evolve in line with these changes. This appealling survey of new directions in language and education includes contributions from internationally renowned scholars. It will be of interest to researchers in systemic functional linguistics, or language and education.
The Linguist: A Personal Guide to Language Learning
By Steve Kaufmann
* Publisher:The Linguist Institute
* Number Of Pages:146
* Publication Date:2003-07-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0973339403
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780973339406
Product Description:
It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.
Summary: The best and the only way to be proficient in other languages
Rating: 5
Have you tried to learn foriegn language? How was it? Are you successful and finally be able to speak fluently? If not, you did it in a wrong way. Here's the answer in the book!
If you want to learn foriegn language and be fluent, just listen and read as much as possible! Of course, you need strong motivation on it. In this way, an author could be fluent in 10 languages. Can't believe? I also experienced that this way works better than any other way of learning language before reading this book. Believe me and this book! It's the best way , at the same time, the only way to be proficient in foriegn language. A.. I'm native Korean and fluent in English without spending money on private academy or any other study materials. Only thing I did was just listen various sources of English video and audio on the web and read books.
Summary: Inspirational
Rating: 4
I only wish I would have read this book in the begenning of my language studies. It would have helped me overcome some of the barriers of learning a new language sooner. Currently I am fluent in Korean and proficient in German, Japanese, and Spaniish. After reading this book I am ready to push harder and become fluent in several languages. The story was interesting putting his life in perspective and showing how he learned. A must have for anyone interested in learning several languages.
Summary: Interesting book
Rating: 4
I think Kaufmann's book is very interesting. He tells his story about his life of language learning and how he didn't rely on grammar lessons. This book is similar to Barry Farber's book who also rejected learning grammar; he accepted learning by communicating. I wrote a book in which I wrote down how I learn languages. I'm very traditional; I like to know the grammar. My book is more like a primer that can be use with another grammar book.
One thing I had a serious problem with in this book is Kaufmann's definition of the word "linguist." A linguist is not anybody who can speak two or more languages. That's the old definition of "linguist." A person who speaks two or more languages is called a "polyglot." A linguist is a person who studies the science and mechanics of language (gerund, past participle, phonetics, morphology, etc.). One my professors used to be a linguist, and he told me that people have a skewed definition of the word "linguist."
Brandon Simpson
Summary: Very Practical
Rating: 4
I liked Steve Kaufmann's book because it gives you a systematic approach for the real world, very much UNLIKE most language schools which focus on grammar. His approach is more practical and includes writing, which through my own experience has helped me to improve in fluency. If you follow his method you develope fluency quicker than going to most language schools.
Jerry Bauer
Meaning and Language: Phenomenological Perspectives (Phaenomenologica)
By Filip Mattens
* Publisher:Springer
* Number Of Pages:333
* Publication Date:2008-08-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:1402083300
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9781402083303
Product Description:
This book is the first anthology to provide a wide-ranging picture of how phenomenology relates to language. It contains both in-depth studies on new aspects of language in Husserl’s thought as well as original phenomenological research that explores the respective potentials and limits of linguistic expression and conceptualization.
The fourteen texts gathered here may have a single aim, but their content varies depending on the respective author’s intention: either to discuss problems of language within the Husserlian framework, to address philosophical issues of language proceeding from a phenomenological viewpoint, or to provide a reflection on phenomenology’s relation to language. Thus, rather than being organized by topic, the collection has been arranged into three parts, according to the respective authors’ philosophical approaches.
The Locative Syntax of Experiencers (Linguistic Inquiry Monographs)
By Idan Landau
* Publisher:The MIT Press
* Number Of Pages:176
* Publication Date:2009-11-30
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0262013304
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780262013307
Product Description:
Experiencers—grammatical participants that undergo a certain psychological change or are in certain psychological states—are grammatically special. As objects ('John scared Mary'; 'loud music annoy me'), experiencers display two peculiar clusters of nonobject properties across different languages: their syntax is often typical of oblique arguments and their semantic scope is typical of subjects. In The Locative Syntax of Experiencers, Idan Landau investigates this puzzling correlation and argues that experiencers are syntactically coded as (mental) locations. Drawing on results from a range of languages and theoretical frameworks, Landau examines the far-reaching repercussions of this simple claim.
Landau shows that all experiencer objects are grammaticalized as locative phrases, introduced by a dative/locative preposition. “Bare” experiencer objects are in fact oblique, too, the preposition being null. This preposition accounts for the oblique psych(ological) properties, attested in case alternations, cliticization, resumption, restrictions on passive formation, and so on. As locatives, object experiencers may undergo locative inversion, giving rise to the common phenomenon of quirky experiencers. When covert, this inversion endows object experiencers with wide scope, attested in control, binding, and wh-quantifier interactions. Landau’s synthesis thus provides a novel solution to some of the oldest puzzles in the generative study of psychological verbs.
The Locative Syntax of Experiencers offers the most comprehensive description of the syntax of psychological verbs to date, documenting their special properties in more than twenty languages. Its basic theoretical claim is readily translatable into alternative frameworks. Existing accounts of psychological verbs either consider very few languages or fail to incorporate other theoretical frameworks; this study takes a broader perspective, informed by findings of four decades of research.
Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 53
Words and Other Wonders (Cognitive Linguistic Research)
By Dirk Geeraerts
* Publisher:Mouton de Gruyter
* Number Of Pages:493
* Publication Date:2006-07-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:3110190427
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9783110190427
Product Description:
Cognitive Linguistics has given a major impetus to the study of semantics and the lexicon. The present volume brings together seventeen previously published papers that testify to the fruitfulness of Cognitive Linguistics for the study of lexical and semantic topics. Spanning the period from the late 1980s to recent years, the collection features a number of papers that may be considered classics within the field of cognitive linguistic lexicology.
The papers are grouped in thematic sections. The first section deals with prototypicality as a theoretical and practical model of semantic description. The second section discusses polysemy and criteria for distinguishing between meanings. The third section tackles questions of meaning description beyond the level of words, on the level of idioms and constructions. The following section casts the net even wider, dealing with the cultural aspects of meaning. Moving away from the theoretical and descriptive perspective towards applied concerns, the fifth section looks at lexicography from the point of view of Cognitive Linguistics. The final section has a metatheoretical orientation: it discusses the history and methodology of lexical semantics.
Each paper is preceded by a newly written introduction that situates the text against the period in which it was first published, but that also points to further developments, in the author's own research or in Cognitive Linguistics at large. The variety of topics dealt with make this book an excellent introduction to the broad field of lexicological and lexical semantic research.
Rhythmic Grammar: The Influence of Rhythm on Grammatical Variation and Change in English (Topics in English Linguistics)
By Julia Schlüter
* Publisher:Walter de Gruyter
* Number Of Pages:409
* Publication Date:2005-09-19
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:3110186071
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9783110186079
Product Description:
This groundbreaking book highlights a phonological preference, the Principle of Rhythmic Alternation, as a factor in grammatical variation and change in English from the early modern period to the present. Though frequently overlooked in earlier research, the phonetically motivated avoidance of adjacent stresses is shown to exert an influence on a wide variety of phenomena in morphology and syntax. Based on in-depth analyses of extensive electronic databases, the book presents 20 exemplary studies from different structural categories. Among them are much-debated as well as novel issues, including the double comparative worser, 'predicative only' a- adjectives, variant past participles, the placement of the degree modifier quite, the order of conjuncts in binomials, the negation of attributive adjectives and sentence adverbs, variable adverbial marking, the use or omission of the infinitive marker, and the a- prefix before - ing forms. The studies provide qualitative and quantitative evidence of the importance of rhythmic alternation in synchronic variation as well as diachronic change, without neglecting interactions with a set of competing functional tendencies. Thus, the book contributes essential aspects to the description and explanation of the phenomena considered, calling for a fundamental revision of current thinking about the interface between phonology and morphosyntax. In addition, the empirical findings are brought to bear on theoretical discussions of more general interest, yielding a critical assessment of the merits and limitations of two nonmodular linguistic theories: Optimality Theory and spreading activation models. The latter type is developed into a comprehensive conception integrating functional factors such as the Principle of Rhythmic Alternation in an overarching framework for language variation and change. The wide range of subject areas covered makes the volume essential reading and a source of inspiration for linguists with interests as diverse as the phonology-morphosyntax interface, English grammar, the history of English, functional linguistics, Optimality Theory, as well as neuro- and psycholinguistics.
The Evolution of Morphology (Studies in the Evolution of Language)
By Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy
* Publisher:Oxford University Press, USA
* Number Of Pages:272
* Publication Date:2010-02-22
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0199202680
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780199202683
Product Description:
This book considers the evolution of the grammatical structure of words in the more general contexts of human evolution and the origins of language. The consensus in many fields is that language is well designed for its purpose, and became so either through natural selection or by virtue of non-biological constraints on how language must be structured. Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy argues that in certain crucial respects language is not optimally designed. This can be seen, he suggests, in the existence of not one but two kinds of grammatical organization - syntax and morphology - and in the morphological and morpho-phonological complexity which leads to numerous departures from the one-form-one-meaning principle.
Having discussed the issue of good and bad design in a wider biological context, the author shows that conventional explanations for the nature of morphology do not work. Its poor design features arose, he argues, from two characteristics present when the ancestors of modern humans had a vocabulary but no grammar. One of these was a synonymy-avoidance expectation, while the other was an articulatory and phonological apparatus that encouraged the development of new synonyms. Morphology developed in response to these conflicting pressures.
In this stimulating and carefully argued account Professor McCarthy offers a powerful challenge to conventional views of the relationship between syntax and morphology, to the adaptationist view of language evolution, and to the notion that language in some way reflects 'laws of form'. This fundamental contribution to understanding the nature and evolution of language will be of wide interest to linguists of all theoretical persuasions as well as to scholars in cognitive science and anthropology.
Dictionary of Word Origins
By Joseph T. Shipley
* Publisher:Dorset House Publishing Co Inc
* Number Of Pages:448
* Publication Date:1993-04-29
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0880297514
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780880297516
Summary: Fun and Funny Read!
Rating: 4
This is quite an interesting book! There will probably never be another book like this! Fun because of the adventurous stories behind the words. Funny because the cross-referencing is... well, unusual. For example, you'll look up 'centigrade' and it will tell you to look under 'congress'! Other examples include: 'glass' => 'electricity'; 'pectoral' => 'parrot'; 'scratch' => 'knick-knack'; 'town' => 'villain'; and my favorite 'ventriloquism' => 'necromancy'! But that's just the beginning! There are even more... And then we have the Appendices. Appendix I is "Doublets" which are "words that have arrived in our language by different routes from the same source." This list is very useful especially for English students. Next we have Appendix II: Words From Names. These are common, every-day words that originate from proper nouns. For example: Did you know that the word 'coach' (as in a carriage pulled by a team of horses) comes from the Hungarian town Kocs where they were first used? Or did you know that 'dollar' comes from Joachimsthal, Germany where silver was mined? Or did you know that the yellow-colored shrub known as 'forsythia' was named for British royal gardener William Forsyth (1737-1804) who brought them home from a trip to China? And many other fascinating origins! This brings us to the last part of the book Appendix III: Given Names, Their Sources and Meanings. Any lover of words will love this section. Appendix III gives us the origins of nearly 1000 given names. For example: Did you know that the name Ichabod means "God hath departed" in Hebrew? Or that Jennifer is Gaelic for "white wave"? Or that Xerxes is Persian for "lion king"? This and many more from a book I highly recommend to all English students and lovers of words!
Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative
By Mieke Bal
* Publisher:University of Toronto Press
* Number Of Pages:256
* Publication Date:1997-12-31
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0802078060
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780802078063
Product Description:
Since its first publication in English in 1985, Mieke Bal's Narratology has become a classic introduction to the major elements of a comprehensive theory of narrative texts. In this second edition, Professor Bal broadens the spectrum of her theoretical model, updating the chapters on literary narrative and adding new examples from outside the field of literary studies. Some specific additions include discussions on dialogue in narrative, translation as transformation (including translation between different media), intertextuality, interdiscursivity, and the place of the subject in narratology. Two new sections, one on visualization and visual narrative with examples from art and film and the other an examination of anthropological views of narrative, lead Bal to conclude with a re-evaluation of narratology in light of its applications outside the realm of the literary.
Summary: Absolutely essential for students of narrative
Rating: 5
A must-read for any student of literary or cinematic narrative. Breaks down each part of narrative into key elements for further analysis.
Summary: An excellent introduction to the formalist approach
Rating: 5
This book is an excellent introduction to the formalist approach literary criticism. In formalist approaches, the text is analyzed according to the form it takes and the way discourse is constructed. It is a text-centered approach as opposed to a reader-centered approach, which is also mentioned in this book. No academic book of literary criticism can be published today without the mention of Foucault, Derrida, and Lacan (regardless of their merrit). This book is no exception, and in a sense tries to harmonize their ideas with earlier formalism. The underlying utility of this book is in three areas:
Learning the concepts - the fundamental concepts for analysis of narrative are presented in a systematic way.
Learning the jargon - literary criticism today is laced with jagon, which is what makes contemporary literary criticism impenetrable to the initiated. The book is repleat with all the technical terms necessary to analyze narrative.
Learning to analyze the text - selections of literary works are presented and then analyzed for their narrative structure. In that way, a student is able to see how concepts are applied.
Formalism is currently out of fashion in contemporary academic literary criticsm, however, as the author makes clear, without the fundamental tools for analyzing structure and discourse, and a vocabulary (jargon) for conveying the structure, other forms of criticism like feminist criticism or postcolonialist criticism lack rigor.
I recommend this text to the advanced student of literature at the upper division level or to a graduate student. It is particularly useful to students outside English departments who need the tools for textual analysis, for example, the seminarian needing to do literary criticism of the Bible, or the mythologist.
Summary: Recommendation
Rating: 4
This book was recommended by my MA thesis advisor at graduate course in English. It gave me valuable insights and ideas to develop my own argument. It's also very fun to read itself. I recommend this book for those who want to know more about what is "storytelling"- probably one of the most fundamental, universal and interesting human activities - like!
Summary: very useful
Rating: 4
This book is extremely useful both for absolute beginners and also for those who have already encountered and practised narratology. Bal's comprehensive theory of narrative is a precious tool for a better understanding of narrative texts and of other theories in the field of narratology.
Summary: A VERY GOOD BOOK
Rating: 4
A VERY GOOD BOO
Theories of Lexical Semantics: A Cognitive Perspective
By Dirk Geeraerts
* Publisher:Oxford University Press, USA
* Number Of Pages:384
* Publication Date:2010-04-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0198700318
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780198700319
Product Description:
Theories of Lexical Semantics offers a comprehensive overview of the major traditions of word meaning research in linguistics. In spite of the growing importance of the lexicon in linguistic theory, no overview of the main theoretical trends in lexical semantics is currently available. This book fills that gap by charting the evolution of the discipline from the mid nineteenth century to the present day. It presents the main ideas, the landmark publications, and the dominant figures of five traditions: historical-philological semantics, structuralist semantics, generativist semantics, neostructuralist semantics, and cognitive semantics. The theoretical and methodological relationship between the approaches is a major point of attention throughout the text: going well beyond a mere chronological enumeration, the book does not only describe the theoretical currents of lexical semantics, but also the undercurrents that have shaped its evolution.
The Logic of Language: Language From Within Volume II
By Pieter A. M. Seuren
* Publisher:Oxford University Press, USA
* Number Of Pages:448
* Publication Date:2010-01-18
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0199559481
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780199559480
Product Description:
The Logic of Language opens a new perspective on logic. Pieter Seuren argues that the logic of language derives from the lexical meanings of the logical operators. These meanings, however, prove not to be consistent. Seuren solves this problem through an indepth analysis of the functional adequacy of natural predicate logic and standard modern logic for natural linguistic interaction. He then develops a general theory of discourse-bound interpretation, covering discourse incrementation, anaphora, presupposition and topic-comment structure, all of which, the author claims, form the 'cement' of discourse structure.
This is the second of a two-volume foundational study of language, published under the title Language from Within. Pieter Seuren discusses such apparently diverse issues as the ontology underlying the semantics of language, speech act theory, intensionality phenomena, the machinery and ecology of language, sentential and lexical meaning, the natural logic of language and cognition, and the intrinsically context-sensitive nature of language - and shows them to be intimately linked. Throughout his ambitious enterprise, he maintains a constant dialogue with established views, reflecting their development from Ancient Greece to the present. The resulting synthesis concerns central aspects of research and theory in linguistics, philosophy and cognitive science.
About the Speaker: Towards a Syntax of Indexicality (Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics)
By Alessandra Giorgi
* Publisher:Oxford University Press, USA
* Number Of Pages:256
* Publication Date:2010-02-28
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0199571902
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780199571901
Product Description:
This book considers the semantic and syntactic nature of indexicals - linguistic expressions, as in I, you, this, that, yesterday, tomorrow, whose reference shifts from utterance to utterance.There is a long-standing controversy as to whether the semantic reference point is already present as syntactic material or whether it is introduced post-syntactically by semantic rules of interpretation. Alessandra Giorgi resolves this controversy through an empirically grounded exploration of temporal indexicality, arguing that the speaker's temporal location is specified in the syntactic structure. She supports her analysis with theoretical and empirical arguments based on data from English, Italian, Chinese, and Romanian. Professor Giorgi addresses some difficult and longstanding issues in the analysis of temporal phenomena - including the Italian imperfect indicative, the properties of the so-called future-in-the-past, and the properties of Free Indirect Discourse - and shows that her framework can account elegantly for all of them. Carefully argued, succinct, and clearly written her book will appeal widely to semanticists in linguistics and philosophy from graduate level upwards and to linguists interested in the syntax-semantics interface.
Lexical semantics and diachronic morphology: The development of -hood, -dom and -ship in the history of English (Linguistische Arbeiten)
By Carola Trips
* Publisher:Walter de Gruyter
* Number Of Pages:267
* Publication Date:2009-05-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:3484305274
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9783484305274
Product Description:
This book is the most comprehensive study to date of the development of the three suffixes -hood, -dom and -ship in the history of English. An in depth investigation from Old English to Modern English based on data from annotated corpora reveals that all three suffixes developed from nouns into today's suffixes building abstract nouns. It is shown that the rise of suffixes is triggered by semantic change. The findings are analysed in a current model of lexical semantics of word formation (Lieber 2004). The book includes an index with all formations with the three suffixes from Old English to Modern English
Variation and Gradience in Phonetics and Phonology (Phonology and Phonetics)
By Frank Kugler, Caroline Fery, Ruben van de Vijver
* Publisher:Mouton de Gruyter
* Number Of Pages:430
* Publication Date:2009-08-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:311021931X
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9783110219319
Product Description:
This book brings together researchers from sociolinguistics, phonetics, and phonology and provides an overview of current issues in variation and gradience in phonetics and phonology. In this book, variation at every level of phonological representation is addressed. It contributes to the growing interest in gradience and variation in theoretical phonology by combining research on the factors underlying variability and systematic quantitative results with theoretical phonological considerations.
A Typology of Verbal Borrowings (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs)
By Jan Wohlgemuth
* Publisher:Mouton de Gruyter
* Number Of Pages:459
* Publication Date:2009-07-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:3110219336
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9783110219333
Product Description:
The present work is the first in-depth cross-linguistic study on loan verbs and the morphological, syntactic and sociolinguistic aspects of loan verb accommodation, investigating claims that verbs generally are more difficult to borrow than other parts of speech, or that verbs could not be borrowed as verbs and needed a re-verbalization in the borrowing language.