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Books > Language & Literature > Language & linguistics > Grammar, syntax, linguistic structure
This book presents corpus-based research on functional syntax. It is the first book to present a comprehensive investigation into grammatical metaphor in English clause combining in large-size corpora. By providing a systematic illustration of features such as parataxis, hypotaxis and embedding, it fills a gap in the systemic functional literature. It also offers insights into testing grammatical metaphors using a corpus linguistics methodology. The book is a useful resource for anyone interested in writing development.
James Higginbotham's work on tense, aspect, and indexicality discusses the principles governing demonstrative, temporal, and indexical expressions in natural language and presents new ideas in the semantics of sentence structure. The book brings together his key contributions to the fields, including his recent intervention in the debate on the roles of context and anaphora in reference. The book's chapters are presented in the form in which they were first published, with afterwords where needed to cover points where the author's thought has developed. It is fully indexed and has a collated bibliography. This will be a precious resource for all those involved in the study of current semantics, and its interactions with syntactic theory, in linguistics, philosophy, and related fields.
Grammaticalization is a well-attested process of linguistic change
in which a lexical item becomes a function word, which may be
further reduced to a clitic or affix. Proponents of the
universality of grammaticalization have usually argued that it is
unidirectional and have thus found it a useful tool in linguistic
reconstruction. In this book Professor Norde shows that change is
reversible on all levels: semantic, morphological, syntactic, and
phonological. As a consequence, the alleged unidirectionality of
grammaticalization is not a reliable reconstructional tool, even if
degrammaticalization is a rare phenomenon.
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 book reviews interdisciplinary work on the mental processing of syntax and morphology. It focuses on the fundamental questions at the centre of this research, for example whether language processing proceeds in a serial or a parallel manner; which areas of the brain support the processing of syntactic and morphological information; whether there are neurophysiological correlates of language processing; and the degree to which neurolinguistic findings on syntactic and morphological processing are consistent with theoretical conceptions of syntax and morphology. The authors describe the outcomes of methods in neurophysiology (for example, functional magnetic resonance imaging), behavioural psycholinguistics, and neuropsychological lesion studies, and provide brief introductions to the methods themselves. They extend basic findings at the word and sentence level by considering how the mental processing of syntax and morphology relates to prosody, discourse, semantics, and world knowledge. They have divided the work into four parts concerned with word structure, sentence structure, processing syntax and morphology at the interfaces, and a comparison of different models of syntactic and morphological processing in the neurophysiological domain. The book is directed at graduate students and researchers in theoretical linguistics, psycho- and neurolinguistics, neurophysiology, and psychology.
This volume examines how the displacement property of language is characterized in formal terms under the Minimalist Program and to what extent this proposed characterization of it can explain relevant displacement properties. The birth of the Principles and Parameters Approach makes it possible to simplify transformational rules so radically as to be reduced to the single rule Move. The author proposes that Move, as conceived as a special case of Merge, named internal Merge, under the Minimalist Program requires two prerequisite operations: one is to "dig" into a structure to find a target of Merge, called Search, and the other is to make this target reach the top of the structure, called Float. The author argues that these two different operations are constrained by "minimal computation." Due to the nature of how they apply, these operations are constrained by this economy condition in such a way that Search must be minimal and Float obeys Minimize chain links, which requires that this operation cannot skip possible landing sites. The author demonstrates that this mechanism of minimal Search and Float deals with a variety of phenomena that involve quantifier raising, such as rigidity effects of scope interaction, the availability of cumulative readings of plural relation sentences and pair-list readings of multiple wh-questions. Also demonstrated in this volume is that the same mechanism properly captures the locality effects of topicalization, focus movement, and ellipsis with contrastive focus.
Harmonic Grammar and Harmonic Serialism introduces readers to current research in Optimality Theory that involves a reconsideration of two of Prince and Smolensky's (1993/2004) basic architectural decisions. One is the choice of constraint ranking over the numerically weighted constraints of OT's predecessor, Harmonic Grammar. The other is the choice of parallel evaluation over a version of OT in which the representation is changed and evaluated iteratively Harmonic Serialism. The contributions in this volume explore the consequences for phonological theory of adopting serial evaluation, weighted constraints, or both. Because the volume contains both introductory material and the latest research, the intended audience encompasses advanced undergraduates, graduate students and professionals in the field. Although the content is mainly phonological, the book will also be of use to researchers in OT syntax and computational linguistics.
This book analyzes the structure of coordination from two perspectives: the symmetrical properties the construction imposes on its conjuncts, and how conjuncts interact with other categories outside coordination with respect to agreement and other grammatical phenomena. A substantial amount of data represented in this book are taken from varieties of Spanish. Unlike English, Spanish has a rich pattern of overt agreement between the subject and the verb, between nouns and adjectives, and also between clitics and lexical DP objects and indirect objects. Spanish agreement paradigms reveal very interesting patterns of agreement mismatch that provide important theoretical insights. Unless otherwise specified, it can be assumed that non-English examples are from Spanish. IX CHAPTER #1 INTRODUCTION Although coordination has figured more or less steadily in the Generative tradition beginning with Chornsky's (1957) Conjunction Transformation (later known as Conjunction Reduction), until recently, the two prevailing areas of research had been ellipsis (see, for example, Van Oirsouw 1987) and the semantic interpretation of conjuncts.' The internal structure of coordination was usually left unanalyzed, or assumed to be ternary branching, as in (I).
This book is a cross-linguistic examination of the different grammatical means languages employ to represent a general set of semantic relations between clauses. The investigations focus on ways of combining clauses other than through relative and complement clause constructions. These span a number of types of semantic linking. Three, for example, describe varieties of consequence - cause, result, and purpose - which may be illustrated in English by, respectively: Because John has been studying German for years, he speaks it well; John has been studying German for years, thus he speaksit well; and John has been studying German for years, in order that he should speak it well. Syntactic descriptions of languages provide a grammatical analysis of clause types. The chapters in this book add the further dimension of semantics, generally in the form of focal and supporting clauses, the former referring to the central activity or state of the biclausal linking; and the latter to the clause attached to it. The supporting clause may set out the temporal milieu for the focal clause or specify a condition or presupposition for it or a preliminary statement of it, as in AlthoughJohn has been studying German for years (the supporting clause), he does not speak it well (the focal clause). Professor Dixon's extensive opening discussion is followed by fourteen case studies of languages ranging from Korean and Kham to Iquito and Ojibwe. The book's concluding synthesis is provided by Professor Aikhenvald.
This book presents a typological survey and analysis of the co-compound construction. This understudied phenomenon is essentially a compound whose meaning is the result of coordinating the meanings of its components, as when in some varieties of English 'father-mother' denotes 'parents'. During the course of the book Dr W lchi examines and discusses topics of great theoretical and linguistic interest. These include the notion of word, markedness, the syntax and semantics of coordination, grammaticalization, lexical semantics, the distinction between compounding and phrase formation, and the constructional meanings languages can deploy. The book makes many observations and points about typology and areal features and includes a wealth of unfamiliar data. It will be invaluable for typologists and of considerable interest to a variety of specialists including lexicologists, morphologists, construction grammarians, cognitive linguists, semanticists, field linguists, and syntacticians.
For undergraduate and graduate level courses in English grammar, syntax, and writing; also appropriate for a course in teaching English at the secondary level. Approaching grammar as a process and not a product, this text engages students in a conversation about English that will help them reflect on how their language works and understand the social judgments that accompany language use-making them feel they are active participants in shaping their language rather than passive victims of grammar rules that someone imposes on them. Employing the terminology of traditional grammar combined with the insights gained by modern linguistic analysis, it describes English as an instrument of communication, and lays the necessary groundwork for thinking about language so that students can extend what they learn to new situations and apply their knowledge of language in ways most useful to them. Three different types of exercises support the learning and review processes and motivate students to think, talk, and write about English with increasing confidence and sophistication as the term progresses.
Differential argument marking has been a hot topic in linguistics for several decades, both because it is cross-linguistically widespread and because it raises essential questions at multiple levels of grammar, including the relationship between abstract processes and overt morphological marking, between case and agreement, and between syntax and information structure. This volume provides an introduction into the current state of the art of research on differential case marking and chapters by leading linguists addressing theoretical questions in a wide range of typologically and geographically diverse languages from the Indo-European, Sinitic, Turkic, and Uralic families. The chapters engage with current theoretical issues in the morphology, syntax, semantics, and processing of differential argument marking. A central issue addressed by all the authors is the adequacy of various theoretical approaches in modelling (different varieties of) differential case marking, such as those determined by topicality, those driven by cumulative factors, and those that involve double marking. The volume will be of interest to students and researchers working on cross-linguistic variation in differential marking and its theoretical modelling.
This book is an English version of two series of highly acclaimed introductory lectures given by the great Swiss linguist and classical philologist Jacob Wackernagel (1853-1938) at the University of Basle in 1918-19 on aspects of Greek, Latin, and German as languages. Out of print in German since 1996, these lectures remain the best available introduction, in any language, not only to Greek, Latin, and comparative syntax but also to many topics in the history and pre-history of Greek and Latin, and their relations with other languages. Other subjects, such as the history of grammatical terminology, are also brilliantly dealt with. This new edition supplements the German original by providing a translation of all quotations and examples, a large number of detailed footnotes offering background information and suggestions for further reading, and a single bibliography which brings together Wackernagel's references and those added in the notes.
This book addresses the fundamental issues in the phase-based
approach to the mental computation of language that have arisen
from the recent developments in the Minimalist Program. Leading
linguists and promising young scholars from all over the world
focus on two topics that are in the centre of current theorizing in
syntax - the interaction of syntax with the conceptual-intentional
and sensorimotor interfaces, and current formulations of phase
theory.
This book explores person markers, the linguistic elements that
provide points of reference to speech-act participants. Michael
Cysouw develops a new framework for the typology of person marking
based on the rejection of the notion of plurality for its analysis.
In this book, Peter Culicover introduces the analysis of natural
language within the broader question of how language works - of how
people use languages to configure words and morphemes in order to
express meanings. He focuses both on the syntactic and
morphosyntactic devices that languages use, and on the conceptual
structures that correspond to particular aspects of linguistic
form. He seeks to explain linguistic forms and in the process to
show how these correspond with meanings.
This book presents new work on how Merge and formal features, two basic factors in the Minimalist Program, should determine the syntactic computation of natural language. Merge combines simpler objects into more complex ones. Formal features establish dependencies within objects. In this book leading scholars examine the intricate ways in which these two factors interact to generate well-formed derivations in natural language. It is divided into two parts concerned with formal features and interpretable features - a subset of formal features. The authors combine grammatical theory with the analysis of data drawn from a wide range of languages, both in the adult grammar and in first language acquisition. The mechanisms at work in linguistic computation are considered in relation to a variety of linguistic phenomena, including A-binding, A'-dependencies and reconstruction, agreement, word order, adjuncts, pronouns and complementizers.
Discourse and Power: An Introduction to Critical Narratology: Who Narrates Whom? is both an introduction to discourse research and an application of the concept of discourse to the problem of power. Divided into two sections, Part One is a presentation of the most important theories of discourse in which the link between discourse and power or language and power is central. It provides a critical overview of the most important discourse theories: Foucault, Bourdieu, Fairclough and Greimas' structural semiotics. In Part two, the section on practice, the insights gained in the first part of the book are applied to analyses of particular discourses and their involvement in power relations. Ranging from psychiatric, legal, political, literary and scientific discourses, examples include the presidential speeches of Obama, Trump and Biden and the novels of Camus and Pirandello. The book demonstrates it is possible to reduce the power factor to a minimum, improve theoretical innovation and thus pave the way for new insights in social sciences. This is an important and timely text from a leading scholar, suitable for use on discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis and rhetoric courses.
Despite the humble origins of its name (Anglo Saxon for "the speck at the head of a boil"), the dot has been one of the most versatile players in the history of written communication, to the point that it has become virtually indispensable. Now, in On the Dot, Alexander and Nicholas Humez offer a wide ranging, entertaining account of this much overlooked and miniscule linguistic sign. The Humez brothers shed light on the dot in all its various forms. As a mark of punctuation, they show, it plays many roles-as sentence stopper, a constituent of the colon (a clause stopper), and the ellipsis (dot dot dot). In musical notation, it denotes "and a half." In computerese, it has several different functions (as in dot com, the marker between a file name and its extension, and in some slightly more arcane uses in programming languages). The dot also plays a number of roles in mathematics, including the notation of world currency (such as dollars dot cents), in Morse code (dots and dashes), and in the raised dots of Braille. And as the authors connect all these dots, they take readers on an engaging tour of the highways and byways of language, ranging from the history of the question mark and its lesser known offshoots the point d'ironie and the interrobang, to acronyms and backronyms, power point bullets and asterisks, emoticons and the "at-sign." Playful, wide-ranging, and delightfully informative, On the Dot reveals how thoroughly the dot is embedded in our everyday world of words and ideas, acquiring a power inversely proportional to its diminutive size.
This study aims at developing a unified perspective on nonfiniteness, encompassing its morphological, syntactic and semantic aspects. It puts the emphasis on clause types distinct from standard infinitives (gerund clauses, Celtic verbo-nominal structures, Portuguese inflected infinitives, Latin dominant participle constructions) and takes advantage of the most recent developments in syntactic theory. The notions of defectiveness and completeness, the inheritance hypothesis, the labeling requirement, the syntactic definition of lexical categories, once combined together, appear to make accessible tighter and more elegant analyses than previous accounts.
Austin's words on page 1 of his seminal work How to do things with words are valid for this study on clause typing in the Old Irish verbal complex: "The phenomenon to be discussed is very widespread and obvious, and it cannot fail to have been already noticed, at least here and there, by others. Yet I have not found attention paid to it specifically". Old Irish, a regular V1 language, morphologically distinguishes six clause types, to wit, declarative, relative, wh- and polar interrogative, responsive and imperative clause types. After discussing the constituency of the Old Irish verbal complex and the pragmatically marked orders, i.e. cleft-sentence and left-dislocation, the form, function, paradigmatic consistency and syntax of those clause types are then analysed in detail. The other main issues of this study are the descriptively adequate paradigm of clause types and the interaction of clause typing with subordination and with non-verbal predication in Old Irish. This monograph offers a comprehensive view of clause typing, its morphological expression and related phenomena in the earliest Insular Celtic language, and may also contribute to the general consideration of these topics in both the typological and diachronic perspectives.
This pioneering work introduces and presents the first full
publication of the text of an unusual fourteenth-century Bulgarian
gospel manuscript known as the Curzon Gospel. Volume I is an
annotated transcription edition of the manuscript. Volume II is a
comprehensive introduction and commentary volume analyzing its
linguistic, orthographic, and textual features.
This book presents the first comprehensive description of the
Manambu language of Papua New Guinea. Manambu belongs to the Ndu
language family, and is spoken by about 2,500 people in five
villages: Avatip, Yawabak, Malu, Apa: n, and Yambon (Yuanab) in
East Sepik Province, Ambunti district. About 200-400 speakers live
in the cities of Port Moresby, Wewak, Lae, and Madang; and a few
live in Kokopo and Mount Hagen. The book is based entirely on the
author's fieldwork.
This book is the first comprehensive presentation of Functional
Discourse Grammar, a new and important theory of language
structure. The authors set out its nature and origins and show how
it relates to contemporary linguistic theory. They demonstrate and
test its explanatory power and descriptive utility against
linguistic facts from over 150 languages across a wide range of
linguistic families.
This book provides a typological overview of the different manifestations of grammaticalized case systems in African languages. After defining and distinguishing case systems, Christa Konig begins a thorough analysis of case in roughly 100 African languages and reveals several features, such as tone as a marker for case and the marked-nominative system, which are rare phenomena in other languages of the world. Wherever possible, the author takes into account data from her own substantial and highly regarded field research. The book provides answers to questions such as the following: What is the relationship between definiteness and case. Are case phenomena areally or genetically motivated? Why are case distinctions neutralized in nearly all case languages with verb initial or verb medial word order? Which grammaticalizations appear with case? What is the relationship between topics and nominative cases, or focus and accusative cases? |
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