Dolf Rami contributes to contemporary debates about the meaning and reference of proper names by providing an overview of the main challenges and developing a new contextualist account of names. Questions about the use and semantic features of proper names are at the centre of philosophy of language. How does a single proper name refer to the same thing in different contexts of use? What makes a thing a bearer of a proper name? What is their meaning? Guided by these questions, Rami discusses Saul Kripke's main contributions to the debate and introduces two new ways to capture the rigidity of names, proposing a pluralist version of the causal chain picture. Covering popular contextualist accounts of names, both indexical and variabilist, he presents a use-sensitive alternative based on a semantic comparison between names, pronouns and demonstratives. Extending and applying his approach to a wide variety of uses, including names in fiction, this is a comprehensive explanation of why we should interpret proper names as use-sensitive expressions.

This book explores second language pragmatic development with a specific focus on two areas: classroom-based pragmatic instruction in the study abroad context, and using technology for developing and assessing pragmatic competence. Teaching Pragmatics and Instructed Second Language Learning directly compares the effects of technology platforms and traditional paper-based tasks within the second language environment for developing pragmatic competence. These analyses are based on empirical research of how undergraduate Chinese learners of English receive explicit instruction in classrooms using different training materials. The book makes an original and innovative contribution to collecting oral speech act data in the form of computer-animated production tasks (CAPT) designed to enhance learner engagement and performance. Using this tool, it explores the beneficial role of technology in teaching and learning, offering practitioners and researchers practical ways to maximise second language pragmatic development in the classroom.

Why do people take offence at things that are said? What is it exactly about an offending utterance which causes this negative reaction? How well motivated is the response to the offence? Offensive Language addresses these questions by applying an array of concepts from linguistic pragmatics and sociolinguistics to a wide range of examples, from TV to Twitter and from Mel Gibson to Donald Trump. Establishing a sharp distinction between potential offence and actual offence, Jim O'Driscoll then examines a series of case studies where offence has been caused, assessing the nature and degree of both the offence and the documented response to it. Through close linguistic analysis, this book explores the fine line between free speech and criminal activity, searching for a principled way to distinguish the merely embarrassing from the reprehensible and the censurable. In this way, a new approach to offensive language emerges, involving both how we study it and how it might be handled in public life.

The volume proposes original semantic analyses on items marking grammatical aspect. The contributions deal with structurally divergent languages, setting to the fore some less studied forms coding aspect, revisiting or challenging certain conventionalized views on aspectual categories and shedding light on interactions between aspect and modality, another multifaceted semantic category. In doing so, the volume is intended to emphasize the diversity of aspectual systems and the fuzzy semantics of grammatical aspect and help the reader to make their own mind on a topic traditionally viewed as a subcategory of verbal aspect together with lexical aspect. Contributors are Denis Apotheloz, Trang Phan and Nigel Duffield, Galia Hatav, Jens Fleischhauer and Ekaterina Gabrovska, Stephen M. Dickey, Adeline Patard, Laura Baranzini, Jaroslava Obrtelova.

How do we interpret language and expose its meanings? How does pragmatics describe the English language? Where can we go to acquire a deeper understanding of pragmatics? Pragmatics and the English Language is a bold new textbook that presents an innovative and exciting way of looking at the subject. This new perspective, called integrative pragmatics, steers a course between what have historically been considered irreconcilable perspectives. With an emphasis on empirical data, the book is filled with examples from cartoons, films and historical sources, as well as face-to-face and digitally-mediated interactions, all of which are used to help the reader develop a better understanding of the theory. Pragmatics and the English Language: - Focuses on both the pragmatic aspects of English and how pragmatics is shaped by English - Synthesizes traditional ideas with state-of-the-art pragmatics research - Goes far beyond the coverage found in other pragmatics textbooks Shedding light on the English language in highly original ways, Pragmatics and the English Language is essential reading for advanced students of the English language and linguistics, along with anybody else who wishes to develop a more in-depth knowledge of pragmatics.

This is a study of pragmatic markers in a corpus of spoken English. Pragmatic markers are multifunctional and this can make it difficult to describe their meaning and potential. In particular, we know little about pragmatic markers and prosody, their sociolinguistic use or their distribution across text types. This book looks at pragmatic markers in a corpus of spoken English, with a focus on the functions performed by the markers in different types of text. Karen Aijmer explores the syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and discourse aspects of the markers. By taking a broader perspective on the markers, classifying them, describing their class-specific properties and analysing individual markers, she assesses whether any generalisations can be made about the prosody of the markers. It includes a definition of pragmatic markers in the context of the book. It features chapter-long case studies of the pragmatic markers well, in fact and actually. Each chapter has a clear introduction and conclusion.

A love letter to languages, celebrating their curiosities and smashing assumptions about correct grammar
An eye-opening tour for all language lovers, "What Language Is "offers a fascinating new perspective on the way humans communicate. from vanishing languages spoken by a few hundred people to major tongues like Chinese, and with copious revelations about the hodgepodge nature of English, John McWhorter shows readers how to see and hear languages as a linguist does.

Packed with big ideas about language alongside wonderful trivia, "What Language Is "explains how languages across the globe (the Queen's English and Suriname creoles alike) originate, evolve, multiply, and divide. Raising provocative questions about what qualifies as a language (so-called slang does have structured grammar), McWhorter takes readers on a marvelous journey through time and place--from Persia to the languages of Sri Lanka--to deliver a feast of facts about the wonders of human linguistic expression.

In seiner stark uberarbeiteten und erganzten Habilitationsschrift vergleicht der Autor die Markierung der Interrogativsatze im Deutschen und im Ungarischen vor dem Hintergrund weiterer sieben europaischer Sprachen. Diese sind Latein, Englisch, Italienisch, Russisch, Finnisch, Turkisch und Albanisch. Das oberflachensyntaktische und kontrastiv-deskriptive Verfahren basiert auf umfangreichen empirischen Korpusuntersuchungen. Berucksichtigt werden vor allem Wortstellungsstrukturen, Partikelgebrauch, Interrogativphrasen, Questiontags, intonatorisch-prosodische Merkmale sowie deren Kombinationen.

A novel cognitive theory of semantics that proposes that the meanings of words can be described in terms of geometric structures. In The Geometry of Meaning, Peter Gardenfors proposes a theory of semantics that bridges cognitive science and linguistics and shows how theories of cognitive processes, in particular concept formation, can be exploited in a general semantic model. He argues that our minds organize the information involved in communicative acts in a format that can be modeled in geometric or topological terms-in what he terms conceptual spaces, extending the theory he presented in an earlier book by that name. Many semantic theories consider the meanings of words as relatively stable and independent of the communicative context. Gardenfors focuses instead on how various forms of communication establish a system of meanings that becomes shared between interlocutors. He argues that these "meetings of mind" depend on the underlying geometric structures, and that these structures facilitate language learning. Turning to lexical semantics, Gardenfors argues that a unified theory of word meaning can be developed by using conceptual spaces. He shows that the meaning of different word classes can be given a cognitive grounding, and offers semantic analyses of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and prepositions. He also presents models of how the meanings of words are composed to form new meanings and of the basic semantic role of sentences. Finally, he considers the future implications of his theory for robot semantics and the Semantic Web.

The book is a collection of 10 papers on theoretical and applied linguistics, and is divided into two sections. Part I, devoted to Theoretical Linguistics, addresses a range of issues pertaining to phonology, morphophonology, morphology, cognitive semantics, syntax and lexicology, and consists of six chapters. Part II, Applied Linguistics, comprises four chapters, which investigate the intricacies of language acquisition, psycholinguistics and pragmatics, discourse analysis, and translation studies. The languages analysed include Polish, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Middle English, Middle French, Anglo-Norman and Bangor Welsh. Some of the phenomena analysed in the volume are the properties of Bangor Welsh diphthongs in the light of the Lateral Theory of Phonology, Polish palatalization within Element Theory, lexical convergence in Psalters, bilingual acquisition, impoliteness in talk-show political discourse, and translation and localisation of video games, among others.

Providing an accessible introduction to narrative discourse, this book takes the reader from its present theory and practice to its future research and applications. Narrative Discourse offers a sound discussion of the theoretical principles underlying the study of narrative, covering what narrative is, how it has been understood in the last forty years and the issues surround the different conceptualisations of narrative discourse. It presents a comprehensive overview of its practical applications, covering topics such as narratives in the workplace and narratives of immigration. It also provides readers with advice and guidance on how to set up their own projects for analysising narrative discourse. This is an essential addition to the book collection of advanced students and researchers interested in the theory and practice of narrative discourse.

First volume: This book is the first in a three-volume set that celebrates the career and achievements of Cliff Goddard, a pioneer of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach in linguistics. In addition, it explores ethnopragmatics and conversational humour, with a further focus on semantic analysis more broadly. Second Volume: This book is the second in a three-volume set that celebrates the career and achievements of Cliff Goddard, a pioneer of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach in linguistics. It focuses on meaning and culture, with sections on "Words as Carriers of Cultural Meaning" and "Understanding Discourse in Cultural Context". Third Volume: This book is the third in a three-volume set that celebrates the career and achievements of Cliff Goddard, a pioneer of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach in linguistics. This third volume explores the potential of Minimal English, a recent offshoot of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage, with special reference to its use in Language Teaching and Intercultural Communication. Often considered the most fully developed, comprehensive and practical approach to cross-linguistic and cross-cultural semantics, Natural Semantic Metalanguage is based on evidence that there is a small core of basic, universal meanings (semantic primes) that can be expressed in all languages. It has been used for linguistic and cultural analysis in such diverse fields as semantics, cross-cultural communication, language teaching, humour studies and applied linguistics, and has reached far beyond the boundaries of linguistics into ethnopsychology, anthropology, history, political science, the medical humanities and ethics.