This volume represents the culmination of an extensive research
project that studied the development of linguistic form/function
relations in narrative discourse. It is unique in the extent of
data which it analyzes--more than 250 texts from children and
adults speaking five different languages--and in its
crosslinguistic, typological focus. It is the first book to address
the issue of how the structural properties and rhetorical
preferences of different native languages--English, German,
Spanish, Hebrew, and Turkish--impinge on narrative abilities across
different phases of development. The work of Berman and Slobin and
their colleagues provides insight into the interplay between
shared, possibly universal, patterns in the developing ability to
create well-constructed, globally organized narratives among
preschoolers from three years of age compared with school children
and adults, contrasted against the impact of typological and
rhetorical features of particular native languages on how speakers
express these abilities in the process of "relating events in
narrative." This volume also makes a special contribution to the
field of language acquisition and development by providing detailed
analyses of how linguistic forms come to be used in the service of
narrative functions, such as the expression of temporal relations
of simultaneity and retrospection, perspective-taking on events,
and textual connectivity. To present this information, the authors
prepared in-depth analyses of a wide range of linguistic systems,
including tense-aspect marking, passive and middle voice, locative
and directional predications, connectivity markers, null subjects,
and relative clause constructions. In contrast to most work in the
field of language acquisition, this book focuses on developments in
the use of these early forms in extended discourse--beyond the
initial phase of early language development. The book offers a
pioneering approach to the interactions between form and function
in the development and use of language, from a typological
linguistic perspective. The study is based on a large
crosslinguistic corpus of narratives, elicited from preschool,
school-age, and adult subjects. All of the narratives were elicited
by the same picture storybook,Frog, Where Are You?, by Mercer
Mayer. (An appendix lists related studies using the same storybook
in 50 languages.) The findings illuminate both universal and
language-specific patterns of development, providing new insights
into questions of language and thought.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
