Deixis as a field of research has generated increased interest in recent years. It is crucial for a number of different subdisciplines: pragmatics, semantics, cognitive and contrastive linguistics, to name just a few. The subject is of particular interest to experts and students, philosophers, teachers, philologists, and psychologists interested in the study of their language or in comparing linguistic structures. The different deictic structures - not only the items themselves, but also the oppositions between them - reflect the fact that neither the notions of space, time, person nor our use of them are identical cross-culturally. This diversity is not restricted to the difference between languages, but also appears among related dialects and language varieties. This volume will provide an overview of the field, focusing on Romance languages, but also reaching beyond this perspective. Chapters on diachronic developments (language change), comparisons with other (non-)European languages, and on interfaces with neighboring fields of interest are also included. The editors and authors hope that readers, regardless of their familiarity with Romance languages, will gain new insights into deixis in general, and into the similarities and differences among deictic structures used in the languages of the world.

The way speakers in multilingual contexts develop own varieties in their interactions sheds light on code switching and multimodal dynamic co-constructions of grammar in use. This volume explores the intersection of multimodality and language use of multilingual speakers. Firstly, theoretical frames are discussed and empirical studies involving Catalan, German and Spanish as L1, L2 or FL are presented interconnecting verbal and gestural modalities into grammar description or exploring actions as sources for gestures, which may nonverbally represent the argument in German dynamic motion verbs. Other chapters focus on positionings in interviews, lexical access searches or proxemics in greetings and farewells. The contributions secondly focus on verbal features of language use in multilingual contexts related to self-representation and co-construction of identity through code-switching, deixis or argumentative reasoning in different communicative events based on multilingual data of languages including Croatian, English, Italian, Brazilian-Portuguese and Polish. The findings call for a reviewed conception of grammar description with implications also for the conceptualization of deixis, for L2/foreign language acquisition and language teaching policies.

This volume focuses on the linguistic constructs involved in ethnic borders. Ethnic borders have proven themselves to be surprisingly long-lived: in nearly all European countries and beyond, border demarcation, exclusion of foreigners, and minority conflicts are some of the most persistent challenges for nations and societies. Which linguistic factors play a role in the formation of these borders, especially those drawn along ethnic lines? Which linguistic constructs contribute to the negotiation, establishment and maintenance of ethnic groups and identities? Under which conditions can processes of linguistic convergence, hybrids, or transcultural identities be observed?

This study traces the history of the text variety 'family chronicle' (Familienbuch, livre de raison, libro de famiglia) in Europe from the 16th century to the early 20th century, not least in its function as a forerunner of the later text varieties 'diary' and 'autobiography'. The text analysis sections of the book are devoted to three Catalan chronicles representative of the type and form of this kind of private literature and the way it was handed down to following generations. One of the chief sources the study draws upon, the chronological record of events (1836-1902) in J. Serinanas chronicle, is here made available to interested scholars in transcribed form for the first time. The descriptive section of the study enhances our knowledge of the traditions of Catalan as a written language during the decadencia period."

The book series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur romanische Philologie, founded by Gustav Groeber in 1905, is among the most renowned publications in Romance Studies. It covers the entire field of Romance linguistics, including the national languages as well as the lesser studied Romance languages. The editors welcome submissions of high-quality monographs and collected volumes on all areas of linguistic research, on medieval literature and on textual criticism. The publication languages of the series are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian as well as German and English. Each collected volume should be as uniform as possible in its contents and in the choice of languages.

Die Autorin untersucht am Fallbeispiel Estland ethnosprachliche Konfliktkonstellationen sowie Ursachen fur deren moegliche gewaltsame Austragung. Den Fokus ihrer Studie legt sie dabei auf die Beziehungen zwischen der estnischen und der russischen Bevoelkerungsgruppe - den beiden groessten ethnischen Gruppen des Landes - im Prozess der Wiederherstellung der Staatlichkeit Estlands nach der Aufloesung der Sowjetunion. Zu diesem Zweck rekonstruiert und analysiert die Autorin die historisch-spezifische Genese dieser Beziehungen. Auf der Grundlage empirischer Untersuchungen ermoeglicht sie Einblicke in die subjektiven Sicht- und Verhaltensweisen der Betroffenen. Das Buch leistet somit einen Beitrag zur aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Diskussion um ethnische und ethnosprachliche Konflikte.

Este livro analisa a coesao em producoes textuais escritas em Portugues Brasileiro por criancas plurilingues falantes do Portugues como Lingua de Heranca (POLH). A autora propoe um paralelo entre a Sprachbiographie dos informantes (os usos das linguas do repertorio do falante em diversos ambientes comunicativos) e o uso dos elementos de coesao que mais se destacam em suas producoes, sob a perspectiva da Linguistica Textual. A analise das producoes textuais das criancas plurilingues revela que o uso dos mecanismos coesivos corresponde ao uso tipico da fala coloquial. Entretanto, quanto mais os falantes usam o Portugues Brasileiro em diferentes ambientes comunicativos, mais eles variam no uso de mecanismos coesivos que evidenciam caracteristicas da escrita.

Die Autorin untersucht den deutsch-polnischen Sprachgebrauch, wie er sich unter polnischen Studierenden und SchulerInnen entlang der deutsch-polnischen Grenze und in Berlin usualisiert hat. Dabei analysiert sie diese emergierende Sprechweise aus einer grammatischen Perspektive. Ein fur das bislang wenig untersuchte Sprachpaar ausgearbeiteter Ansatz verknupft die kulturwissenschaftlich gepragte Theorie der Grenze mit linguistischer Analyse und liefert somit einen interdisziplinaren Einblick in die Erforschung grammatischer Aspekte von Sprachwechselphanomenen. Die Monographie verdeutlicht den Erkenntnisgewinn dieses Zugriffes und leistet im Gegenzug einen Beitrag zur Theorie der Grenze aus sprachwissenschaftlicher Perspektive.