Download or read book Word Order in Discourse written by Pamela A. Downing and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1995-06-01 with total page 607 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together a collection of 18 papers dealing with the problem of word order variation in discourse. Word order variation has often been treated as an essentially unpredictable phenomenon, a matter of selecting randomly one of the set of possible orders generated by the grammar. However, as the papers in this collection show, word order variation is not random, but rather governed by principles which can be subjected to scientific investigation and are common to all languages.The papers in this volume discuss word order variation in a diverse collection of languages and from a number of perspectives, including experimental and quantitative text based studies. A number of papers address the problem of deciding which order is 'basic' among the alternatives. The volume will be of interest to typologists, to other linguists interested in problems of word order variation, and to those interested in discourse syntax.
Download or read book Reference in Discourse written by A. A. Kibrik and published by Oxford Studies in Typology and. This book was released on 2011-09 with total page 683 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first full study of how people refer to entities in natural discourse. It contributes to the understanding of both linguistic diversity and the cognitive underpinnings of language and it provides a framework for further research in both fields. Andrej Kibrik focuses on the way specific entities are mentioned in natural discourse, during which about every third word usually depends on referential choice. He considers reference as an overt representation of underlying cognitive processes and combines a theoretically-oriented cognitive approach with empirically-based cross-linguistic analysis. He begins by introducing the cognitive approach to discourse analysis and by examining the relationship between discourse studies and linguistic typology. He discusses reference as a linguistic phenomenon, in connection with the traditional notions of deixis, anaphora, givenness, and topicality, and describes the way his theoretical approach is centered on notions of referent activation in working memory. He argues that the speaker is responsible for the shape of discourse and that referential expressions should be understood as choices made by speakers rather than as puzzles to be solved by addressees. Kibrik examines the cross-linguistic aspects of reference and the typology of referential devices, including referring expressions per se, such as free and bound pronouns, and referential aids that help to tell apart the concurrently activated entities. This discussion is based on the data from about 200 languages from around the world. He then proposes a comprehensive model of referential choice, in which he draws on concepts from cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology, and cognitive neuroscience, and applies this to Russian and English. He also draws together his empirical analyses in order to examine what light his analysis of discourse can shed on the way information is processed in working memory. In the final part of the book Andrej Kibrik offers a wider perspective, including deixis, referential aspects of gesticulation and signed languages. This pioneering work will interest linguists and cognitive scientists interested in discourse, reference, typology, and the operations of working memory in linguistic communication.
Download or read book Discourse Analysis written by Alexandra Georgakopoulou and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clear and lively introduction to current trends in the theory, method and tools of discourse studies, this book is a valuable guide for students and teachers of linguistics as well as for those with an interest in the linguistic methods of analysing discourse (media, rhetoric and stylistics, pragmatics, communication studies scholars etc).* Comprehensive, accessible, state-of-the-art textbook * Close analyses of a wide range of narrative and non-narrative texts, both spoken and written* Emphasis on practical text analysis: includes guided activities for self-study or use in a classroom* Suggestions for further reading in each chapter.This revised second edition registers key changes in a rapidly expanding area and thoroughly updates suggestions for further reading and the bibliography.
Download or read book Amazonian Linguistics written by Doris L. Payne and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2014-06-23 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lowland South American languages have been among the least studied ln the world. Consequently, their previous contribution to linguistic theory and language universals has been small. However, as this volume demonstrates, tremendous diversity and significance are found in the languages of this region. These nineteen essays, originally presented at a conference on Amazonian languages held at the University of Oregon, offer new information on the Tupian, Cariban, Jivaroan, Nambiquaran, Arawakan, Tucanoan, and Makuan languages and new analyses of previously recalcitrant Tupí-Guaraní verb agreement systems. The studies are descriptive, but typological and theoretical implications are consistently considered. Authors invariably indicate where previous claims must be adjusted based on the new information presented. This is true in the areas of nonlinear phonological theory, verb agreement systems and ergativity, grammatical relations and incorporation, and the uniqueness of Amazonian noun classification systems. The studies also contribute to the now extensive interest in grammatical change.
Download or read book The Twins Stories written by Thomas E. Payne and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1993-02-15 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work is a quantitative discourse study of referential devices in Yagua, a relatively unstudied language of the Amazon basin. Of particular interest are folktales in which the major participants are matched pairs, and which involve extensive use of direct speech. A major finding is that the indices of "Referential Distance" and "Persistence" quantify distinct functional domains.
Download or read book Handbook Amazonian Languages written by Desmond C. Derbyshire and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2010-12-14 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fourth volume in a series on the languages of Amazonia. This volume includes grammatical descriptions of Wai Wai, Warekena, a comparative survey of morphosyntactic features of the Tupi-Guarani languages, and a paper on interclausal reference phenomena in Amahuaca.
Download or read book Language written by George Melville Bolling and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proceedings of the annual meeting of the Society in v. 1-11, 1925-34. After 1934 they appear in Its Bulletin.
Download or read book The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking written by Michael Cysouw and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-01-29 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. When a mother says "Mummy is going to say goodnight now", Mummy is the person marker in a way that in English is confined to motherese but which is used more commonly in some other languages and may also be characteristic of much earlier forms. Dr Cysouw divides the person markers of 400 languages into paradigms. He considers how the structure of these person paradigms relates to their function. His investigation provides a clear account of how person markers work syntactically, pragmatically, and semantically as well as giving fresh insights into aspects of linguistic change, language-relatedness, and the interfaces between discourse, syntax, and semantics. The combination of a typological and a comparative approach results in the first outline of a cognitive map of the paradigmatic structure of person marking.
Download or read book Voice and Inversion written by Talmy Givón and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1994 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection aims first to establish a structure-independent, language-independent definition of pragmatic voice, and more specifically then a universal functional definition of inverse. The grammar and pragmatic function of the four major voice constructions direct-active, inverse, passive, antipassive are surveyed using narrative texts from 14 languages: Koyukon (Athabascan), Plains Cree (Algonquian), Chepang (Tibeto-Burman), Squamish and Bella Coola (Salish), Sahaptin (Sahaptian), Kutenai (isolate), Surinam Carib (Carib), Spanish and Greek (Indo-European), Korean, Maasai (Nilotic), Cebuano and Karao (Philippine). The comparative quantified study of pragmatic voice functions tests the validity of a universal functional definition of voice and in particular of inverse. The cross-language comparison of grammatical structures that code the various voice functions then lays down the foundation for a non-trivial cross-language typology of inverse.
Download or read book Work Papers written by Summer Institute of Linguistics and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Role of Theory in Language Description written by William A. Foley and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-06-15 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that provide new insights by approaching language from an interdisciplinary perspective. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.
Download or read book The Amazonian Languages written by R. M. W. Dixon and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-09-23 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Amazon Basin is arguably both one of the least-known and the most complex linguistic regions in the world. It is the home of some 300 languages belonging to around twenty language families, plus more than a dozen genetic isolates, and many of these languages (often incompletely documented and mostly endangered) show properties that constitute exceptions to received ideas about linguistic universals. This book provides an overview in a single volume of this rich and exciting linguistic area. The editors and contributors have sought to make their descriptions as clear and accessible as possible, in order to provide a basis for further research on the structural characteristics of Amazonian languages and their genetic and areal relationships, as well as a point of entry to important cross-linguistic data for the wider constituency of theoretical linguists.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity written by Jessica Coon and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-13 with total page 1328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers theoretical and descriptive perspectives on the issues pertaining to ergativity, a grammatical patterning whereby direct objects are in some way treated like intransitive subjects, to the exclusion of transitive subjects. This pattern differs markedly from nominative/accusative marking whereby transitive and intransitive subjects are treated as one grammatical class, to the exclusion of direct objects. While ergativity is sometimes referred to as a typological characteristic of languages, research on the phenomenon has shown that languages do not fall clearly into one category or the other and that ergative characteristics are not consistent across languages. Chapters in this volume look at approaches to ergativity within generative, typological, and functional paradigms, as well as approaches to the core morphosyntactic building blocks of an ergative construction; related constructions such as the anti-passive; related properties such as split ergativity and word order; and extensions and permutations of ergativity, including nominalizations and voice systems. The volume also includes results from experimental investigations of ergativity, a relatively new area of research. A wide variety of languages are represented, both in the theoretical chapters and in the 16 case studies that are more descriptive in nature, attesting to both the pervasiveness and diversity of ergative patterns.
Download or read book The Pragmatics of Word Order written by Doris L. Payne and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2013-06-10 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The series is a platform for contributions of all kinds to this rapidly developing field. General problems are studied from the perspective of individual languages, language families, language groups, or language samples. Conclusions are the result of a deepened study of empirical data. Special emphasis is given to little-known languages, whose analysis may shed new light on long-standing problems in general linguistics.
Download or read book Dissertation Abstracts International written by and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Why There are No Clitics written by Daniel Leonard Everett and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Workpapers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics University of North Dakota written by Summer Institute of Linguistics and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
