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Emancipatory Pragmatics : Innovative approaches to pragmatics incorporating the concept of “ba”
Dec 2025
Book
Emancipatory Pragmatics represents a unique contribution to the field of pragmatics. Most research in the field has focused on English and other Western languages but the study of Japanese and other non-Western languages as is done in this volume has led to a broader understanding of language use. Here thirteen articles each break new ground by discussing the application of ba theory to pragmatics research. Ba and basho which are Japanese terms often translated as “field” or “context” are central to expanding the theory of pragmatics to explain features not only of non-Western languages but of all languages. By presenting an introduction to the perspective of Emancipatory Pragmatics and discussing ba theory in detail it becomes obvious that this is an innovative approach to questions relevant for the study of all languages. Thus it is useful both for students new to the field as well as for seasoned researchers.
This ebook is Open Access under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
Morphology by Serial Optimization
Nov 2025
Book
Harmonic Serialism is a derivational version of Optimality Theory that has widely been pursued for phonology and syntax but so far much less for morphology. The harmonic serialist approach to inflectional morphology underlying the contributions to the present volume is virtually unique in that it combines from the perspective of the minimalist program a cyclic approach to morphological structure-building with an optimality-theoretic approach to optimization; in a general taxonomy of morphological theories it qualifies as lexical realizational Merge-based and pre-syntactic.<br/>Following a comprehensive introduction to the new theory the book brings together eight case studies from typologically different languages (like Potawatomi Itelmen Acoma Modern Greek Lithuanian Urarina Irarutu and Hill Mari) that address a number of morphological phenomena which can all be shown to empirically support a cyclic optimality-theoretic approach (among them extended exponence disjunctive blocking impoverishment deponency portmanteau marking and morphological movement). The book will be of use to all scholars and students interested in morphological theory.
Varieties of German in Contact Settings : Studies in honor of William D. Keel
Nov 2025
Book
This volume pays homage to the legacy of William D. Keel and the significant impact of his research on German in contact settings from myriad perspectives and traditions. It includes structural and sociolinguistic studies focusing on varieties of German spoken throughout the world including Midwestern varieties of Low German Pennsylvania Dutch Texas German Zarzer German in Slove-nia and the use of different varieties of Standard German in the second language classroom. The contributions span multiple domains of linguistic inquiry such as phonology morphosyntax syntax and second language acquisition. Collectively they contribute to ongoing research on contact varie-ties of Germanic language and how they impact sociolinguistic and generative/theoretical theory as well as pedagogical choices involving varieties of German in instructed second language acquisition. The contributions thus are a fitting tribute to William D. Keel’s far-reaching legacy in research on bilingualism and in particular German-Sprachinseln throughout the world.
Transmedia in Translation and Transculturation
Nov 2025
Book
A prominent keyword of the 21st century humanities the concept of transmedia describes in essence an age-old phenomenon: texts tend to spread in a fragmented fashion in various media and be appropriated and further developed by multiple agents. However the concept of transmedia and the practices it describes have become especially foregrounded with the rise of the new digital technologies and the spread of globalization. <br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>Transmedial practices more often than not span across languages and cultures; nevertheless the ways in which transmediality intersects with translation is an aspect that has so far received limited attention in the respective academic fields. <br/>The aim of this volume is to introduce the concept of transmedia to translation studies and to highlight the centrality of translation processes in transmedial phenomena. Both in its narrower sense as interlingual transfer and in its broader sense as intersemiotic transposition translation is of paramount importance in the study of transmedia.
Applying Corpora in Teaching and Learning Romance Languages
Nov 2025
Book
Applying Corpora in Teaching and Learning Romance Languages is the first major volume dedicated to the use of corpora in teaching and learning Romance languages. Covering four Mediterranean Romance languages – French Italian Spanish and Catalan – the volume provides a thematically structured exploration of applying corpora with sections on spoken language writing and translation data-driven learning acquisition and classroom practice. The chapters making up the volume engage critically with both historical issues and contemporary methodologies serving to illustrate how corpora can enhance language teaching and student engagement. With its broad scope and range of insightful research findings this volume lays the foundations for further research in applying corpus linguistics to Romance languages. A must-read for researchers and teachers wishing to engage with corpus use in the teaching and learning of Romance languages.
The Ziggurat of Grammar : In honor of Ur Shlonsky
Nov 2025
Book
What is the extent to which various grammatical levels – from features through subjecthood through cleft layers – reuse and reemploy certain structure-building operations? In this volume organized in terms of successively expanding domains leading contributors report research into the complex edifice of grammatical structure of human language that one might liken to the terraced layers of a ziggurat. Following the heuristics of reverse-engineering the chapters in this collection draw on theoretical and experimental analyses from Taqbaylit Berber to the sign language Cena from the Romance language family to the Semitic family in a kind to ‘reverse-architecture’ effort to understand the modes that compose multiple planes of morphosyntax. The volume presented to honor the work and influence of Ur Shlonsky within linguistics is aimed at a readership accessible to advanced undergraduates as well as specialists placed at distinct vantage points.
This ebook is Open Access under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
The Diachrony of Word Class Peripheries
Nov 2025
Book
Word classes of a language are usually not homogeneous groups of lexemes that share the same morphological and syntactic properties completely. Rather lexemes are usually grouped together that have some basic commonalities but may differ in detail e.g. regarding their inflectional behaviour. In many cases one can identify within a word class a large number of lexemes that conform to a certain morphological or syntactic pattern (often referred to as “core members”) whilst there is only a comparatively small number of deviants (“peripheral members”). Examples abound: borrowings (in several word classes) may differ grammatically from native words some complex verbs evade certain syntactic slots (such as verb-second position in German) mass and proper nouns differ grammatically from (other) nouns and so on. In this volume we focus on the diachrony of such phenomena. We consider that the study of change and stability can be particularly helpful in furthering our understanding of the diversity within word classes concerning for example the motivation for divergent grammatical properties.
This ebook is Open Access under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
Variation in Language Acquisition : Unity in diversity
Nov 2025
Book
This volume resulting from the fifth edition of the conference series Variation in Language Acquisition (ViLA) brings together research at the intersection of language acquisition and sociolinguistics. Work within the ViLA tradition explores how learners—from preschoolers to adult second-language users— produce perceive and evaluate socially meaningful language variation. Divided in two main parts the contributions to this volume highlight a rich diversity of linguistic settings methodological approaches and learner profiles. Where Part I focuses on the acquisition of variation in children from age three to adolescence Part II shifts the focus to the role of linguistic input and exposure in the acquisition process. Both parts showcase a broad methodological spectrum from observational and experimental studies to qualitative and mixed-methods research. By deepening our understanding of the interplay between social context and linguistic development the chapters in this volume both consolidate and inspire the growing research field of developmental sociolinguistics.
Possibility and Necessity: Concepts and expressions of modality : Concepts and expressions of modality
Nov 2025
Book
Researchers in the fields of logic philosophy and linguistics have for many years been pondering over the elusive nature of modality and grappled with ways of capturing it. This book provides a broad overview of issues relevant to the study of modality and reflects the diversity of theoretical frameworks and the heterogeneity of linguistic phenomena included under the general heading of modality a concept which in one of its most frequent definitions corresponds to the fields of possibility and necessity. The key concepts dealt with are the structure of the semantic notion of modality and of modal subcategories force dynamics evidentiality mirativity modal auxiliaries and verbs modal uses of verbs and constructions (hedged performatives capacitive structures conditional constructions) and modal polyfunctionality across languages. Articles deal with observations taken from a variety of languages including Danish English French Italian Latin and Slovak. The wealth of data and the critical evaluation of existing analyses of modality will be of interest for researchers and graduate students alike.
Framing in Interaction : Pragmatic approaches to framing analysis
Oct 2025
Book
This volume invites its readers to rethink the linguistic basis for framing analysis by problematizing the existing foundation and presenting eight new pragmatically based framing analyses.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>The book challenges the assumption that there is a unilateral one-to-one relationship between words and frames such that framing occurs when a language user is exposed to a word that activates a frame.<br/>Conversely it is assumed that framing emerges in social interaction through a complex interplay between the participants the semiotic resources employed the circumstances and the multiple frames of interaction. This assumption calls for the relationship between words and frames to be analyzed in pragmatics including in cross-fertilization with other disciplines such as discourse analysis interaction analysis sociolinguistics psycholinguistics and social psychology.<br/>The assumption is operationalized in eight different exemplary framing analyses. Each analysis has its own focus drawing on its own disciplines and utilizing its own concepts tools and methods.<br/>The results of the analyses are noteworthy and demonstrate how a pragmatic approach to framing analysis can enhance the validity and reliability of the analysis.
What makes a Figure : Rethinking figurativity
Oct 2025
Book
This volume presents works seeking to re-think the very nature and scope of figurativity calling into attention some of the received tenets in accounts of figurativity both as a holistic category and for individual types and families of figures but also attempting to expand upon the current scope of figurative theorizing. The works presented here investigate a wider array of figures than the typically-studied tropes of metaphor irony and metonymy and they address broad issues such as figurativity writ large (what figurativity actually is and does including how embodied it is) multimodality contiguity of figurative forms and furthering our consideration of the ingredients of irony. It should appeal to any scholar interested in figurativity in all its expansive guises.
Technology and Instructed Second Language Acquisition : Connecting research and pedagogy
Oct 2025
Book
This book brings together a team of leading international scholars to explore the rich intersection of technology and second language (L2) learning and teaching. This innovative volume offers a unique blend of cutting-edge empirical research pedagogy-informed perspectives and practical applications for educators administrators and researchers alike. From digital games interactive fiction and chatbots to multimedia input online collaboration and vocabulary tools each chapter shows how technology can foster more effective equitable and purposeful L2 learning. Importantly the contributors avoid framing technology as a collection of isolated tools; instead they view technology as a set of adaptable resources for designing rich multimodal and socially-informed instructional practices. This forward-thinking comprehensive volume aims to empower L2 educators and researchers to leverage technology’s full potential in a way that resonates with pedagogy context and the growing need for justice equity and inclusion in L2 education; thereby preparing them to successfully navigate the ever-increasing array of technology for L2 teaching and learning.
The Making of Multi-Unit Turns : A spring-loaded door
Oct 2025
Book
The Making of Multi-Unit Turns is the first book-length treatment to comprehensively describe extended turns produced by a single speaker. It draws on multiparty everyday conversations in English using the methods of Conversation Analysis. It brings together the currently scattered literature on MUTs and goes on to expand our understanding of the ‘natural history’ of MUTs by showing how speakers and recipients deploy linguistic and embodied behaviours in intricate ways from the launch of an extended turn of talk to beyond the end of the MUT. The chapters report on the diverse ways in which speakers secure a second turn-constructional unit and show how grammatical prosodic gestural and postural resources as well as gaze direction are deployed to extend the speaker’s floor in a long MUT. Further investigating how speakers and their recipients transition out of the MUT and return to turn-by-turn talk and how recipients sometimes disrupt an extended MUT this book aims to provide a fresh understanding of the orderliness which underlies our everyday interactions.
The Grammar of Interaction : Epistemicity, information management and discourse in language use
Oct 2025
Book
This volume deals with the relations between grammar and interaction from different perspectives with the aim of unraveling the way in which a language — through the different forms of discourse from which it emerges — reflects certain social and community-based schemas; that is how language originates within the space shared by the speaker and the addressee(s). The first part (“Grammar and Interaction”) concerns how interaction may intervene in grammar; the second part (“The Grammar of Interaction”) approaches both notions and linguistic structures which are anchored in interaction while revolving around epistemicity evidentiality and modality. The third part (“Interaction as a Model for Discourse”) concerns how certain constructions emerge from interaction and are further used to model discourse. Finally the fourth and last part of the book (“Interaction as a Driver for Change”) focuses on how interaction may help to delimit linguistic categories.
Mathematical Modelling in Linguistics and Text Analysis : Theory and applications
Oct 2025
Book
This book is a panorama of contemporary quantitative linguistics as developed over decades. It highlights the main topics of QL: statistical laws of language taxonomy of linguistic phenomena authorial attribution quantitative analysis of syntax (e.g. dependency grammar) measurement of text difficulty and other phenomena at the intersection of linguistics literary studies semiotics and information science. It also reflects on the relevance of these time-honoured approaches in our new reality increasingly dominated by AI – both in terms of text material and methodology. Before our very eyes computers are achieving human-level linguistic competence. The era of LLMs and the growing dominance of machine-generated text is becoming reality. The scale of these changes initiated by the replacement of print with the digital universe is enormous. Today linguistics is closer than ever to mathematics and computer science and thus quantitatively-oriented linguists are particularly well-suited to address questions about the boundary between humans and machines in scientific research.
First Language Acquisition in Finno-Ugric Languages
Oct 2025
Book
This book is the first comprehensive state-of-the-art overview of the first language acquisition of four Finno-Ugric languages: Estonian Finnish Hungarian and North Saami. Ten chapters review research on phonological lexical and grammatical development bringing the research within the language family into one source enabling easy access to topics touching upon acquisition of the key linguistic domains cross-linguistic comparisons between the languages and discussion of the ways in which Finno-Ugric languages contribute to theory in the field of first language acquisition. The volume will appeal to students and scholars of language acquisition linguists psychologists clinicians and educational professionals.
Constructions in Contact 3 : Constructional schemas and patterns in language contact
Oct 2025
Book
Over the last decade Construction Grammar has become increasingly popular in the study of language contact and multilingualism. Indeed constructional approaches including Diasystematic Construction Grammar not only offer a useful theoretical framework for empirical studies but also provide a fresh look at fundamental questions in contact linguistics. This volume continues the series of works on Constructions in Contact (the first two volumes were published in 2018 and 2021). It presents new research on the constructionist modelling of language contact phenomena the impact of multilingualism on argument structure constructions and the role of phonological units in language contact. The volume thus combines classical areas of constructional research with innovative ones demonstrating the broad applicability of Construction Grammar for contact linguistics.
COVID-19 : Metaphor and metonymy across languages and cultures
Oct 2025
Book
The COVID-19 pandemic set off a maelstrom of social cultural and political changes—as well as some surprising linguistic ones. This volume explores these dramatic changes through the lens of Cognitive Linguistics analysing noteworthy examples of pandemic discourse to reveal correspondences and contrasts between different cultures’ conceptions of the illness and its aftermath. The contributions examine a variety of genres including newspaper articles storefront signs artistic creations personal interviews social media comments and political speeches. They look at communication in various domains—business media politics economics art and psychiatry. And they compare past and present showing how the modern pandemic both continued and interrupted previous patterns of discourse around illness and disease. These diverse analyses show how Cognitive Linguistics on the cutting edge of quantitative sociocultural and interdisciplinary turns in linguistics can be a powerful theoretical tool in uncovering parallels and variations in how different cultures communicate in times of crisis.
Footprints of Phrase Structure : Studies in syntax in honour of Tim Stowell
Oct 2025
Book
This volume presents a collection of state-of-the-art studies that illustrate recent advances in the understanding of human language grammar design and linguistic categories. The title of the volume aims at highlighting the mark that the work of Tim Stowell has had on the field of Linguistics since his dissertation Origins of Phrase Structure defended at the MIT in 1981. Stowell’s work established the principles that replaced individual phrase structure rules from previous generative models with general universal constraints setting off the articulation of formal grammars on a new journey. The papers gathered here demonstrate how that principled approach runs in the field today. The empirical evidence discussed in the papers comes from 15 different languages which makes the volume a point of reference for cross-linguistic analyses and testimony to the wealth of descriptive knowledge brought to the scientific community.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>A wide array of linguistic generations contributed to this volume ranging from legendary ones who established the field as we’ve known it to some who have only recently received their doctorates. This plainly demonstrates the time spanning impact of Stowell’s work and the deep footprint he has left in the field and in our lives.
Handbook of Terminology : Volume 4. Terminology planning in Europe
Sept 2025
Book
This book provides an overview of the various methods adopted for terminology planning in the languages under examination. Collectively the authors attempt to establish an overall understanding of terminology planning in Europe starting from an examination of the organizations engaged in terminology planning in different European linguistic contexts. Each chapter focuses on a specific language or language landscape focusing on issues such as:<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>- the defining features of these terminology planning institutions including their size structure funding sources specialization public recognition publication methods and collaborations with other organizations;<br/>- the responsibilities and operational procedures for example as regards standardization description evaluation quantification of results dissemination and terminometry;<br/>- terminology planning versus general language planning;<br/>- the historical development of these institutions and the future prospects for terminology planning in each language or language landscape.<br/>The individual authors provide an independent overview of one language landscape. Overall the book tells a fascinating story about how each language handles terminology as an essential linguistic factor in everyday society.