Books

Die Arbeit versucht über drei, eigens gekennzeichnete und für Wilhelm Ockham (1285–1347) ausgewiesene Beweisarten (Induktion, Überredungsbeweis, Widerlegungsbeweis), die in einer Fülle von Beispielen dokumentiert werden, die Begründung seiner z. T. berüchtigten oder unverstandenen Thesen in ihrer Gesamtheit darzulegen. Sie zeigt, dass alle bekannten Stichworte und Schlüsselwörter bzw. Maximen wie notitia intuitiva, Omnipotenzprinzip, Ökonomieprinzip, daneben technische Begriffe wie consequentia, ratio, Kontradiktion, suppositio und ontologische, darunter forma, substantia, accidens, species, qualitas, quantitas, materia, mit diesen Argumentationsweisen in Zusammenhang stehen, genauer: von ihnen abhängen. Es ergibt sich, dass Ockham jeweils sehr spezielle und inhaltlich äußerst begrenzte Beweisziele verfolgt, deren Gesamtgeflecht in einer großen Struktur besteht, für die ein normaler logischer Beweismodus nicht mehr gelten kann. Die reale Geltung von Sätzen und Begriffen ist für Ockham unbestritten, doch bestreitet er, dass eine solche Annahme aus dem Verhältnis der Begriffe und danach der Aussagen abgeleitet werden könne. Er widerlegt die scholastischen Thesen, die das besagten.

There are three kinds of demonstration (induction, persuasion, and disproof) to be found in the writings of William Ockham (1285-1347) which are the base of his theses (opiniones) so often attacked or misunderstood in ancient and modern times. Famous key words such as intuitive cognition, the principles of omnipotence and economy, side by side with technical terms as consequentia, ratio, contradictio, suppositio, and ontological ones like forma, substantia, accidens, species, qualitas, quantitas, materia, and equally Ockham’s counter-arguments against Aristotelian and scholastic maxims essentially depend on these types of ratiocination. Ockham’s many proofs are especially ingenious and they generally have wide and unexpected consequences for reasoning. But the common pattern of deduction has been abandoned. While he acknowledges the validity of propositions and notions in the physical world Ockham denies that it can be proved as a statement for its own. Sometimes he even refutes it as a corollary of philosophical misconceptions.

This volume presents a fac simile edition of Friedrich Schlegel’s Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier. Ein Beitrag zur Begründung der Altertumskunde (Heidelberg, 1808). It is preceded by an introductory article by Sebastiano Timpanaro ‘Friedrich Schlegel and the beginnings of Indo-European linguistics in Germany’.

The ‘NP’ is one of the least controversial grammatical units that linguists work with. The NP is often assumed to be universal, and appears to be robust cross-linguistically (compared to ‘VP’ or even ‘clause’) in that it can be manipulated in argument positions in constructed examples. Furthermore, for any given language, its internal structure (order and type of modifiers) tends to be relatively fixed. Surprisingly, however, the empirical basis for ‘NP’ has never been established. The chapters in this volume examine the NP in everyday interactions from diverse languages, including little-studied languages as well as better-researched ones, in a variety of interactional settings. Together, these chapters show that cross-linguistically, the category NP is not as robust as has been assumed: in the context of temporally unfolding human interaction, its structural status is constantly negotiated in terms of participants’ evolving social agendas.

This ambitious and ground-breaking book examines the linguistic studies produced by missionaries based on the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America (and particularly Haida Gwaii) during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Making extensive use of unpublished archival materials, the author demonstrates that the missionaries were responsible for introducing many innovative and insightful grammatical analyses. Rather than merely adopting Graeco-Roman models, they drew extensively upon studies of non-European languages, and a careful exploration of their scripture translations reveal the origins of the Haida sociolect that emerged as a result of the missionary activity. The complex interactions between the missionaries and anthropologists are also discussed, and it is shown that the former sometimes anticipated linguistic analyses that are now incorrectly attributed to the latter. Since this book draws upon recent work in theoretical linguistics, religious history, translation studies, and anthropology, it emphasises the unavoidably interdisciplinary nature of Missionary Linguistics research.

As of January 2019, this e-book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched.

This book explores socio-cultural meanings of ‘self’ in the Chinese language through analysing a range of conversations among Chinese immigrants to Australia qualitatively on the topics of individuality, social relationships and collective identity. If language, culture and cognition are major roads, this book is the junction that unites them by arguing that selfhood occurs at their interface. It provides an interdisciplinary approach to unpack manifestations and perceptions of ‘self’ in the contemporary Chinese diaspora discourse from the perspectives of Sociolinguistics, Cognitive Linguistics and the newly developed Cultural Linguistics. This book not only discusses empirical and theoretical issues on the conceptualisation and communication of social identity in a cross-cultural context, it also reveals how traditional and modern ideas in Chinese culture are interacting with those of other world cultures. Considering the power of language, enduring and emerging beliefs and stances that permeate these speakers’ views on their social being and outlooks on life impart their significance in cross-cultural communication and pragmatics.

As of January 2023, this e-book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched.