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The author describes and explains the syntactic and pragmatic properties of the nominal and pronominal elements in sentences of the types Ces Romains ils sont fous and Ils sont fous ces Romains which in spite of their frequent occurrence have so far received little attention among linguists and grammarians. He argues that far from having the marginal status of a linguistic anomaly the cooccurrence in the same clause of coreferential nouns and pronouns is one formal manifestation of an important functional principle in modern French: the encoding of a topic-comment relationship in the surface structure of the sentence. The pronouns in sentences such as the ones mentioned are interpreted as agreement markers. The syntactic and semantic differences between topics and anti-topics are analyzed.

Pragmatics often begins by supposing that specifying and describing truth bearers is a proper task for semantics. The main thrust of the present work is to show why truth and truth bearers lie essentially beyond the descriptive reach of semantics and to outline a theory of truth bearers as a proper and fundamental task for pragmatics. It is also common for treatments or definitions of truth to be confused with substantive theories about truth bearers with a variety of unfortunate results. This monograph suggests a way of separating these tasks and shows how many problems are thus avoided. Some emphasis is placed on the generally universal — i.e. nonlanguage-specific — character of pragmatic topics and of truth. These issues occasion a discussion of semantic paradoxes and of several relativities in the notion of truth.

In addition to borrowing from various foreign sources the main origins of slang terms are the activation and revitalization of existing morphological and lexical material. Metaphorical manipulation of lexical items as the main device used for the production of slangisms shows remarkable similarities in languages otherwise quite different from each other. Slang is analyzed as a kind of substandard language variation which any full-fledged language is bound to develop because it is experimental in that it is born from insubordination and protest against the stress experienced in the speech communities of large cities and is always characterized by that element of playfulness which is the hallmark of creative language in general.

This new edition of Carl Richard Lepsius’s Standard Alphabet reproduces the text of the second enlarged edition of 1863. The extensive Introduction by J. Alan Kemp places it in its historical setting and provides comments on the phonetic basis for the Alphabet and the notation.

Cet essai prolongue l’esquisse d’analyse distributionelle que l’on trouvera dans Un grammaire en chaîne du français (Salkoff 1973). Dans ce livre ici l’auteur presente quelques aspects additionels de la grammaire et du programme associé necessaire pour analyser un texte scientifique. Le chapitre 1 donne un aperçu du fonctionnement de la conjonction dans la phrase. Déterminer quelles structures et quelles sous-classes peuvent se lier les unes aux autres pare une conjonction est assurément l’une des questions les plus difficiles à résoudre dans le detail. Le chapitre 2 contient les définitions de toutes les sous-classes des catégories principales utilisées dan le lexique. Dans le chapitre 3 l’auteur présente une description de la grammaire en chaîne en tent que language formel comme une variante context-sensitive. Le chapitre 4 présente les premiers résultats de l’application effective du programme d’analyse syntaxique.

The essays in this two-volume anthology provide the reader with an overview of current Czech Polish and Hungarian research in language literature and meaning as well as some new perspectives on the major theoretical contributions of Roman Ingarden Georg Lukács and Jan Mukařovský. For the most part the emphasis is on Poetics and Literary Theory; however in some of the essays the focus shifts to such related disciplines as Aesthetics Linguistics and Semiotics. The heterogeneity of this collection reflects the broad spectrum of interests and approaches to problems of theory being pursued at present in Poland Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Much of the work being done in these countries remains relatively unknown outside of Eastern Europe. This anthology is an attempt to rectify this situation and make better known the nature and extent of research which promises new insights into a whole range of phenomena in language literature and culture.

The studies in this volume are revised versions of a selection from the papers presented at the Fourth International Conference on Historical Linguistics held at Stanford University on 26–30 March 1979. Papers at this conference and in this volume treat aspects of all current topics in historical linguistics including topics that are only recently considered relevant such as acquisition structure and language use.

Selon une dynamique évidente mais apparemment irrésistible les textes médiévaux mal connus tendent à le rester et leur obscurité à se justifier d'elle-même. La raison immédiate en est cette fois une répétition régulière d'une très vieille hypothèse jamais vérifiée sur la nature de la Chanson d'Antioche. La présente étude vise en premier lieu à briser au profit d'une littérature parfois incroyablement méconnue le cercle vicieux des écrits de seconde main; elle peut aussi à l'occasion servir l'étude du processus d'obscurcissement lui-même. Nous nous efforçons donc de répondre ici à une double question historique et critique. Comment se fait-il qu'on entend parler si peu—et si méchamment—d'un cycle épique majeur et unifié celui de la Croisade? Quelle est l'origine du topos critique qui assigne à ce Cycle un rang inférieur aux autres quelquefois en le rejetant totalement hors du genre épique? Car nous avons affaire à un topos dont il s'agit de bien mesurer l'étendue.

There is no country in the world where as many different languages are spoken as in New Guinea approximately a fifth of the languages in the world. Most of these so-called Papuan languages seem to be unrelated to languages spoken elsewhere. The present work is the first truly comprehensive study of such a language Hua. The chief typological peculiarity of Hua is the existence of a ‘medial verb’construction used to conjoin clauses in compound and complex sentences. Hua also shows a fundamental morphological distinction between coordinate and subordinate medial clauses the latter are not ‘tense-iconic’ the events they describe are not necessarily prior to the event described in later clauses. Moreover their truth is always presupposed. The distribution and behaviour of a post-nominal suffix - mo provides insights into the nature of topics conditional clauses and functional definitions of the parts of speech. In phonology the central rules of assimilation are constrained by the universal hierarchy of sonority which may however be derived from binary features. These are some of the areas in which the grammar of Hua is unusually perspicuous. The present work aims at a standard of completeness such that it would be a useful reference work for research in almost any theoretical topic.

This study of Góngora’s Soledades is intended to summarize and discuss some of the problems which seemed important for a better understanding of these poems. Special attention is paid to the two opposing ‘camps’ that developed over time; one mainly focussing on the form and the other on the content of Soledades. In this volume the authors tries to integrate the methods and results of both of the ‘camps’.

This volume presents a set of papers on linguistic thought in the Middle Ages. It is complemented by a comprehensive bibliography and indices. The papers in this volume appeared earlier in Historiographia Linguistica 7:1/2 (1980).

This volume consists of autobiographical by the following scholars together with pictures and autographs: Raven I. McDavid Jr. Henry M. Hoenigswald John B. Carroll William G. Moulton Archibald A. Hill Yakov Malkiel Charles F. Hockett Harold B. Allen William Bright Einar Haugen George S. Lane Frederic G. Cassidy James B. McMillan Winfred P. Lehmann Fred W. Householder and Dell Hymes. A master list of references and an index of persons conclude the volume.

This volume presents a selection of revised papers from the International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences (Ottawa 1978). These have been organized under the following headings: I. Classical Traditions in the Middle Ages and Medieval Thought in the Renaissance and After; II. Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Century Linguistic Ideas; III. Eighteenth-Century Thought in England France and Germany; IV. Late-Eighteenth to Mid-Twentieth Century Linguistics; V. Linguistic Pursuits Outside Europe and Points of Contact Between East and West; and VI. Supplementa: Beyond the History of Linguistics.

This volume brings together a number of papers written by R. W. Hunt (1908-1979) on the history of grammar in the Middle Ages. The importance of these papers lies almost as much in the spark of scholarly investigation that they have inspired as in their contribution to original research. The first three studies in this collection deal with the change in grammatical doctrine that took place in the late 11th and 12th centuries and from which all subsequent developments during the creative period of medieval grammatical speculation derive. The fourth paper deals with a problem that concerns all students of the medieval liberal arts: the unity of learning as opposed to the present-day compartmentalisation of studies. The remaining three studies deal with the textual materials available to the medieval student of grammar.

This essay concerns the analysis of speech act verbs. It offers a range of ideas which form theoretical preliminaries to the analysis of this phenomenon.

The purpose of this essay is to both discuss commands as a species of speech act and to discuss commands within the broader framework of how they are used and reacted to.

This essay attempts to show how a second language is acquired by very young children in the process of socialization with other children. The study seeks to integrate the process of second language learning in the general framework of child development concentrating in particular on the development of language and conversational skills.

This essay concerns meaning detachment and (self-)interpreting utterances.

In the philosophic world today pragmatism and phenomenology can be found standing at a crossroad. Though each has arrived there via divergent paths and for very different reasons the direction that each takes in the future may be significantly influenced by the suggestions the other has to offer. The intention of this book is to parallel the two positions in such a way that basic points of convergence and divergence are noted and accounted for in terms of their systematic significance. Each position is presented in such a manner that philosophers engrossed in one movement can enter into the other in a way which allows a real encounter to develop.

This handbook makes available short grammatical sketches of Australian languages. Each grammar is written in a standard format following guidelines provided by the editors and includes a sample text and vocabulary text. In the introduction the editors discuss some of the recurrent features of languages across the continent together with grammars of Guugu Yimidhirr by John Haviland; Pitta-Pitta by Barry J. Blake; Gumbaynggir by Diana Eades; and Yaygir by Terry Crowley.

Intuitively it is clear why languages have anaphoric relations: anaphora reduces redundancy thereby shortening (and hence simplifying) sentences. In order for this simplification to be possible however it is necessary that the speaker of a language be able to identify correctly the elements participating in an anaphoric relation and to determine correctly the meaning of the anaphor on the basis of meaning of the antecedent. If a grammar is to reflect the linguistic competence of a native speaker of a language it must include mechanisms of associating anaphor and antecedent. In this volume the following questions will be considered: What sorts of mechanisms are best suited for representing anaphora in a grammar? What are the conditions on the rule(s) associating anaphors with antecedents? Do the various cases of anaphora form a linguistically significant class of phenomena and if so how can the grammar capture this fact? And what do these answers entail for linguistic theory?

That Goethe was also a translator is a well-kept secret. However in this study the main focus lies on these translations. Especially on his five longest and most important ones such as Diderot’s Le Neveu de Rameau and Cellini’s Vita.Not only will the translations be discussed but – and maybe even more importantly – also will this study try to give an answer to the motivation of Goethe. Why did he devote so much time to these translations? This volume offers a complete new perspective on Goethe and his works.

This study of the South African variety of English is an exercise in the sociology of language conducted mainly within the conceptual framework and methodology created by William Labov. It accepts that social process and social structure are reflected in patterns of covariation involving linguistic and social variables and in attitudes to different varieties of speech within the community. This premise is pursued here in its historical implications: linguistuic evidence in present-day speech patterns of earlier states of the society and of the social political and cultural changes that have brought about the present state. The second main focus in this volume is directed at the concept of ‘standard variety’ that is the social attributes and functions of a formal speech pattern for which the status of standard might be claimed.

Die Heliandmetrik ist eine Metrik im Altsachsischen. In dieser Studie wird versucht eine Analyse Beschreibung und Auswertung nach der formalen Kriterien zu beschreiben. Wichtig ist vor allem das Verhältnis von Rhythmus und Satzgewicht.

The continuing debate over the existence or non-existence of formal verbal aspect in Gothic triggered the author to write this monograph whose aim is to provide a completely new foundation for a theory of aspect and related features. Gothic with its limited corpus representing a translation of the Greek and showing interesting parallels with Slavic verbal constructions serves and an illustrative model for the theory. In Part I the author argues that a unified theory of aspect actional types and verbal velocity presented there possesses an internal logic and is not at variance with observed facts in various Indo-European languages. In Part II an analysis is presented of the Gothic verb system which seeks to explain the much-disputed function of ga- and to solve the problem of Gothic aspect and actional types which does no violence either to the Gothic text or the Greek original.