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Information Highlighting in Advanced Learner English : The syntax–pragmatics interface in second language acquisition
Apr 2009
Book
This book presents the first detailed and comprehensive study of information highlighting in advanced learner language echoing the increasing interest in questions of near-native competence in SLA research and contributing to the description of advanced interlanguages. It examines the production and comprehension of specific means of information highlighting in English by native speakers and German learners of English as a foreign language presenting triangulated experimental and learner corpus data as corroborating evidence. The study focuses on learners’ use of discourse-pragmatically motivated variations of the basic word order such as inversion preposing and it- and wh-clefts an underexplored field in SLA research to date.The book also provides a critical re-assessment of the study of pragmatics within SLA. It has largely been neglected to date that L2 pragmatic knowledge includes more than the sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic abilities for understanding and performing speech acts. Thus the book argues for an extension of the scope of inquiry in interlanguage pragmatics beyond the cross-cultural investigation of speech acts. It also discusses pedagogical implications for foreign language teaching and will be of interest to applied linguists and SLA researchers language teachers and curriculum designers.
Romance Linguistics 2007 : Selected papers from the 37th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Pittsburgh, 15–18 March 2007
Apr 2009
Book
The present volume includes a selection of twenty-one peer-reviewed and revised papers from the 37th annual Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL) held at the University of Pittsburgh in 2007. The papers cover a range of topics in morphology syntax phonology and language acquisition. A number of languages and varieties are also analyzed including Italian Spanish Judeo-Spanish Old Spanish French Old French and Romanian. Contributions include papers from three of the invited speakers Heles Contreras Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach and Julia Herschensohn. This volume highlights theoretical issues under current debate in Romance linguistics.
Corpus Analysis and Variation in Linguistics
Mar 2009
Book
For sale in all countries except Japan. For customers in Japan: please contact Yushodo Co.
In this new edition of TUFS Studies in Linguistics we aim to showcase the various linguistics research conducted at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. In this first volume we report on the international symposium hosted by the Global Center of Excellence Program "Corpus-based Linguistics and Language Education (CbLLE)" throughout 2008. Also in this collection we consider the timeless linguistics issue of "variation" by utilizing the corpus analysis method. Whether socio-linguistic stylistic or individual variations manifest in a variety of ways throughout time and space and are closely related to issues surrounding linguistic theories. Additionally this volume includes other research upon diverse themes such as diachronic variation analysis lexical variations second language acquisition and bilingualism.
In this new edition of TUFS Studies in Linguistics we aim to showcase the various linguistics research conducted at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. In this first volume we report on the international symposium hosted by the Global Center of Excellence Program "Corpus-based Linguistics and Language Education (CbLLE)" throughout 2008. Also in this collection we consider the timeless linguistics issue of "variation" by utilizing the corpus analysis method. Whether socio-linguistic stylistic or individual variations manifest in a variety of ways throughout time and space and are closely related to issues surrounding linguistic theories. Additionally this volume includes other research upon diverse themes such as diachronic variation analysis lexical variations second language acquisition and bilingualism.
Discourses on Language and Integration : Critical perspectives on language testing regimes in Europe
Mar 2009
Book
One of the most pressing issues in contemporary European societies is the need to promote integration and social inclusion in the context of rapidly increasing migration. A particular challenge confronting national governments is how to accommodate speakers of an ever-increasing number of languages within what in most cases are still perceived as monolingual indigenous populations. This has given rise to public debates in many countries on controversial policies imposing a requirement of competence in a ‘national’ language and culture as a condition for acquiring citizenship. However these debates are frequently conducted almost entirely at a national level within each state with little if any attention paid to the broader European context. At the same time further EU enlargement and the ongoing rise in the rate of migration into and across Europe suggest that the salience of these issues is likely to continue to grow. This volume offers a critical analysis of these debates and emerging discourses on integration and challenges the assumptions underlying the new ‘language testing regimes’.
The Derivation of Anaphoric Relations
Mar 2009
Book
The Derivation of Anaphoric Relations resolves a conspicuous problem for Minimalist theory the apparently representational nature of the binding conditions. Hicks adduces a broad variety of evidence against the binding conditions applying at LF and builds upon the insights of recent proposals by Hornstein Kayne and Reuland by reducing them to the core narrow-syntactic operations (specifically Agree and Merge). Several novel and independently motivated claims about syntactic features and phases are made not only explaining the previously stipulated roles played by c-command reference and locality but furnishing the dervational binding theory with sufficient flexibility to capture some long-problematic empirical phenomena: These include connectivity effects ‘picture-noun’ reflexives in English and anaphor/pronoun non-complementarity. Specific proposals are also made for extending the derivational approach to accommodate structured crosslinguistic variation in binding with thorough expositions and analyses of the Dutch Norwegian and Icelandic pronominal systems.
Exploring the Lexis–Grammar Interface
Mar 2009
Book
This volume showcases studies that recognize and provide evidence for the inseparability of lexis and grammar. The contributors explore in what ways these two areas often treated separately in linguistic theory and description form an organic whole. The papers in Section I (Setting the Scene) introduce some of the key methodological approaches and theoretical positions at the lexis-grammar interface while Section II (Considering the Particulars) contains papers that report on case studies and show concrete applications of the central methods and theories. Exploring the Lexis-Grammar Interface is a stimulating collection of papers for anyone who wishes to learn more about and get fresh state-of-the-art perspectives on language patterning.
Corpus Use and Translating : Corpus use for learning to translate and learning corpus use to translate
Mar 2009
Book
Professional translators are increasingly dependent on electronic resources and trainee translators need to develop skills that allow them to make the best use of these resources. The aim of this book is to show how CULT (Corpus Use for Learning to Translate) methodologies can be used to prepare learning materials and how novice translators can become autonomous users of corpora. Readers interested in translation studies translator training and corpus linguistics will find the book particularly useful. Not only does it include practical technical advice for using and learning to use corpora but it also addresses important issues such as the balance between training and education and how CULT methodologies reinforce student autonomy and responsibility. Not only is this a good introduction to CULT but it also incorporates the latest developments in this field showing the advantages of using these methodologies in competence-based learning.
The Role of Semantic, Pragmatic, and Discourse Factors in the Development of Case
Mar 2009
Book
The aim of this volume is to bring non-syntactic factors in the development of case into the eye of the research field by illustrating the integral role of pragmatics semantics and discourse structure in the historical development of morphologically marked case systems. The articles represent fifteen typologically diverse languages from four different language families: (i) Indo-European: Vedic Sanskrit Russian Greek Latin Latvian Gothic French German Icelandic and Faroese; (ii) Tibeto-Burman especially the Bodic languages and Meithei; (iii) Japanese; and (iv) the Pama-Nyungan mixed language Gurindji Kriol. The data also show considerable diversity and include elicited archival corpus-based and naturally occurring data. Discussions of mechanisms where change is obtained include semantically and aspectually motivated synchronic case variation discourse motivated subject marking reduction or expansion of case marker distribution case syncretism motivated by semantics syntax or language contact and case splits motivated by pragmatics metonymy and subjectification.
The Linguistics of Eating and Drinking
Mar 2009
Book
This volume reviews a range of fascinating linguistic facts about ingestive predicates in the world’s languages. The highly multifaceted nature of ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ events gives rise to interesting clausal properties of these predicates such as the atypicality of transitive constructions involving ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ in some languages. The two verbs are also sources for a large number of figurative uses across languages with meanings such as ‘destroy’ and ‘savour’ as well as participating in a great variety of idioms which can be quite opaque semantically. Grammaticalized extensions of these predicates also occur such as the quantificational use of Hausa shaa 'drink’ meaning (roughly) ‘do X frequently regularly’. Specialists discuss details of the use of these verbs in a variety of languages and language families: Australian languages Papuan languages Athapaskan languages Japanese Korean Hausa Amharic Hindi-Urdu and Marathi.
Minimal Answers : Ellipsis, syntax and discourse in the acquisition of European Portuguese
Mar 2009
Book
This book offers a new contribution to the debate concerning the acquisition of the syntax-discourse interface. It provides evidence that children acquiring European Portuguese have a very early ability to spontaneously produce VP ellipsis as answers to yes-no questions. It is also argued that the distribution of VP ellipsis in European Portuguese (including its co-existence with Null Complement Anaphora) supports the hypothesis that the identification condition on ellipsis is derivable from some innate knowledge of the syntax-discourse interface. Answers to yes-no questions also provide evidence concerning children’s interpretation of questions containing a cleft or the operator só ‘only’. The analysis of spontaneous production is complemented by a comprehension experiment showing that children have two problems in the interpretation of these questions: (i) they do not understand that the cleft and só introduce a presupposition and (ii) they start with a default focus assignment strategy and may not access other focus interpretations.
The Language of Outsourced Call Centers : A corpus-based study of cross-cultural interaction
Feb 2009
Book
The Language of Outsourced Call Centers is the first book to explore a large-scale corpus representing the typical kinds of interactions and communicative tasks in outsourced call centers located in the Philippines and serving American customers. The specific goals of this book are to conduct a corpus-based register comparison between outsourced call center interactions face-to-face American conversations and spontaneous telephone exchanges; and to study the dynamics of cross-cultural communication between Filipino call center agents and American callers as well as other demographic groups of participants in outsourced call center transactions e.g. gender of speakers agents’ experience and performance and types of transactional tasks. The research design relies on a number of analytical approaches including corpus linguistics and discourse analysis and combines quantitative and qualitative examination of linguistic data in the investigation of the frequency distribution and functional characteristics of a range of lexico/syntactic features of outsourced call center discourse.
Modality in Japanese : The layered structure of the clause and hierarchies of functional categories
Feb 2009
Book
Hierarchical clause structure is an important feature of most theories of grammar. While it has been an indispensable part of formal syntactic theories functional theories have more recently discovered for themselves a ‘layered structure of the clause’. A major focus of the current discussion on semanto-syntactic clause structure is the hierarchical ordering of grammatical categories such as tense aspect and modality. However there are very few empirical studies yet to provide systematic evidence for presumably universal hierarchical structures. This book presents a systematic corpus-based study of the semantic and morphosyntactic interaction of modality with tense aspect negation and modal markers embedded in subordinate clauses. The results are critically compared with extant theories of hierarchies of grammatical categories including those in Functional Grammar Role and Reference Grammar and the Cartography of Syntactic Structures. Also provided is an extensive description of the expression of modality and related categories in Modern Japanese.
Demonstratives and Definite Articles as Nominal Auxiliaries
Feb 2009
Book
Written in the cartographic tradition this monograph is concerned with the inner structure and derivation of noun phrases. It proposes that demonstratives and definite articles are similar to auxiliaries in the clause. Referencing mostly Germanic languages the book argues that determiners are base generated below adjectives and subsequently move to the left periphery in a successive-cyclic fashion. Demonstrating that determiners are complex elements it is proposed that languages vary with regard to when and what part of the determiner they move. This provides a novel account of the variation in the Scandinavian noun phrase. With various copies left behind by moving the determiner the restrictive and non-restrictive readings of adjectives and relative clauses are suggested to follow from the interpretation of these different copies. The system is extended to the strong and weak adjective inflections in German. Proposing that determiners are auxiliaries in the nominal domain explains these apparently unrelated data in a uniform way.
Syntax within the Word : Economy, allomorphy, and argument selection in Distributed Morphology
Feb 2009
Book
Syntax within the Word provides a multifaceted look into the syntactic framework of Distributed Morphology (DM) within the Minimalist program. For those unfamiliar with the theory this monograph provides an overview of DM and argues its strengths. For those more familiar with DM this monograph provides analyses of familiar data much of which has not been treated within the framework: argument selection stem allomorphy and suppletion nominal compounds in English (feet-first vs. *heads-first) and the structure of the verb phrase. This monograph also proposes a future for the theory in the form of revisions to DM including: the elimination of readjustment rules a new economy constraint (Minimize Exponence) that triggers fusion of functional heads and a feature blocking system.
Dependency in Linguistic Description
Feb 2009
Book
The book covers three major topics crucial for contemporary syntactic research. Firstly it offers a sketch of a general theory of dependency in natural language. Different types of linguistic dependencies are distinguished (semantic syntactic and morphological) the criteria for their recognition are formulated and all possible combinations are discussed in some detail. Secondly it demonstrates the application of the general theory in two specific domains: establishing the system of Surface-Syntactic Relations in French and linear positioning of clitics in Serbian. Thirdly it presents a formal sketch of Head-Driven Phrase-Structure Grammar modelled in terms of syntactic dependencies.
Agents of Translation
Feb 2009
Book
Agents of Translation contains thirteen case studies by internationally recognized scholars in which translation has been used as a way of influencing the target culture and furthering literary political and personal interests.
The articles describe Francisco Miranda the “precursor” of Venezuelan independence who promoted translations of works on the French Revolution and American independence; 19th century Brazilian translations of articles taken from the Révue Britannique about England; Ahmed Midhat a late 19th century Turkish journalist who widely translated from Western languages; Henry Vizetelly who (unsuccessfully) attempted to introduce the works of Zola to a wider public in Victorian Britain; and Henry Bohn who also in Victorian Britain (successfully) published a series of works from the classics many of which were expurgated; Yukichi Fukuzawa whose adaptation of a North American geography textbook in the Meiji period promoted the concept of the superiority of the Japanese over their Asian neighbours; Samuli Suomalainen and Juhani Konkka whose translations helped establish Finnish as a literary language; Hasan Alî Yücel the Turkish Minister of Education who set up the Turkish Translation Bureau in 1939; the Senegalese intellectual Cheikh Anta Diop whose work showed that the Ancient Egyptians had African rather than Indo-European roots; the Centro Cultural de Évora theatre group which introduced Brecht and other contemporary drama into Portugal after the 1974 Carnation Revolution; 20th century Argentine translators of poetry; Haroldo and Augusto de Campos who have brought translation to the forefront of literary activity in Brazil; and finally translators of Bosnian poetry many of whom work in exile.
The articles describe Francisco Miranda the “precursor” of Venezuelan independence who promoted translations of works on the French Revolution and American independence; 19th century Brazilian translations of articles taken from the Révue Britannique about England; Ahmed Midhat a late 19th century Turkish journalist who widely translated from Western languages; Henry Vizetelly who (unsuccessfully) attempted to introduce the works of Zola to a wider public in Victorian Britain; and Henry Bohn who also in Victorian Britain (successfully) published a series of works from the classics many of which were expurgated; Yukichi Fukuzawa whose adaptation of a North American geography textbook in the Meiji period promoted the concept of the superiority of the Japanese over their Asian neighbours; Samuli Suomalainen and Juhani Konkka whose translations helped establish Finnish as a literary language; Hasan Alî Yücel the Turkish Minister of Education who set up the Turkish Translation Bureau in 1939; the Senegalese intellectual Cheikh Anta Diop whose work showed that the Ancient Egyptians had African rather than Indo-European roots; the Centro Cultural de Évora theatre group which introduced Brecht and other contemporary drama into Portugal after the 1974 Carnation Revolution; 20th century Argentine translators of poetry; Haroldo and Augusto de Campos who have brought translation to the forefront of literary activity in Brazil; and finally translators of Bosnian poetry many of whom work in exile.
Germanic Languages and Linguistic Universals
Feb 2009
Book
For sale in all countries except Japan. For customers in Japan: please contact Yushodo Co.
The Senshu University Project The Development of the Anglo-Saxon Language and Linguistic Universals has as its general aim the investigation of structural characteristics common to the Germanic languages such as English German Norwegian and Icelandic all of which are descended from the so-called Proto-Germanic language and their clarification with regard to linguistic universals provided by the theoretical framework of Generative Grammar. In order to fulfill this aim the project has to be responsive to theoretical advances in a variety of linguistic domains and approaches such as language acquisition pragmatics and corpus linguistics as well as philological and historical contributions on Germanic languages in various stages of their development.
The present book seeks to advance these goals in ten chapters exemplifying work on a wide range of Germanic languages and linguistic universals. It is divided into three parts: Part 1. Old English and Germanic languages; Part 2. Generative Grammar; and Part 3. Pragmatics and Corpus Linguistics. Germanic Languages and Linguistic Universals will be of general interest to linguists who seek to understand the nature of the Germanic languages and the relationships obtaining between them.
The Senshu University Project The Development of the Anglo-Saxon Language and Linguistic Universals has as its general aim the investigation of structural characteristics common to the Germanic languages such as English German Norwegian and Icelandic all of which are descended from the so-called Proto-Germanic language and their clarification with regard to linguistic universals provided by the theoretical framework of Generative Grammar. In order to fulfill this aim the project has to be responsive to theoretical advances in a variety of linguistic domains and approaches such as language acquisition pragmatics and corpus linguistics as well as philological and historical contributions on Germanic languages in various stages of their development.
The present book seeks to advance these goals in ten chapters exemplifying work on a wide range of Germanic languages and linguistic universals. It is divided into three parts: Part 1. Old English and Germanic languages; Part 2. Generative Grammar; and Part 3. Pragmatics and Corpus Linguistics. Germanic Languages and Linguistic Universals will be of general interest to linguists who seek to understand the nature of the Germanic languages and the relationships obtaining between them.
Grammatical Variation across Space and Time : The French interrogative system
Feb 2009
Book
Interrogative clauses in French show abundant variation especially with regard to the position of the subject vis-à-vis the finite verb the placement of the wh-word and the use of question markers such as est-ce que and ti/tu. This book presents a comprehensive study of the evolution and use of French interrogative constructions across a time span of approximately five hundred years by drawing on written sources (15th to 17th century) and oral data (19th and 20th century). Special attention is paid to the regional variation between European French and Quebec French. A variationist analysis reveals the relevant sociolinguistic factors conditioning variant choice. On the basis of the results obtained the syntax of the different variants is modeled within the framework of generative grammar. In particular the progressive diachronic decline and restriction of subject-verb inversion is argued to mirror the loss of verb movement. This book is of interest to anyone concerned with syntactic variation and change.
The Genesis of Syntactic Complexity : Diachrony, ontogeny, neuro-cognition, evolution
Feb 2009
Book
Complex hierarchic syntax is a hallmark of human language. The highest level of syntactic complexity recursive-embedded clauses has been singled out by some for a special status as the evolutionary apex of the uniquely - human language faculty - evolutionary yet mysteriously immune to Darwinian adaptive selection. Prof. Givón's book treats syntactic complexity as an integral part of the evolutionary rise of human communication. The book first describes grammar as an adaptive instrument of communication assembled upon the pre-existing platform of pre-linguistic object- and-event cognition and mental representation. It then surveys the two grand developmental trends of human language: diachrony the communal enterprise directly responsible for fashioning synchronic morpho-syntax and cross-language diversity; and ontogeny the individual endeavor directly responsible for acquiring the competent use of grammar. The genesis of syntactic complexity along these two developmental trends is compared with second language acquisition pre-grammatical pidgin and pre-human communication. The evolutionary relevance of language diachrony language ontogeny and pidginization is argued for on general bio-evolutionary grounds: It is the organism's adaptive on-line behavior- invention learning and skill acquisition - that is the common thread running through all three developmental trends. The neuro-cognitive circuits that underlie language and their evolutionary underpinnings are described and assessed. Recursive embedding turns out to be not an adaptive target on its own but the by-product of two distinct adaptive moves: (i) the recruitment of conjoined clauses as modal operators on or referential specifiers of other clauses; and (ii) the subsequent condensation of paratactic into syntactic structures.
Television Dialogue : The sitcom Friends vs. natural conversation
Feb 2009
Book
This book explores a virtually untapped yet fascinating research area: television dialogue. It reports on a study comparing the language of the American situation comedy Friends to natural conversation. Transcripts of the television show and the American English conversation portion of the Longman Grammar Corpus provide the data for this corpus-based investigation which combines Douglas Biber’s multidimensional methodology with a frequency-based analysis of close to 100 linguistic features. As a natural offshoot of the research design this study offers a comprehensive description of the most common linguistic features characterizing natural conversation. Illustrated with numerous dialogue extracts from Friends and conversation topics such as vague emotional and informal language are discussed. This book will be an important resource not only for researchers and students specializing in discourse analysis register variation and corpus linguistics but also anyone interested in conversational language and television dialogue.