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Proposing a new theory of fiction this work reviews the confusion about perceived realism metaphor virtual worlds and the seemingly obvious distinction between what is true and what is false. The rise of new media new technology and creative products and services requires a new examination of what ‘real’ friends are to what extent scientific novelty is ‘true’ and whether online content is merely ‘figurative’. In this transdisciplinary theory the author evaluates cognitive theories philosophical discussion and topics in biology and physics and places these in the frameworks of computer science and literary theory. The interest of the reader is continuously challenged on matters of truth fiction and the shakiness of our belief systems.

Research on quotation has yielded a rich and diverse knowledge-base. Scientific interest has been sparked particularly by the recent emergence of new quotative forms in typologically related and unrelated languages (i.e. English be like Hebrew kazé Japanese mitai-na).The present collection gives a platform to research conducted within different linguistic sub-disciplines and on the basis of a variety of Western and non-Western languages. The introduction presents an overview of forms and functions of old and new quotative constructions. The nine chapters investigate quotation from different perspectives from conversation analysis over grammaticalization and language variation and change to typological and formal approaches. The collection advocates a comprehensive approach to the phenomenon ‘quotation’ seeking a more nuanced knowledge-base as regards the linguistic properties social uses and pragmatic functions than monolingual or single disciplinary approaches deliver. The cross-disciplinary nature and the wealth of data make the findings broadly available and relevant.

This monograph is one of the first studies that approaches Latin syntax from a formal perspective combining detailed corpus-based description with formal theoretical analysis. The empirical focus is word order in embedded clauses with special attention to clauses in which one or more constituents surface to the left of a subordinating conjunction. It is proposed that two such types of left peripheral fronting should be distinguished. The proposed analyses shed light not only on the clausal left periphery but also on the overall structure of the Latin clause. The study is couched in the framework of generative grammar but since a thorough introduction is provided no special background in formal syntax is required. Major topics touched upon are word order information structure locality and the syntax of pied-piping. The book covers both synchronic and diachronic topics of Latin syntax and is of interest for classical philologists historical linguists and formal syntacticians.

This volume brings together eleven studies on the history of language and writing in the North Sea area with focus on contacts and interchanges through time. Its range spans from the investigation of pre-Germanic place-names to present-day Shetland; the materials studied include glosses legal and trade documents as well as place names and modern dialects. The volume is unique in its combination of linguistics and place-name studies with literacy studies which allows for a very dynamic picture of the history of language contact and texts in the North Sea area. Different approaches come together to illuminate a major insight: the omnipresence of multilingualism as a context for language development and a formative characteristic of literacy. Among the contributors are experts on English Nordic and German language history. The book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students working on the history of Northern European languages literacy studies and language contact

Cohesive Profiling provides one of the first linguistic descriptions of blog discourse focusing on the cohesive relations which enable users to construe blogs as compatible meaningful wholes. With a corpus-based analysis of cohesive relations in personal blogs the study surprisingly reveals that there is only limited cohesive rapport between the textual contributions of blog authors and readers. The book retraces blogs’ technological linguistic and generic evolution and describes how today’s blog genres are structured and composed. Additionally it is shown how cohesive interaction shared knowledge and technological expertise converge in blog readers trying to keep track of blog topics purposes and identities over time. The book is of interest to researchers in discourse analysis corpus linguistics and pragmatics as well as to scholars working in the field of computer-mediated communication.

The International Conference on Historical Linguistics has always been a forum that reflects the general state of the art in the field and the 2009 edition held in Nijmegen The Netherlands fully allows the conclusion that the field has been thriving over the years. The studies presented in this volume are an expression of ongoing theoretical discussions as well as new analytical approaches to the study of issues concerning language change. Taken together they reflect some of the current challenges in the field as well as the opportunities offered by judicious use of theoretical models and careful corpus-based work. The volume's contributions are organized under the following headings: I. General and Specific Issues of Language Change II. Linguistic Variation and Change in Germanic III. Linguistic Variation and Change in Greek and IV. Linguistic Change in Romance.

This is the first edited volume dedicated specifically to interlanguage request modification. It is a collection of empirical studies carried out by an international array of scholars which provides insights for researchers graduate students and language teachers on patterns of interlanguage request modification in a range of research contexts and linguistic/cultural settings. The research in this volume takes the reader from a consideration of interlanguage request modification in naturally-occurring e-mail data through to elicited data from e-DCT questionnaires on cyber-consultations to the interactive oral discourse of requests in open role-plays. As a whole the contributions incorporate research with learners from a range of proficiency levels and from diverse linguistic/cultural backgrounds while the chapters individually examine developmental aspects of interlanguage request modification requests in electronic contexts comparative learner/native speaker requests and instructional effects on mitigation. The book will undoubtedly become an important reference for researchers and teachers not only in the field of pragmatics but also in second language acquisition language teaching (socio-)linguistics and discourse analysis.

This volume offers the first comprehensive description of English imperatives made from a Cognitive Linguistic perspective. It proposes a new way of explaining the meaning and function of the imperative independently of illocutionary act classifications which allows for quantifying the strength of imperative force in terms of parameters and numerical values. Furthermore the book applies the theory of Construction Grammar to account for the felicity of imperatives in complex sentences. The model of description explains explicitly a wide range of phenomena including frequency of use prototypical vs. non-prototypical uses of the English imperative and the choice between longer vs. shorter directives including the imperative. A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of the English Imperative: With Special Reference to Japanese Imperatives is intended for both researchers and students interested in the English imperative and Directive Speech Acts at large and for the linguists working within the Cognitive Linguistics and/or Construction Grammar approach.

This book was conceived as a tribute to one of the founders of the psychological study of the sense of smell Professor Trygg Engen. The book is divided into four sections. The first reunites the fields of psychophysics and the perception of environmental odours and discusses the impact of odours on beliefs and expectations. The second addresses cognitive processes in olfaction how odours are interpreted lexicalized associated with contexts and remembered. The third focuses on the cerebral bases of olfactory awareness and the neuropsychological investigation of olfaction with special emphasis on olfactory dysfunctions and the last concerns affective and developmental processes in olfaction. The aim in producing this book is that it will help promote further research in olfactory cognition and attract new inquisitive scientists to the field. The volume will be a useful resource for academics students and professionals who study olfaction as well as to scientists who work in the domains of perception cognitive neuroscience and environmental psychology more broadly.

When the last speaker of a language dies s/he takes to oblivion the memories associations and the rich imagery this language community has once lived by. The cultural heritage encoded in conventional linguistic metaphors handed down through generations will be lost forever. This volume consists of fifteen articles about metaphors in endangered languages from Peru to Alaska from India to Ghana.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>The empirical data demonstrate that the assumptions of contemporary cognitive linguistic theory about “universal” metaphors and the underlying cognitive processes are still far from plausible since culture plays an important role in the formation of metaphors. Moreover that theory has been based on knowledge of metaphors in some standard languages. Indigenous and other minority languages especially mainly orally used ones have been disregarded completely.<br/>Besides researchers and students in linguistics especially in metaphor and figurative language theory this compilation provides food for thought for scholars in large fields of cultural studies ranging from anthropology and ethnology to folkloristics and philosophy.