Browse Books

Cognitive models perspectives and the construction of situated meaning have always been core concepts in Cognitive Linguistics. The papers in this volume present applications of those concepts to the study of discourse phenomena like the use and interpretation of metaphors modal expressions focus particles tag questions indirect speech acts and iconographic textual references. The volume also includes two studies focussing on cognitive processes involved in discourse production.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>

This international directory of translator and interpreter training facilities in higher education includes details on 243 courses around the world. Listing full addresses names of teachers languages taught methods of teaching degree tuition fees year it was founded and other activities.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>The Directory provides pertinent information for students seeking the appropriate training and for translation and interpreting schools to compare themselves with others and to network with related schools.<br/>This is the first list showing the vast number of professional and academic training facilities in a booming industry.

This monograph deals with the locative alternation in German a change in the argument structure of verbs like spray and load. Like most argument structure changes the alternation is both productive and constrained: new forms may be derived but not from all candidate verbs. This raises a learnability problem: how can children determine in the absence of negative evidence which verbs participate in the alternation? The Locative Alternation in German tries to answer this question by providing an in-depth analysis of the conditions that verbs must meet in order to participate in the alternation. Most importantly transitive verbs must allow speakers to presuppose the existence of their theme argument. This condition requires the theme to be incremental so that it can be conceived of as nonindividuated (or unbounded) when the verb is used in the alternative syntactic frame. The Nonindividuation Hypothesis splits locative verbs into two types mass verbs (like spray) and count verbs (like load) and it predicts that children acquire the alternation first for mass verbs whose theme must be a substance and so is nonindividuated by default. Support for this hypothesis is provided in the empirical part of the book which also provides evidence against claims in the literature that children acquire the alternation by drawing on an innate Affectness Linking Rule.

There is a growing awareness that a fruitful cooperation between the (diachronic and synchronic) study of language variation and change and work in phonological theory is both possible and desirable. The study of language variation and change would benefit from this kind of cooperation on the conceptual and theoretical levels. Phonological theory may well profit from a greater use of what is commonly called ‘external evidence’.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>This volume contains contributions by outstanding representatives from the more data-oriented fields and phonological theory. They discuss possibilities and problems for a further integration of both areas by considering questions such as where and to which extent the two may need each other and whether there is a need for an interdisciplinary conceptual framework and methodology. Attention is also paid to questions regarding the cause and actuation linguistic constraints and the internal spread of linguistic change as well as to possible and impossible processes of language change.<br/>

Scope and Specificity is an investigation of quantifier scope interaction in natural language with special reference to English and Chinese. In particular it is concerned with semantic properties of NPs. Quantifier scope plays an important role in current theories of syntax and semantics. However most studies of quantifier scope are only concerned with the behavior of a small number of quantifiers e.g. ‘every’ ‘some’ ‘all’. As a result the generalizations made on the basis of these quantifiers often do not hold when a wider range of quantifiers is considered. In this study a wide variety of NP types are examined with respect to how they interact with other NPs. The key concept explored is that of semantic scope dependency/independence. NPs are considered according to two properties: whether they can induce scope-dependency and whether they can be scope-dependent. By observing how in basic sentences NPs behave with respect to the two properties the author presents a picture of quantifier scope much different from what has been assumed in the literature.

Irish English is both the oldest overseas variety of English and thanks to its co-existence with Irish Gaelic one of the longest-documented examples of a contact-influenced language variety. The dual aspects of substratal influence and dialectal conservatism together with the spread of this variety in the Irish diaspora and its use in literature provide the main impetus for research into Irish English. This volume brings together twelve original papers which use a variety of methods to examine these aspects of English in Ireland. Following a historical introduction which looks critically at received views of language diffusion in Ireland three papers directly address the role of the Irish-language substrate in Irish English. Detailed studies also describe non-standard syntax in Belfast systems of dental and alveolar phonemic contrast contemporary sound change in Galway Irish English prosody dialect word lists and the uses of Irish English notably Ulster Scots in contemporary literature. The North American perspective investigates the role of Irish English in Newfoundland and examines a corpus of 18th-century documents which reflects the language brought to the United States in the early development of American English. The range of approaches and data included make this book relevant to all those interested in language contact diffusion change and variation.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>

The 1997 ATA volume brings together articles on translation practice into the 21st century. Contributions deal with the Information Age multilingualism in Europe English as a Lingua Franca Terminology standardization translating for the media and new directions in translator training. A comprehensive bibliography of dissertations makes this a useful reference tool.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>

In the last decade there has been a revival of interest regarding negation and polarity with much cross-fertilization between semantic and syntactic approaches. The papers in the present volume address key issues regarding the syntax and semantics of negation and polarity including both synchronic and diachronic perpectives. Central to the discussions are the distribution of negative markers and the structure of the clause negative concord phenomena licensing of polarity items similarities between Neg-movement and wh-movement. The papers by main contributors to the field reflect different theoretical frameworks including Principles and Parameters and Minimalist approaches Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar Formal Semantics or approaches interested in pragmatics. The volume is of interest to syntacticians semanticians historical linguists typologists and philosophers.

Functional linguistics is concerned with the function of language and considers it an essense of human language. Views like this is not particularly new but rather traditional in the history of linguistics. But today functional linguistics is constituted by a wide range of theoretical and methodological concerns. What unifies them as functional is the concern with discourse. This is quite natural since language can only function in discourse not as isolated sentences.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>This collection of papers reflects some of the major approaches and methodologies in contemporary functional linguistics in Japan and the United States. Based on the fundamental concerns with discourse the nine articles deal with a variety of up to date topics in functionalism and present numerous analyses discussing from the question of basic grammatical categories to the inadequacy of some representative analyses in formal linguistics.<br/>This book is intended for readers with a wide scope of interest for example for those who are interested in discourse and conversational analysis information structure modality aspect morphology and syntax. Readers will learn how various contemporary functional linguistics is and yet how fundamental the role of discourse is throughout the functional inquiry in language.<br/>

This volume presents a selection of papers presented at a series of three workshops organized by the Network “Written Language and Literacy” as launched by the European Science Foundation. The main topics making up Writing Development are: (1) Writing and literacy acquisition: Links between speech and writing with contributions by David R. Olson Claire Blanche-Benveniste Emilia Ferreiro Ruth Berman Liliana Tolchinsky & Ana Teberosky; (2) Writing and reading in time and culture with contributions by Collette Sirat Françoise Desbordes Harmut Günther Peter Koch & Jean Hébrard: (3) Written language competence in monolingual and bilingual contexts with contributions by Michel Fayol & Serge Mouchon Georges Lüdi & Ludo Verhoeven; (4) Writing systems brain structures and languages: A neurolinguistic view with contributions by Giuseppe Cossu Heinz Wimmer & Uta Frith & Brian Butterworth. The volume heads off with an extensive introduction “Studying writing and writing acquisition today: A multidisciplinary view”.

The Translator’s Dialogue: Giovanni Pontiero is a tribute to an outstanding translator of literary works from Portuguese Luso-Brasilian Italian and Spanish into English. The translator introduced authors such as Carlos Drummond de Andrade Manuel Bandeira Clarice Lispector and José Saramago to the English reading world.

Pontiero’s essays shed light on the process of literary translation and its impact on cultural perception. This process is exemplified by Pontiero the translator and analyst some of the authors he collaborated with publishers’ editors and literary critics and finally by an unpublished translation of a short story by José Saramago Coisas.

This volume aims to extend both the range of analyses and the database on nominal classification systems. Previous analyses of nominal classification systems have focussed on two areas: the semantics of the classification system and the role of the system in discourse. In many nominal classification systems there appear to be a significant percentage of nominals with an arbitrary classification. There is a considerable body of literature aimed at elucidating the semantic bases of clasification in such systems thereby reducing the degree of apparent arbitrariness. Contributors to this volume continue this line of enquiry but also propose that arbitrariness in itself has a role from a wider socio-cultural perspective. Previous analyses of the discourse role of classification systems posit that they play a significant role in referential tracking. For the languages surveyed in this volume contributors propose that reference instantiation is an equally significant function and indeed that reference instantiation and tracking cannot be properly divided from one another. This volume provides detailed information on classification in a number of northern Australian languages whose systems are otherwise poorly known.

The focus of this collective volume is on the mutual determination of language structure discourse patterns and the accessibility to consciousness of mental contents of different types of organization and complexity. The contributions address the following problems among others: the history of the interpretation of ‘conscious’ and ‘unconscious’ mind in the theoretical discourse of modern linguistics; the determination of the structure of consciousness by the grammatical structure; the levels of access of grammatical and lexical information to consciousness; the development of cognitive complexity and control in ontogeny; pathologies of consciousness access in discourse comprehension and production; the cognitive contextual prerequisites for the representation of meaning in consciousness; the relationships between language structure and qualia in the phenomenology of experience; the dialogical structure of intentionality and meaning representation etc. (Series B)

Cross-Cultural Studies is the culminating effort of a distinguished team of international scholars who have worked since the mid-1980s to create the most complete analysis of Caribbean literature ever undertaken. Conceived as a major contribution to postcolonial studies cultural studies cultural anthropology and regional studies of the Caribbean and the Americas Cross-Cultural Studies illuminates the interrelations between and among Europe the Caribbean islands Africa and the American continents from the late fifteenth century to the present. Scholars from five continents bring to bear on the most salient issues of Caribbean literature theoretical and critical positions that are currently in the forefront of discussion in literature the arts and public policy.

Among the major issues treated at length in Cross-Cultural Studies are: The history and construction of racial inequality in Caribbean colonization; The origins and formation of literatures in various Creoles; The gendered literary representation of the Caribbean region; The political and ideological appropriation of Caribbean history in creating the idea of national culture in North and South America Europe and Africa; The role of the Caribbean in contemporary theories of Modernism and the Postmodern; The decentering of such canonical authors as Shakespeare; The vexed but inevitable connectedness of Caribbean literature with both its former colonial metropoles and its geographical neighbors.

Contributions to Cross-Cultural Studies give a concrete cultural and historical analysis of such contemporary critical terms as hybridity transculturation and the carnivalesque which have so often been taken out of context and employed in narrowly ideological contexts.

Two important theories of the simultaneous unity and diversity of Caribbean literature and culture propounded by Antonio Benítez-Rojo and +douard Glissant receive extended treatment that places them strategically in the debate over multiculturalism in postcolonial societies and in the context of chaos theory. A contribution by Benítez-Rojo permits the reader to test the theory through his critical practice.

Divided into nine thematic and methodological sections followed by a complete index to the names and dates of authors and significant historical figures discussed Cross-Cultural Studies will be an indispensable resource for every library and a necessary handbook for scholars teachers and advanced students of the Caribbean region. This volume is part of a book set which can be ordered at a special discount: https://www.benjamins.com/series/chlel/chlel.special_offer_history_of_literature_in_the_caribbean.pdf

This study examines the clausal noun-modifying construction (NMC) in Japanese a much-discussed construction that embraces what have usually been called relative clause and noun complement constructions. Drawing upon a broad range of naturally-occurring NMCs including types that fall outside the domains of relative clause and noun complement constructions Yoshiko Matsumoto argues for an analysis of NMCs that gives an important role to semantics and pragmatics. The framework in which this approach is presented draws from and further refines concepts of frame semantics. By using a frame semantic definition of semantic integration the author reveals the commonality of diverse types of NMCs in Japanese and posits a tripartite classification of NMCs which is both more comprehensive and more revealing than the traditional dichotomy between relative clause and noun complement constructions.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>As the first comprehensive and systematic study in English of Japanese NMCs with diverse lexical heads this work is further notable for its detailed discussion of the dependence of NMCs on both linguistic and extra-linguistic context.

Standards and Variation in Urban Speech is an examination and exploration of the aims and methods of sociolinguistic investigation based on studies of Scottish urban speech. It criticially examines the implications of the notions ‘vernacular’ ‘standard language’ ‘Received Pronunciation’ ‘social class’ and ‘linguistic insecurity’. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods using examples from comedians’ jokes dialect poetry formal and informal interviews and personal narratives the work illustrates the actual norms that speakers exemplify in various ways.

Most higher animals are said to be territorial as a huge amount of work in ethology has made it clear. Human beings are no exceptions. They tend to occupy a certain space around them where they claim their own presence and exclude others quite naturally. If territory is so prevalent among higher animals including humans then isn't it possible to observe its manifestations in aspects of human language?

Territory of Information starts from this fundamental question and attempts to demonstrate the key function of the concept of territory in the informational structure and syntax of natural language. It offers an analysis of English Japanese and Chinese in terms of territory and shows its fundamental importance in the interface of information and syntax in these languages. Moreover it argues that the concept of territory plays a major role in the evidentiality of a number of languages and in the linguistic structure of politeness. It also makes much reference to discourse and conversational analysis. Thus this is a book which might interest readers concerned with pragmatics in general the relationship between informational structure and syntax evidentiality politeness discourse analysis and conversational analysis.

The Reaching for Mind workshop held at AISB ’95 explicitly addressed itself to the current crisis in Cognitive Science. In particular the issue of how this discipline can address consciousness was a leitmotiv in the workshop. The conclusion seems inescapable that there is a need for two sciences in this area. Cognitive Science can be freed to become a fully-fledged experimental epistemology by the creation of a science of consciousness also encompassing subjectivity. This exciting collection of papers indicates where both these sciences may be heading. (Series B)<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>The programme committee of the workshop included: Mike Brady (Oxford); Daniel Dennett (Tufts); Jerry Feldman (Berkeley); John Macnamara (McGill) and Zenon Pylyshyn (Rutgers).<br/>

The basic tenet of cognitive linguistics is that every linguistic expression is a construal relation. The first section of this volume focuses on issues of such construal and presentation of information including figure-ground relations image-schematic structures and the role of syntactic constructions in information structure.In sections two and three papers are presented on cross-categorial polysemy between lexical and grammatical uses of a morpheme and between different grammatical senses and on the relationship between earlier lexical senses and later grammatical ones.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>The final section of the volume brings together studies which shed further light on transitivity and argument structure. The study of transitivity necessarily entails exploration of the relationship between syntactic constructions and the pragmatics and semantics conveyed by such constructions.<br/>As a whole this collection of papers gives new evidence on the complexity and motivation of the mapping between linguistic form and function and offers a wealth of new directions for research on the construction of meaning at every level of the sentence.

Conversational narratives provide valuable resources for the discursive construction and invoking of personal and sociocultural identities. As such their sociolinguistic and cultural analysis constitute a high priority in the agenda of discourse studies. This book contributes to the growing line of discourse-analytic research on the dynamic relations between narrative forms and functions and their immediate and wider communicative contexts. The volume draws on a large corpus of spontaneous conversational stories recorded in Greece where everyday stortytelling is a central mode of communication in the community’s interactional contexts and thus a rich site for a meaningful enactment of social stances roles and relations. The study brings to the fore the stories’ text-constitutive mechanisms and explores the ways in which they situate the narrated experiences globally by invoking sociocultural knowledge and expectations and locally by making them sequentially and interactionally relevant to the specific conversational contexts. The stories’ micro- and macro-level analysis richly illustrated with narrative transcripts throughout leads to the uncovery of a global mode of narrative performance which is based on a closed set of recurrent devices. It is argued that the choice or avoidance of this mode is at the heart of the stories’ (re)constitution of a self an other and a sociocultural world. The numerous cases of intergenerational narrative communication (adults-children) shed additional light on the performance’s contextualization aspects and contribute to the cross-cultural understanding of the dynamics of oral performances.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>Besides students and researchers of discourse analysis sociolinguistics anthropological linguistics narrative analysis and Greek studies this book will also appeal to all those interested in communication and cultural studies.

This book presents a perspective on genre based on what it is that leads users of a language to recognise a communicative event as an instance of a particular genre. Key notions in this perspective are those of prototype inheritance and intertextuality; that is the extent to which a text is typical of the particular genre the qualities or properties that are inherited from other instances of the communicative event and the ways in which a text is influenced by other texts of a similar kind. The texts which form the basis of this discussion are drawn from experimental research reporting in English.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Approaches to genre 3. Genre and frames 4. A sample analysis: Writing up research <br/>5. Summary and conclusions.

Memes of Translation is a search for coherence in translation theory based on the notion of Memes: ideas that spread develop and replicate like genes. The author explores a wide range of ideas on translation mapping the “meme pool” of translation theory with chapters on translation history norms strategies assessment ethics and translator training. The aim of the book is to search for a perspective from which the immense variety of ideas about translation can be related.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>The unifying thread is the philosophy of Karl Popper. The book proposes the beginnings of a Popperian theory of translation based on the fundamental concepts of norms strategies and values. A key idea is that a translation itself is a theory or hypothesis concerning the source text. This hypothesis is then subjected to testing refinement and perhaps even rejection just like any other hypothesis.

In their subject matter and in their theoretical orientation all the papers in this volume reflect the powerful influence of T. Givón. Most of them deal with questions of morphosyntactic typology pragmatics and grammaticalization theory. Many of them are directly based on extensive fieldwork on local languages of the Americas Africa Asia and the Pacific. Others are based on statistical analyses of extensive written and spoken corpora of texts.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>

This study investigates the phonological behavior of coronal consonants i.e. sounds produced with the tip or blade of the tongue. The analysis draws on data from over 120 languages and dialects. A definition of coronality is proposed that rejects the current view holding that palatals are positively marked for this feature. The feature [coronal] is assumed to be privative; the natural class of noncoronals is captured with the feature [peripheral] which dominates [labial] and [velar] in feature geometry. The book contains a detailed examination of the phonological patterning of segments belonging to each of the six coronal subplaces (i.e. interdental dental alveolar retroflex palatoalveolar and alveolopalatal). A universal set of features is posited that accounts for these facts. Inventories of coronal consonants are treated in depth and impossible contrasts are accounted for with several if-then statements. The present study also contains a lengthy analysis of the phonology of rhotic consonants. A set of features is postulated which captures natural classes involving rhotics and nonrhotic consonants and which distinguishes the various stricture types among rhotics (i.e. trill vs. tap vs. approximant).<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>

This volume containing fourteen invited papers on foreign-language policy starts off with a brief history of foreign-language teaching policy in the Netherlands. This historical outline is followed by four contributions of authors who once developed the Dutch National Action Programme (NAP) on Foreign Languages under the directorship of Theo van Els. The second section consists of five contributions written by experts from Germany Israel Finland and the United States who reflect on the language policies adopted in their countries and on the international impact of the ideas developed in the NAP. The final section of the book presents four contributions from Dutch authors all focussing on language policy issues related to the respective roles of Dutch as a second language and of ethnic-minority languages in the Netherlands.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>The contributions to this volume were written by friends and colleagues of Theo van Els in recognition of his considerable contributions to that area of applied linguistics which has captured his fascination for many years: foreign-language teaching policy.<br/>