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Germanic languages have been recognized as having not only intensifying or focus particles but also so-called modal particles. The relevant items are specialized discourse markers joined by characteristic syntactic properties. After an introductory overview of the complex field the contributions of the current volume capitalize on but also work much further beyond the baseline of the established insights. They offer analyses of (a) new data types within and sometimes across several Germanic languages (e.g. varieties/stages of German Dutch or Norwegian) encompassing different classes of particles and a variety of syntactic-semantic as well as usage-based aspects; (b) the classical dichotomy between languages like German and English when it comes to the availability of modal particles both synchronically and diachronically; (c) crucial integrated insight from non-Germanic languages such as French Hungarian Italian Mandarin or Vietnamese. A number of mostly interface-based proposals of several languages as well as further generalizations are put on the table for both expert and novice readers in the field.

The reflexive constructions that are the focus of this book are the constructions broadly described with the term “middle”: i.e. those that can appear in all persons and in which the reflexive marker (RM) cannot be understood as a full referential pronoun. One goal of this study is to provide a corpus-based typology of middle and related uses that allow us to compare the behaviour of the RM in these constructions with previous typological accounts where competing models (based either on changes of diathesis or on the semantics of the verbal event) can be found. A second goal is to shed light on the evolution of the different functions of the RM by exploring the factors that affect its productivity with a specific focus on those verbs where reflexive marking is most variable that is anticausative verbs and verbs with no change of valency. These reflexive constructions show a notable difference in productivity in Spanish and Galician although the languages are closely related and contiguous. The languages are thus good candidates for a contrastive and variationist analysis serving these two goals. The semantic class of the predicate its aspectual properties and the animacy of the subject are some of the most relevant factors that are taken into account to understand the motivations behind the presence (or absence) of the RM. By relying on a corpus of interviews from rural communities across peninsular Spain (except Catalonia) space as a relevant extra-linguistic variable is taken into account helping uncover previously unknown geographical patterns.

This volume addresses demands on external and internal science communication in times of crisis. The contributions discuss present crises such as COVID-19 (e.g. vaccination campaigns or political reactions towards the pandemic in the context of science scepticism) and climate change (e.g. plausibility judgements or the role of scientists). They also relate their approaches to past crises e.g. 9/11 or the Galileo affair. This volume is unique in that it is interdisciplinary from a theoretical and methodological perspective. In that respect the authors apply concepts from corpus linguistics discourse analysis rhetoric news values analysis pragmatics and terminology research to various types of data such as newspaper headlines Tweets open letters corpora or glossaries. The case studies are situated within different cultural contexts with various languages being examined i.e. Polish Arabic English French German and Spanish. Elevating our understanding of the interface of science communication and crisis communication this collection of articles proves valuable to scholars and students from linguistics communication science political science sociology and philosophy of science.

This edited volume is a collection of theoretical and empirical overviews of second language (L2) proficiency based on four skills: reading writing listening and speaking. Each skill is reviewed in terms of how it has been conceptualized measured and studied over the years in relation to relevant (sub-) constructs of the language skill under discussion. This is followed by meta-analyses of correlation coefficients that examine the relationship between the L2 skill in question and its component variables. Unlike most meta-analyses that have a limited range of variables under investigation our meta-analyses are much larger in scope to better clarify such relationships. By combining theoretical and empirical approaches the book is helpful in deepening the understanding of how subcomponents or various variables are related to a particular L2 skill.

This book addresses the question of how in-situ wh-phrases are licensed from a minimalist perspective in which the basic assumptions about narrow syntax need to be reduced to the bare minimum. I propose that in-situ wh-phrases are licensed by way of either minimal Search or covert internal Merge: while in-situ wh-adjuncts are uniformly licensed by covert internal Merge in-situ wh-arguments have a choice between the two options depending on whether the licensing C head is overtly manifested. I also discuss sluicing an ellipsis construction with a remnant wh-phrase and address the question of how the remnant wh-phrase is licensed. I support the in-situ approach to sluicing advocated in my previous book The In-Situ Approach to Sluicing (John Benjamins) according to which the remnant wh-phrase stays in situ. I argue against the more standard analysis endorsing the main claim of this previous book that island repair by ellipsis is a myth.

Since its foundation in the 1980's Construction Grammar has been crossing the traditionally imposed borders. From superimposed levels of analysis to the lexicon-grammar continuum the constructionist approach to language has been built by quoting Charles Fillmore "the insistence on seeing specific grammatical patterns as serving given semantic (and often pragmatic) purposes and in the effort to construct a uniform theory capable of presenting both the simplest and most general aspects of language and the large world of complex grammatical structures". In this volume five chapters derived from the plenary talks at the 9th International Conference on Construction Grammar provide a sample of the bridges the insistence and effort of construction grammarians have built in the past three decades with other analytical models – namely Cognitive Grammar and Collostructional Analysis – perspectives – Diachronic Construction Grammar – and applications – Language Pedagogy and Natural Language Understanding.

Originally published as special issue of Constructions and Frames 12:1 (2020).

Consumable Reading and Children's Literature explores how multisensory experiences enhance early childhood literacy practices through material and sensory interactions. Embodied engagements that focus on the gustatory experience and in particular the sense of taste are investigated by studying food-related narratives. Children’s literature and different reading scenarios involving consumable objects packages tableware and utensils are scrutinized. Surfaces the underlying mechanisms that support children’s literature are considered in connection to emerging media and groundbreaking technologies. The interdisciplinary nature of this work draws on material and surface science human-computer interaction arts and food studies. As innovation and everyday materials meet the potential of hybrid narratives mimicking synesthesia emerges with discussions on cross-modal learning. This monograph will inspire the interest of not only students teachers scholars of children’s literature and child development but also researchers and practitioners across various artistic and scientific disciplines.

Variationist work in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) began in the mid 1970s and steadily progressed during the 1980s. Much of it was reviewed along with newer approaches in Bayley and Preston 1996 (B&P) heavily devoted to VARBRUL analyses that exposed the variability in developing interlanguages and placed variationist work within the canon of SLA. This new volume features three developing trends. First it widens the scope of L1s of learners (from 6 in B&P to 8) and L2 targets (2 in B&P to 7) and in each case has brought more careful demographic and variable considerations to bear including heritage languages and study abroad. Second it modernizes statistics by moving from VARBRUL to the more widely used log-odds probabilities that allow more detailed consideration of variables and their influences. Finally it deepens consideration of variable sociolinguistic meaning in learner behaviors a dominating feature of 3rd Wave variationist work.

The aim of this volume is to provide an overview of different theoretical perspectives on Terminology from Wüster to other initiatives that have emerged since the beginning of the 1990s. The volume also covers important topics which have significantly influenced Terminology and its evolution. These include variation multidimensionality conceptual relations and equivalence among others. The twenty-two chapters of the volume all written by acknowledged experts in the field explore the questions that different approaches seek to answer. They also describe the theoretical and methodological principles that were devised over the years to characterize analyze and represent terminological data. The semi-chronological semi-thematic organization of chapters not only provides readers with a clear vision of the evolution of ideas in Terminology but also gives them an understanding as to why some of these ideas were initially challenged. In addition to being accessible to readers unfamiliar with the basic theoretical principles in the field the chapters provide a showcase of current research in the field the challenges looming on the horizon and finally future directions in terminological research. By bringing together work that is often disseminated in different forums and written in different languages this volume provides a unique opportunity to look at how different theoretical approaches to Terminology offer complementary perspectives on terms concepts and specialized knowledge and help to further a better understanding of the complex phenomena that terminologists must successfully deal with in their work.

The original studies in this volume provide new insights into the history of medical discourse across centuries in both professional and lay texts. The central themes deal with changes in medical writing in various societal and cultural contexts in search for best practices in corpus pragmatics for future work. Some studies apply quantitative methods of corpus linguistics and Digital Humanities others adopt a qualitative discourse-analytical perspective focusing on particular texts authors or medical topics or specific functionally-defined discourse forms such as narratives. Quantitative and qualitative approaches are mutually complementary and shed light on different aspects of historical medical discourse. The methodologies aim at establishing validity and reliability for pragmatic analysis taking into account relevant contextual factors and insights from other fields such as medical and social history history of ideas and science studies.