The Semantic Variability of Absolute Constructions
The Semantic Variability of Absolute Constructions

Author: G.T. Stump

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9400952775

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The goal of this book is to investigate the semantics of absolute constructions in English; specifically, my object is to provide an explanation for the semantic variability of such constructions. As has been widely noted in traditional grammatical studies of English, free adjuncts and absolute phrases have the ability to playa number of specific logical roles in the sentences in which they appear; yet, paradoxically, they lack any overt indication of their logical connection to the clause which they modify. How, then, is the logical function of an absolute construction determined? In attempting to answer this question, one must inevitably address a number of more general issues: Is the meaning assigned to a linguistic expression necessarily determined by linguistic rules, or can the grammar of a language in some cases simply underdetermine the interpretation of expressions? Are the truthconditions of a sentence ever sensitive to the inferences of language users? If so, then is it possible to maintain the validity of any really substantive version of the Compositionality Principle? These are, of course, issues of great inherent interest to anyone concerned with the formal syntax and semantics of natural language, with the philosophy of language, or with language processing. The descriptive framework assumed throughout is the semantic theory developed by Richard Montague (1970a, 1970b, 1973) and his followers. (For a very thorough introduction to Montague semantics, the reader may refer to Dowty, Wall and Peters (1981 ).

Semantic Structure in English
Semantic Structure in English

Author: Jim Feist

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2016-09-07

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13: 9027266522

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Syntax puts our meaning (“semantics”) into sentences, and phonology puts the sentences into the sounds that we hear and there must, surely, be a structure in the meaning that is expressed in the syntax and phonology. Some writers use the phrase “semantic structure”, but are referring to conceptual structure; since we can express our conceptual thought in many different linguistic ways, we cannot equate conceptual and semantic structures. The research reported in this book shows semantic structure to be in part hierarchic, fitting the syntax in which it is expressed, and partly a network, fitting the nature of the mind, from which it springs. It is complex enough to provide for the emotive and imaginative dimensions of language, and for shifts of standard meanings in context, and the “rules” that control them. Showing the full structure of English semantics requires attention to many currently topical issues, and since the underlying theory is fresh, there are fresh implications for them. The most important of those issues is information structure, which is given full treatment, showing its overall structure, and its relation to semantics and the whole grammar of English. As of October 2024, this e-book is Open Access under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.

Ten Lectures on Construction Grammar and Typology
Ten Lectures on Construction Grammar and Typology

Author: William Croft

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-09-25

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 900436353X

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In Ten Lectures on Construction Grammar and Typology, William Croft presents a unified theory of linguistic form and meaning that encompasses crosslinguistic diversity, verbalization and language change.

The Syntax and Semantics of Wh-Constructions
The Syntax and Semantics of Wh-Constructions

Author: Paul Hirschbuhler

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-11-10

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 131551351X

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This title, first published in 1985, provides a detailed analysis of aspects of the semantics and the syntax of some wh-constructions. The first part of the book deals with the semantics of questions, whilst the other part discusses the syntax of que and quoi (what) in questions in French and the syntax of free relatives in French and other languages. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

Radical Construction Grammar
Radical Construction Grammar

Author: William Croft

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 9780198299547

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This book is based on the results of research in language typology, and motivated by the need for a theory to explain them. Croft proposes intimate links between syntactic and semantic structures, and argues that the basic elements of any language are not syntactic but rather syntactic-semantic "Gestalts." He puts forward a new approach to syntactic representation and a new model of how language and languages work.

The Semantics of Grammar
The Semantics of Grammar

Author: Anna Wierzbicka

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 1988-01-01

Total Pages: 629

ISBN-13: 9027286124

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“The semantics of grammar” presents a radically semantic approach to syntax and morphology. It offers a methodology which makes it possible to demonstrate, on an empirical basis, that syntax is neither “autonomous” nor “arbitrary”, but that it follows from “semantics”. It is shown that every grammatical construction encodes a certain semantic structure, which can be revealed and rigorously stated, so that the meanings encoded in grammar can be compared in a precise and illuminating way, within one language and across language boundaries. The author develops a semantic metalanguage based on lexical universals or near-universals (and, ultimately, on a system of universal semantic primitives), and shows that the same semantic metalanguage can be used for explicating lexical, grammatical and pragmatic aspects of language and thus offers a method for an integrated linguistic description based on semantic foundations. Analyzing data from a number of different languages (including English, Russian and Japanese) the author explores the notion of ethnosyntax and, via semantics, links syntax and morphology with culture. She attemps to demonstrate that the use of a semantic metalanguage based on lexical universals makes it possible to rephrase the Humboldt-Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in such a way that it can be tested and treated as a program for empirical research.

Aspects of Meaning Construction
Aspects of Meaning Construction

Author: Günter Radden

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2007-04-11

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9027292558

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Meaning does not reside in linguistic units but is constructed in the minds of the language users. Meaning construction is an on-line mental activity whereby speech participants create meanings on the basis of underspecified linguistic units. The construction of meaning is guided by cognitive principles. The contributions collected in the volume focus on two types of cognitive principles guiding meaning construction: meaning construction by means of metonymy and metaphor, and meaning construction by means of mental spaces and conceptual blending. The papers in the former group survey experiential evidence of figurative meaning construction and discuss high-level metaphor and metonymy, the role of metonymy in discourse, the chaining of metonymies, metonymy as an alternative to coercion, and metaphtonymic meanings of proper names. The papers in the latter group address the issues of meaning construction prompted by personal pronouns, relative clauses, inferential constructions, “sort-of” expressions, questions, and the into-causative construction.

The Syntax and Semantics of Split Constructions
The Syntax and Semantics of Split Constructions

Author: A. Butler

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2004-04-07

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 0230501605

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Split constructions are very widespread in natural languages. The separation of the semantic restriction of a quantifier from that quantifier is a typical example of such a construction. This study addresses the problem that such discontinuous strings exhibit a number of locality constraints, including intervention effects. These are shown to follow from the interaction of a minimalist syntax with a semantics that directly assigns a model-theoretic interpretation to syntactic logical forms. The approach is shown to have wide empirical coverage and a conceptual simplicity. The book will be of interest to scholars and advanced students of syntax and semantics.

Construction Grammar and its Application to English
Construction Grammar and its Application to English

Author: Martin Hilpert

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2014-03-17

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0748675868

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Construction Grammar explains how knowledge of language is organized in speakers' minds. The central and radical claim of Construction Grammar is that linguistic knowledge can be fully described as knowledge of constructions, which are defined as symbolic units that connect a linguistic form with meaning.

Grammatical Constructions
Grammatical Constructions

Author: Mirjam Fried

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2005-12-14

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 9027294070

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This volume brings into focus the conceptual roots of the notion ‘grammatical construction’ as the theoretical entity that constitutes the backbone of Construction Grammar, a unique grammatical model in which grammatical constructions have the status of elementary building blocks of human language. By exploring the analytic potential and applicability of this notion, the contributions illustrate some of the fundamental concerns of constructional research. These include issues of sentence structure in a model that rejects the autonomy of syntax; the contribution of Frame Semantics in establishing the relationship between syntactic patterning and the lexical meaning of verbs; and the challenge of capturing the dynamic and variable nature of grammatical structure in a systematic way. All the authors share a commitment to studying grammar in its use, which gives the book a rich empirical dimension that draws on authentic data from typologically diverse languages.