Discourse Structuring Markers in English

Discourse Structuring Markers in English

Author: Elizabeth Closs Traugott

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2022-03-15

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 9027257922

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book is a contribution to the growing field of diachronic construction grammar. Focus is on corpus evidence for the importance of including conventionalized pragmatics within construction grammar and suggestions for how to do so. The empirical domain is the development of Discourse Structuring Markers in English such as after all, also, all the same, by the way, further and moreover (also known as Discourse Markers). The term Discourse Structuring Markers highlights their use not only to connect discourse segments but also to shape discourse coherence and understanding. Monofunctional Discourse Structuring Markers like further, instead, moreover are distinguished from multifunctional ones like after all and by the way. Drawing on usage-based work on constructionalization and constructional changes, the book is in three parts: foundational concepts, case studies, and currently open issues in diachronic construction grammar. These open issues are how to incorporate the concepts subjectification and intersubjectification into a constructional account of change, whether position in a clause is a construction, and the nature of constructional networks and how they change.


The Linguistic Cycle

The Linguistic Cycle

Author: Elly van Gelderen

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-31

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1000912221

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Cyclical language change is a linguistic process by which a word, phrase, or part of the grammar loses its meaning or function and is then replaced by another. This can even happen on the level of an entire language, which can experience a change in the language family it is a part of. This new text is a comprehensive introduction to this phenomenon, the mechanisms underlying it, and the relations between the different types of cycles. Elly van Gelderen reviews the subject widely and holistically, defining key terms and comprehensively presenting diverse theoretical perspectives and empirical findings. With coverage of a variety of micro cycles and the more controversial macro cycles, incorporating cutting-edge work on grammaticalization, and drawing on examples from many languages and language families, this book accessibly guides readers through the state of the art in the field. With practical methodological guidance on how to identify and investigate linguistic cycles, and an array of useful pedagogical features, the book provides a coherent framework for approaching, understanding, and furthering research in linguistic cycles. This text will be an indispensable resource for advanced students and researchers in historical and diachronic linguistics, language typology, and linguistic and grammatical theory.


Reconnecting Form and Meaning

Reconnecting Form and Meaning

Author: Caroline Gentens

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2023-02-15

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 9027254494

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume is intended as a celebration of Kristin Davidse’s work and its impact within the broad traditions of cognitive, functional and usage-based grammars. Reflecting this wide functionalist lens, the contributions develop ideas central to Neo-Firthian theories of grammar (in particular, Semiotic Grammar and SFL), the Prague School, Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG), and broader cognitive-functional (e.g. Construction Grammar) and usage-based approaches (e.g. Entrenchment-and-Conventionalization theory, corpus-based sociolinguistics). The range of topics addressed makes the volume particularly relevant to linguists investigating information structure, construction grammar, functional discourse grammar, spatial deixis, pronoun and case systems, and/or the semantics of verbal constructions.


Ten Lectures on Diachronic Construction Grammar

Ten Lectures on Diachronic Construction Grammar

Author: Martin Hilpert

Publisher: Distinguished Lectures in Cogn

Published: 2021-08-22

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 9789004446786

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this book, Martin Hilpert lays out how Construction Grammar can be applied to the study of language change. In a series of ten lectures on Diachronic Construction Grammar, the book presents the theoretical foundations, open questions, and methodological approaches that inform the constructional analysis of diachronic processes in language. The lectures address issues such as constructional networks, competition between constructions, shifts in collocational preferences, and differentiation and attraction in constructional change. The book features analyses that utilize modern corpus-linguistic methodologies and that draw on current theoretical discussions in usage-based linguistics. It is relevant for researchers and students in cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, and historical linguistics. 0Also available in Open Access.


Diachronic Construction Grammar

Diachronic Construction Grammar

Author: Jóhanna Barðdal

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2015-07-15

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9027268614

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Construction Grammar as a framework offers a new perspective on traditional historical questions in diachronic linguistics and language change: how do new constructions arise, how should competition in diachronic variation be accounted for, how do constructions fall into disuse, and how do constructions change in general, formally and/or semantically, and with what implications for the language system as a whole? This volume offers a broad introduction to the confluence of Construction Grammar and historical syntax, and also detailed case studies of various instances of syntactic change modeled within Construction Grammar. The volume demonstrates that Construction Grammar as a theory is particularly well suited for modeling historical changes in morphosyntax, and it also documents challenging new phenomena that require a theoretical account within any competing framework of syntactic change.


Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar

Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar

Author: Lotte Sommerer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2020-05-15

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 9027261296

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume brings together ten contributions by leading experts who present their current usage-based research in Diachronic Construction Grammar. All papers contribute to the discussion of how to conceptualize constructional networks best and how to model changes in the constructicon, as for example node creation or loss, node-external reconfiguration of the network or in/decrease in productivity and schematicity. The authors discuss the theoretical status of allostructions, homostructions, constructional families and constructional paradigms. The terminological distinction between constructionalization and constructional change is revisited. It is shown how constructional competition but also general cognitive abilities like analogical thinking and schematization relate to the structure and reorganization of the constructional network. Most contributions focus on the nature of vertical and horizontal links. Finally, contributions to the volume also discuss how existing network models should be enriched or reconceptualized in order to integrate theoretical, psychological and neurological aspects missing so far.


Linguistics For Dummies

Linguistics For Dummies

Author: Rose-Marie Dechaine

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-02-08

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 1118101596

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The fascinating, fun, and friendly way to understand the science behind human language Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics students study how languages are constructed, how they function, how they affect society, and how humans learn language. From understanding other languages to teaching computers to communicate, linguistics plays a vital role in society. Linguistics For Dummies tracks to a typical college-level introductory linguistics course and arms you with the confidence, knowledge, and know-how to score your highest. Understand the science behind human language Grasp how language is constructed Score your highest in college-level linguistics If you're enrolled in an introductory linguistics course or simply have a love of human language, Linguistics For Dummies is your one-stop resource for unlocking the science of the spoken word.


Discourse Markers

Discourse Markers

Author: Andreas H. Jucker

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 1998-07-15

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9027285527

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Studies of Discourse Markers so far have concentrated on either the descriptive or the theoretical parameter. This book brings together thirteen papers concerning aspects of lexical instantiations of Discourse Marking devices, ranging from functional descriptions along cognitive, attitudinal, interactive and structure signalling lines to theoretical issues arising from various properties discourse markers display cross-linguistically. Data from English, Finnish, Hebrew, Korean, and Japanese are examined. Also addressed are questions concerning overall accounts, potential sub-classifications, possible form-function correlations and the appropriateness of such frameworks as Relevance Theory for their description. Interestingly, features evident in the distribution and use of lexical discourse markers are shown to affect the assessment of such theoretical constructs as the distinction between conceptual and procedural meaning. A more sophisticated picture emerges than a simple dichotomy between the two. Studies of the grammar of Discourse Markers hence would have to take the observations and suggestions raised in this collection of papers into account.


Constructions at Work

Constructions at Work

Author: Adele E. Goldberg

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9780199268511

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Includes selected classic and contemporary papers in four areas, this text introduces each field, providing technical background for the non-specialist and explaining the underlying connections across the disciplines.