The Foundations of Linguistic Theory (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
The Foundations of Linguistic Theory (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: Nigel Love

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-02-03

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1317933656

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For Roy Harris, the fundamental problem about linguistics is that it has been led astray by the fact that we are capable intellectually of ‘decontextualising’ our own verbal behaviour. A whole interlocking system of doctrines about forms, meanings and communication has arisen designed to support the idea that one particular kind of decontextualising analysis is a prerequisite for, rather than a retrospective reflection on, that behaviour. Against this, in 13 essays collected here for the first time, Harris argues for a fresh start, which recognises that we create language ‘as we go’, both as individuals and as communities, just as we create our social structures, forms of artistic expression, moral values, and everything else we call civilisation. If Harris’s thought can be put in a nutshell, it is that all utterances (whether written or spoken) have to appear in a context, and that context is an integral part of the utterance. There is no such thing as a contextless utterance.

Generative Grammar and Linguistic Competence (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
Generative Grammar and Linguistic Competence (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: P.H. Matthews

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-02-03

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 1317933621

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According to Chomsky, to learn a language is to develop a grammar for it – a generative grammar which assigns a definite structure and a definite meaning to each of a definite set of sentences. This forms the speaker’s linguistic competence, which represents a distinct faculty of the mind, called the faculty of language. This view has been widely criticised, from many separate angles and by many different authors, including some of Chomsky’s pupils. As one of the earliest and most persistent critics, Professor Matthews is especially well placed to tie these arguments together. He concludes that Chomsky’s notion of competence finds no support within linguistics. It can be defended, if at all, only by assuming a traditional philosophy of mind. The notion of grammar should therefore be restricted to descriptive linguistics, and should not have psychological interpretations foisted on it. Peter Matthews’ book covers a variety of topics, from morphology to speech acts, from word meaning to the study of language variation, and from blending in syntax to the relation of language and culture. This wide range of subject matter is incisively handled in a style which is both elegant and economical.

Production and Comprehension of Utterances (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
Production and Comprehension of Utterances (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: I.M. Schlesinger

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1317933524

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In this volume, the author reviews the results of research on language performance and proposes a model of production and comprehension. Although recent developments in linguistics are taken into account, consideration of other requirements of a performance model leads to the conclusion that the grammar the speaker has in mind differs from the grammar as currently conceived of by most linguists. The author is also critical of recent computer simulations of language performance on the basis that they fall short of describing what goes on in human production and comprehension. The author therefore proposes that the basic issues must be rethought and new theoretical foundations reformulated, in order to arrive at a viable theory of language functioning. In developing the framework of the model presented in this book, requirements of flexibility in the performance mechanisms, the probabilistic nature of comprehension processes, and the interleaving of linguistic rules with context and knowledge of the world are emphasized.

The Semantics of Determiners (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
The Semantics of Determiners (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: Johan Van Der Auwera

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-01-21

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1317933478

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This book is a collection of linguistic and philosophical papers dealing with the semantic problems of determiners. The language under investigation is mostly English, although a few papers deal with French and German, and, to a lesser extent, with Dutch, Polish, Russian and Hebrew. The majority of the contributions focus on the semantics of the definite and indefinite articles, leading into discussions of anaphoricness, specificness, opacity and transparency, referentiality and attributiveness and genericness. The relation of the determiners to other parts of grammar, in particular relativisation and predication, is also investigated. Some attention is also given to quantifiers. In the spirit of pluralism, there is no single paradigm unifying all the papers, rather, the volume reflects elements of the Extended Standard Theory, Generative Semantics, Montague Grammar, (Gricean) Pragmatics and Speech Act Theory.

Theoretical Linguistics and Disordered Language (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
Theoretical Linguistics and Disordered Language (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: Martin J. Ball

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1317933370

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The rapid increase of interest in disordered speech and language among linguists over the past decade or so has resulted in many books of practical help to speech pathologists in terms of assessment and remediation. Little, however, has appeared to examine the theoretical implications of the interaction between these two fields. This book aims to fill this gap, by showing how speech pathology can inform linguistic theory and vice versa.

A Situated Theory of Agreement (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
A Situated Theory of Agreement (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: Michael Barlow

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1317933435

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Typical cases of agreement are easy to identify, but where the boundaries of agreement lie depend on what aspects of the agreement relation are considered to be defining properties. It is a short step from viewing agreement in the traditional way, as a matching of features, to defining agreement as any relation that ensures consistency of information in two separate structures. This book takes as its topic agreement as it is traditionally conceived, one that only involves morphosyntactic categories.

Categorial Grammars (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
Categorial Grammars (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: Mary McGee Wood

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-02-03

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 131793377X

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In the last few years categorial grammars have been the focus of dramatically expanded interest and activity, both theoretical and computational. This book, the first introduction to categorical grammars, is written as an objective critical assessment. Categorial grammars offer a radical alternative to the phrase-structure paradigm, with deep roots in the philosophy of language, logic and algebra. Mary McGee Wood outlines their historical evolution and discusses their formal basis, starting with a quasi-canonical core and considering a number of possible extensions. She also explores their treatment of a number of linguistic phenomena, including passives, raising, discontinuous dependencies and non-constituent coordination, as well as such general issues as word order, logic, psychological plausibility and parsing. This introduction to categorial grammars will be of interest to final year undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in current theories of grammar, including comparative, descriptive, and computational linguistics.

The Formal Grammar of Switch-Reference (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
The Formal Grammar of Switch-Reference (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: Daniel L Finer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-02-03

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1317933680

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This book studies the syntax of switch-reference and its implications for the theory of grammar. Switch-reference, found in many genetically and geographically diverse languages, is a phenomenon whereby referential identity between subjects of hierarchically adjacent clauses is encoded by the presence of a morpheme, usually suffixed to the verb of the subordinate clause. This book argues that switch-reference should be analysed as a syntactic rather than a purely pragmatic or functional feature of language.

Categorial Morphology (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
Categorial Morphology (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: Jack Hoeksema

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-02-03

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1317933737

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This book presents an account of certain problems of morphological analysis that occurs within a theoretical framework that derives its inspiration from recent studies of the lexicon in generative grammar. The starting point is the controversy about the proper analysis of synthetic compounds. Are they really compounds, or phrasal derivations, or do they constitute a type of word formation of their own?

Production and Comprehension of Utterances (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)
Production and Comprehension of Utterances (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)

Author: I.M. Schlesinger

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1317933532

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In this volume, the author reviews the results of research on language performance and proposes a model of production and comprehension. Although recent developments in linguistics are taken into account, consideration of other requirements of a performance model leads to the conclusion that the grammar the speaker has in mind differs from the grammar as currently conceived of by most linguists. The author is also critical of recent computer simulations of language performance on the basis that they fall short of describing what goes on in human production and comprehension. The author therefore proposes that the basic issues must be rethought and new theoretical foundations reformulated, in order to arrive at a viable theory of language functioning. In developing the framework of the model presented in this book, requirements of flexibility in the performance mechanisms, the probabilistic nature of comprehension processes, and the interleaving of linguistic rules with context and knowledge of the world are emphasized.