Connectivity in Grammar and Discourse

Connectivity in Grammar and Discourse

Author: Jochen Rehbein

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 9789027219251

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In this collection of carefully selected papers connectivity is looked at from the vantage points of language contact, language change, language acquisition, multilingual communication and related domains based on various European and Non-European languages. From typological and multilingual perspectives the focus of investigation is on the grammatical architecture of a number of linguistic devices that interconnect units of text and discourse. The volume is organized along central concepts: A general section deals with connectivity in language change and language acquisition, subdivisions are devoted to pronouns, topics and subjects, the role of finiteness in text and discourse, coordination and subordination and particles, adverbials and constructions. The editors' preface introduces connectivity as an object of linguistic research.


English Grammar

English Grammar

Author: Talmy Givón

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 9027220999

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The approach to language and grammar that motivates this book is unabashedly functional; grammar is not just a system of empty rules, it is a means to an end, an instrument for constructing concise coherent communication. In grammar as in music, good expression rides on good form. Figuratively and literally, grammar like musical form must make sense. But for the instrument to serve its purpose, it must first exist; the rules must be real, they can be explicitly described and taught. This book is intended for both students and teachers, at college level, for both native and nonnative speakers. With the guidance of a teacher this book will serve as a thorough introduction to the grammar of English. Volume II continues with syntactic and communicative complexity: embedded clauses – verb complements, relative clauses; detransitive voice – passive, anti-passive, impersonal and middle voice, reflexive and reciprocal constructions; focus and topic constructions; nondeclarative speech acts. It closes with interclausal connectivity: conjoined and subordinate clauses, the grammar of discourse coherence, clause chains and thematic paragraphs.


Clause Combining in Grammar and Discourse

Clause Combining in Grammar and Discourse

Author: John Haiman

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 1988-01-01

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 9027278598

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Traditionally the study of syntax is restricted to the study of what goes on within the boundaries of the prosodic sentence. Although the nature of clause combining within a prosodic sentence has always been a central concern of traditional syntax (in GG, e.g. it underlies important research on deletion and anaphora), work within a discourse analysis framework has hardly been done. Analyses like this are given in the present volume.


Discourse and Pragmatics in Functional Grammar

Discourse and Pragmatics in Functional Grammar

Author: John H. Connolly

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9783110151534

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The contents of this volume are a selection from the papers given at the Sixth International Conference on Functional Grammar (ICFG), which was held in York, at the University College of Ripon and York St John, from 18 to 22 August, 1994. Functional Grammar as understood in the ICFGs and in this volume is the linguistic model as proposed by Simon Dik, and to date most extensively described and discussed in Dik (1989). The indebtedness of the FG-community to Simon Dik, who died six months after the conference was held, is great indeed. The editors hope that this volume is a fitting tribute to his work.


Functional Perspectives on Grammar and Discourse

Functional Perspectives on Grammar and Discourse

Author: Christopher S. Butler

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2007-07-13

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 902729223X

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This book, a tribute to Angela Downing, consists of twenty papers taking a broadly functional perspective on language, with topics ranging from the general (grammar as an evolutionary product, text comprehension, integrative linguistics) to particular aspects of the grammars of languages (Bulgarian, English, Icelandic, Spanish, Swedish). The more specific papers are sequenced according to Halliday’s division into ideational, textual and interpersonal aspects of the grammar, and cover a wide range of areas, including aspect, argument structure, noun phrase/nominal group structure and nominalisations, pronominal clitics, theme in relation to writing skills, discourse structures and markers, the role of attention in conversation, the functions of topic, phatic communion, subjectification, formulaic language and modality. A recurrent theme in the volume is the use of corpus materials in order to base functional descriptions on authentic productions. Overall, the volume constitutes a panoramic but nevertheless detailed view of some important current trends in functional linguistics.


The Grammar Network

The Grammar Network

Author: Holger Diessel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-08-15

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 1108498817

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Provides a dynamic network model of grammar that explains how linguistic structure is shaped by language use.


Convergence and Divergence in Language Contact Situations

Convergence and Divergence in Language Contact Situations

Author: Kurt Braunmüller

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2009-11-12

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 9027288828

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This book deals with the consequences of converging and diverging processes and their development in language contact situations. It provides insights into the various forms of language contact and the conditions under which bilingual speakers master their every-day life in bilingual communities. Its nine contributions cover both theoretical and typological aspects, such as the classification of languages, the role of language contact, linguistic complexity and spontaneous speech innovations, and convergence and divergence processes in translation, (morpho)syntax and phonology/phonetics. Taken together, these studies provide challenges for linguistic theories that generalize from situations of monolingualism suggesting instead that a sound linguistic theory cannot be a theory for just one single, isolated language but must be a theory for at least two languages. It must also account for the fact that some structures involved in contact situations are not kept apart but develop in such a way that the distance decreases between the languages involved.


Expressions, Speech Acts and Discourse

Expressions, Speech Acts and Discourse

Author: Willis J. Edmondson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2023-05-31

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 1108845142

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Provides a pedagogic interactional grammar of English for teachers, as well as learners and experts of pragmatics and applied linguistics.


Discourse Phenomena in Typological Perspective

Discourse Phenomena in Typological Perspective

Author: Alessandra Barotto

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2023-03-15

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 9027254885

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This book aims at investigating discourse phenomena (i.e., linguistic elements and constructions that help to manage the organization, flow, and outcome of communication) from a typological and cross-linguistic perspective. Although it is a well-established idea in functional-typological approaches that grammar is shaped by discourse use, systematic typological cross-linguistic investigations on discourse phenomena are relatively rare. This volume aims at bridging this gap, by integrating different linguistic subfields, such as discourse analysis, pragmatics, and typology. The contributions, both theoretically and empirically oriented, focus on a broad variety of discourse phenomena (ranging from discourse markers to discourse function of grammatical markers, to strategies that manage the discourse and information flow) while adopting a typological perspective and considering typologically distant languages.


Perspectives on Semantics, Pragmatics, and Discourse

Perspectives on Semantics, Pragmatics, and Discourse

Author: Ferenc Kiefer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2001-01-01

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 9789027251091

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Professor Ferenc Kiefer of the Linguistics Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was instrumental in bringing early transformational grammar to Europe. His extensive work contributes substantially to making a connection between the grammatical theory and other areas of linguistics. The 17 essays in this book celebrate his career by continuing to explore inter-area research in linguistics: pragmatics in grammar (de Groot, van Riemsdijk, Dressler & Barbaresi, Comrie), semantic compositionality and pragmatics (Wunderlich, Partee, Borschev, Szabo, Bach), logical structures and universals in semantics and pragmatics (van der Auwera, Bultinck, Burton-Roberts, Harnish, Wierzbicka) dialogue and thematic structure (Jonasson, Doherty, Hajicova, Panevova, Sgall, Allwood, Fraser).