Layers and Levels of Representation in Language Theory PDF Download

Author: Jan Nuyts
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027250235
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Rather than simply a record of proceedings (3rd International Conference on Functional Grammar, Amsterdam, June 1988), this volume contains revised and expanded papers from the conference and other papers inspired by the lively discussion there. The volume focuses on the nature of the structures assumed to underlie utterances in natural languages, in two respects. One area is the question of whether to expand the representations accepted in Functional Grammar (FG) in order to capture interpersonal functions, i.e., communication between speaker and hearer in a particular situation and context, to include, for example, aspect, tense, modality and illocutionary force. The second area concerns whether current underlying representation in FG is sufficiently abstract to be the format for the deepest level of human conceptual knowledge storage, as discussed by Simon Dik in a number of recent articles.

Author: Christopher S. Butler
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027296537
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 592

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Book Description
This book and its companion volume present a detailed guide to three major structural-functional theories: Functional Grammar, Role and Reference Grammar and Systemic Functional Grammar. This first volume provides the necessary background through a discussion of the characteristics of functional theories, followed by a brief analysis of six approaches to language in the light of this discussion. These chapters lead to a characterization of a smaller set of ‘structural-functional grammars’, among which FG, RRG and SFG are central. An overview of each of these theories in relation to the simplex clause is then presented, followed by a more critical comparison. The remainder of the book deals with the structure and meaning of phrasal units, the representation of situations, and the treatment of tense, aspect, modality and polarity, across the three theories. A major feature of the book is the use of examples from corpora of English and other languages, which serve not only to exemplify theoretical and descriptive claims, but also at times to challenge them.

Author: Michael D. Fortescue
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027250359
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 459

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Book Description
This volume contains revised and expanded versions of those papers from the 1990 Functional Grammar Conference in Copenhagen that contributed specifically to the current investigation of clause structure in terms of semantic layers. One of the key concepts in this discussion is 'reference'. Some papers discuss ways in which previous accounts of reference need to be expanded and differentiated to provide a consistent picture of referential properties. The power of layered analysis to bring out fundamental similarities between languages of very different types is the theme of another group of papers, again with the referential properties of constituents playing a central role. By some contributors layered analysis is challenged, and the question is raised as to how it might fit into a dynamic and pragmatic picture of language. The book is rounded off by a comparison between layered structure in Functional Grammar and in Government and Binding Theory.

Author: John H. Connolly
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110812231
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
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.

Author: J. Lachlan Mackenzie
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110173565
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
This volume, which represents a major advance on Simon Dik's final statement of the theory (1997), lays the foundation for the future evolution of FG towards a Functional Discourse Grammar. It rises to the double challenge of specifying the interface between discourse and grammar and of detailing the expression rules that link semantic representation and morphosyntactic form. The opening chapter, by Kees Hengeveld, sets out in programmatic form a new architecture for FG which both preserves the best of the traditional model and offers a place for numerous recent insights. The remaining chapters are devoted to refining and developing the programme laid down by Hengeveld, bringing in data from a range of languages as well as theoretical insights inspired by adjoining frameworks. Of special interest are an account by Matthew Anstey of how current proposals arise from the history of FG and various chapters in which the model is brought much closer to an account of real-time language production, notably including the first ever detailed account of the workings of expression rules, by Dik Bakker and Anna Siewierska. The final chapter, also by Hengeveld, draws together the findings of the various chapters, culminating in an elaborated model that represents the most sophisticated statement of Functional Grammar currently available. The volume thus gives a coherent account of FG as a theory which combines formal explicitness with a broad account of language functions.

Author: Päivi Pahta
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027254400
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
"This is a trailblazing volume. Too often do studies in historical linguistics adopt social (or other) theories of yesterday. But here we have cutting-edge research on social roles, identities and practices applied innovatively to historical data, leading to new insights-not just about Late Modern English but also about the dynamics of language, social phenomena and change-and lighting the way for future research." Jonathan Culpeper, Senior Lecturer, English Language and Linguistics, Lancaster University --

Author: Eija Suomela-Salmi
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027288739
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
The goal of this volume is to examine academic discourse (AD) from cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspectives. The adjective Cross-cultural in the volume title is not just limited to national contexts but also includes a cross-disciplinary perspective. Twelve scientific fields are under scrutiny in the articles. One of the unique aspects of the volume is the inclusion of a variety of foreign languages (English (as a lingua franca), Spanish, French, Swedish, Russian, German, Italian, and Norwegian). Besides, in several articles dealing with oral AD, comparisons and parallels are also established with written AD. The research methodologies used in the studies are varied and they offer an overview of the diversity and richness of approaches to AD. All in all, it is hoped that the volume appeals not only to young researchers but also to confirmed scholars interested in cross-linguistic and cross-cultural aspects of AD. It will also be of interest to language teachers or teachers who are involved with e.g. international students and academic mobility.

Author: J. Lachlan Mackenzie
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027271585
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
This book provides ten case studies in Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG), a typologically-oriented theory of the organization of natural languages that has risen to prominence in recent years. The authors, all committed practitioners of FDG, include Kees Hengeveld, the intellectual father of the theory, who shows how it offers a radically new approach to constituent ordering. Other themes covered are evidentiality, modality, adpositions, verb morphology, possession, raising, sequence of tenses, semi-fixed constructions and prelinguistic conceptualization. The volume contains an introduction that explains the rudiments of FDG and summarizes the ten remaining chapters. The Casebook moves on from Hengeveld & Mackenzie’s (2008) Functional Discourse Grammar to show how the theory is applied to linguistic problems new and old. The languages treated are Blackfoot, Dutch, English, Spanish, Welsh, indigenous languages of Brazil, and many others.

Author: Harm Pinkster
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110847426
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description

Author: Eser Erguvanl? Taylan
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027297614
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
This book is a collection of articles on the properties of the verb in Turkish as the core element of clause structure, by linguists from different parts of the world. Articles present the most recent analyses on the Turkish language carried out in various theoretical orientations within the functional-formal range. The topics researched in the contributions center around properties of verbal inflection as the morphological means to express temporal, aspectual and modal notions, and the implications of these morphological configurations to syntactic theory.