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This book addresses the question: What can close discourse analysis contribute to the understanding of language? To do so, it presents a centering theory-based computational approach to discourse analysis concerning Chinese bei passive sentences, disposal ba constructions, ditransitive gei sentences, and locative fang sentences. The book first discusses the use of discourse analysis in the context of bei and ba constructions and then demonstrates how discourse analysis can contribute to the syntactic and semantic studies of these sentences. It also examines the various thematic roles differentiated in these four special sentence patterns, namely agent, recipient, theme/patient, and locative, and reveals the various degrees of discourse accessibility of these thematic roles. Exploring the correlation between centering theory and Chinese discourse, the book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in discourse analysis and Chinese special sentential structures, especially the formal approaches to these issues.
Locality in Grammar: From Narrow Syntax to Interfaces investigates the operation of locality conditions in syntax and semantics from a cross-linguistic perspective. It is claimed that there are two different types of locality conditions. One is the Generalized Minimality Condition (GMC), and the other is the Phase Impenetrability Condition (PIC). This book demonstrates that these locality conditions play different roles in different computational components of human language, and, therefore, cannot be unified as one constraint as proposed in the literature. The main idea of the book is that the two different locality conditions are sensitive to the difference between syntactic derivation and semantic interpretation and that of overt and covert syntactic derivations. Further investigation shows a more fine-grained distinction must be made between syntactic computations. It is true that GMC does not constrain overt syntactic derivations and PIC does not play a role in semantic interpretations; however, they both regulate covert syntactic computations. This book will inform postgraduate students and scholars in the field of linguistics.
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Written by a leading scholar who has been closely involved in language planning in China over many decades, this collection of essays is a critical reflection of the work the Chinese government and academics have undertaken in establishing appropriate policies regarding language standard, language use and language education. The essays contain unique insights into the thinking behind much of the language planning work in China today.
This book provides insight into the biology and genomics of the genus Boswellia (family Burseraceae), a natural resource used for the production of frankincense, an oleo-gum resin. The Boswellia species are ecologically, medicinally, commercially and culturally important. Significantly contributing to the paucity of comprehensive literature on this genus, this volume provides a detailed discussion on the genomics, physiology and ecology of Boswellia. The chapters cover a wide range of topics, including taxonomy, distribution, genetic diversity and microbiology. The production process of frankincense and its impact on the species are presented as well. In light of the recent decline of various Boswellia populations, species propagation and conservation are discussed. Plant scholars, ecologists and conservation biologists will find this book to be an important and informative reference.
In studying discourse, the problem for the linguist is to find a fruitful level of analysis. Carlota Smith offers a new approach with this study of discourse passages, units of several sentences or more. She introduces the key idea of the 'Discourse Mode', identifying five modes: Narrative, Description, Report, Information, Argument. These are realized at the level of the passage, and cut across genre lines. Smith shows that the modes, intuitively recognizable as distinct, have linguistic correlates that differentiate them. She analyzes the properties that distinguish each mode, focusing on grammatical rather than lexical information. The book also examines linguistically based features that appear in passages of all five modes: topic and focus, variation in syntactic structure, and subjectivity, or point of view. Operating at the interface of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, the book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in linguistics, stylistics and rhetoric.
Standard conceptions of Locality aim to establish that a dependency between two positions may not span too long a distance. This book explores the opposite conception, Anti-Locality: Don't move too close. The model of clause structure, syntactic computation, and locality concerns Kleanthes Grohmann develops makes crucial use of derivational sub-domains, Prolific Domains, each encapsulating particular context information (thematic, agreement, discourse). The Anti-Locality Hypothesis is the attempt to exclude anti-local movement from the grammar by banning movement within a Prolific Domain, a Bare Output Condition. The flexible application of the operation Spell Out, coupled with an innovative view on grammatical formatives, leads to a natural caveat: Copy Spell Out. Grohmann explores a theory of Anti-Locality relevant to all three Prolific Domains in the clausal layer as well as the nominal layer, and offers a unified account of Standard and Anti-Locality regarding clause-internal movement and operations across clause boundaries, revisiting successive cyclicity.
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The phonology, morphology and lexicon of late Zhou Chinese are examined in this volume. It is argued that a proper understanding of Old Chinese morphology is essential in correctly reconstructing the phonology. Based on evidence from word-families, modern dialects and related words in neighboring languages, Old Chinese words are claimed to consist of a monosyllabic root, to which a variety of derivational affixes attached. This made Old Chinese typologically more like modern languages such as Khmer, Gyarong or Atayal, than like Middle and modern Chinese, where only faint traces of the old morphology remain. In the first part of the book, the author proposes improvements to Baxter's system of...
TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.