SubjectsLinguistics / Functional linguistics
Book series
ISSN 1573-594X
Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe
Edited by Petr Sgall and Eva Hajičová
ISSN 0165-7712
Prague Linguistic Circle Papers / Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague N.S.
Edited by Eva Hajičová and Petr Sgall
ISSN 1383-7583
Studies in Language and Social Interaction
Edited by Sandra A. Thompson and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
ISSN 1879-3983
Journals
Functions of Language
Edited by J. Lachlan Mackenzie, Elena Smirnova and Sumin Zhao
ISSN 0929-998X | E‑ISSN 1569‑9765
Interactional Linguistics
Edited by Ilana Mushin and Simona Pekarek Doehler
ISSN 2666-4224 | E‑ISSN 2666‑4232
Language, Context and Text
The Social Semiotics Forum
Edited by Xingwei Miao and Akila Sellami Baklouti
ISSN 2589-7233 | E‑ISSN 2589‑7241
Studies in Language
General Editor: Katharina Haude and Nicole Kruspe
ISSN 0378-4177 | E‑ISSN 1569‑9978
Areal Effects on Argument-Coding Patterns
Edited by Daria Alfimova, Kirill Kozhanov and Sergey Say
Special issue of Studies in Language 49:4 (2025) v, 201 pp.
Instructing Bodies
Edited by Leelo Keevallik, Emily Hofstetter and Jan Lindström
Special issue of Interactional Linguistics 5:1/2 (2025) v, 228 pp.
Multimodal Communication from a Construction Grammar Perspective
Edited by Kiki Nikiforidou and Mirjam Fried
The volume is of direct interest to scholars, from senior academics to PhD students, interested in linguistically relevant phonetic and gestural information and in the relationship between multimodal communication and grammar. It contains important work in a relatively new, dynamic and exploratory… read more[Constructional Approaches to Language, 38] 2025. vi, 317 pp.
SFL Appliability, Visibility and Accessibility
Edited by Claudia E. Stoian, Jorge Arús-Hita and Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen
Special issue of Language, Context and Text 7:2 (2025) v, 297 pp.
Today’s Innovations, Tomorrow’s Conventions: Usage-based approaches to incipient developments in English
Edited by David Lorenz and David Tizón-Couto
Special issue of Functions of Language 32:1 (2025) v, 161 pp.
Evidentiality, Modality and Grammaticalization
Edited by Eric Mélac
Special issue of Studies in Language 48:3 (2024) v, 240 pp.
The Functions of Evidentiality
Edited by Eric Mélac and Pascale Leclercq
Special issue of Functions of Language 31:1 (2024) v, 114 pp.
Moving towards Peace, Compassion and Empathy through Semiotic Enquiry: Special issue of the Journal Language, Context and Text 6:1 (2024)
Edited by Elizabeth A. Thomson, Awni Etaywe, Ingrid Wijeyewardene and Penny Wheeler
Special issue of Language, Context and Text 6:1 (2024) vi, 225 pp.
Quo Vadis, Construction Grammar?
Edited by Hans C. Boas, Jaakko Leino and Benjamin Lyngfelt
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 16:2 (2024) v, 177 pp.
Revisiting Modality: A corpus-based study of epistemic adverbs in Galician
Vítor Míguez
This book presents the first in-depth investigation of modality in Galician linguistics, offering a theoretical discussion of modal categories and a fine-grained description of epistemic adverbs. The first half of the monograph deconstructs the most relevant approaches to modal categories and shows… read more[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 40] 2024. xvii, 234 pp.
Continuative and contrastive discourse relations across discourse domains: Cognitive and cross-linguistic approaches
Edited by Matthias Klumm, Anita Fetzer and Evelien Keizer
Special issue of Functions of Language 30:1 (2023) v, 135 pp.
Issues in Diachronic Construction Morphology
Edited by Muriel Norde and Graeme Trousdale
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 15:2 (2023) v, 152 pp.
Mapping “Language" in Education: Special issue of the Journal Language, Context and Text 5:2 (2023)
Special issue of Language, Context and Text 5:2 (2023) v, 166 pp.
Meaning in Interaction: Studies in memory of Jack Bilmes
Edited by Arnulf Deppermann and Elwys De Stefani
Special issue of Interactional Linguistics 3:1/2 (2023) v, 177 pp.
Reconnecting Form and Meaning: In honour of Kristin Davidse
Edited by Caroline Gentens, Lobke Ghesquière, William B. McGregor and An Van linden
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,… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 230] 2023. vii, 305 pp.
Theme in English and German: A corpus-based contrastive analysis of clause openings in original and translated texts
Jonas Freiwald
This book represents a detailed discussion and corpus analysis of Theme in English and German originals and translations. The empirical results are based on thousands of clauses from four different registers, cover a variety of linguistic aspects including multiple Themes, marked Themes,… read more[Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 112] 2023. xiii, 297 pp.
Collocations as a Language Resource: A functional and cognitive study in English phraseology
Sonja Poulsen
Are collocations problems or solutions to problems? If you take the perspective of the foreign learner, as in traditional phraseology, they are certainly challenging, and they have therefore been categorized as arbitrary, or even defective, deviations from an assumed norm of full compositionality.… read more[Human Cognitive Processing, 71] 2022. xvi, 348 pp.
Discourse-pragmatic perspectives on interrogatives
Edited by Malte Rosemeyer
Special issue of Functions of Language 29:1 (2022) v, 141 pp.
Variation and Grammaticalization of Verbal Constructions
Edited by Dániel Czicza and Gabriele Diewald
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 14:1 (2022) v, 223 pp.
Conjunctive Markers of Contrast in English and French: From syntax to lexis and discourse
Maïté Dupont
Situated at the interface between corpus linguistics and Systemic Functional Linguistics, this volume focuses on conjunctive markers expressing contrast in English and French. The frequency and placement patterns of the markers are analysed using large corpora of texts from two written registers:… read more[Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 99] 2021. xvii, 436 pp.
Constructional Approach(es) to Discourse-Level Phenomena: Theoretical challenges and empirical advances
Edited by Renata Enghels and María Sol Sansiñena
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 13:1 (2021) v, 191 pp.
Context in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Theoretical developments and directions
Edited by Wendy L. Bowcher and Tom Bartlett
Special issue of Functions of Language 28:3 (2021) v, 125 pp.
Postverbal negation
Edited by Olga Krasnoukhova, Johan van der Auwera and Mily Crevels
Special issue of Studies in Language 45:3 (2021) v, 208 pp.
Source-Goal (a)symmetries across languages
Edited by Anetta Kopecka and Marine Vuillermet
Special issue of Studies in Language 45:1 (2021) v, 275 pp.
Usage-based and Typological Approaches to Linguistic Units
Edited by Tsuyoshi Ono, Ritva Laury and Ryoko Suzuki
The chapters in this volume focus on how we might understand the concept of ‘unit’ in human languages. It is an analytical notion that has been widely adopted by linguists of various theoretical and applied orientations but has recently been critically examined by both typologically oriented and… read more[Benjamins Current Topics, 114] 2021. v, 204 pp.
Construction Grammar across Borders
Edited by Tiago Timponi Torrent, Ely Edison da Silva Matos and Natália Sathler Sigiliano
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 12:1 (2020) v, 169 pp.
Notes from the field on perspective-indexing constructions: Irregular shifts and perspective persistence
Edited by Stef Spronck, An Van linden, Caroline Gentens and María Sol Sansiñena
Special issue of Functions of Language 27:1 (2020) v, 112 pp.
Diachrony of Personal Pronouns in Japanese: A functional and cross-linguistic perspective
Osamu Ishiyama
Personal pronouns in Japanese form a heterogeneous category. This book investigates their historical development from a functional perspective. It shows that while nouns give rise to personal pronouns through semanticization of pragmatic inferences, the use of non-nominal forms such as… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 344] 2019. ix, 173 pp.
On mood and speech function and the ‘why’ of text analysis: In honour of Margaret Berry
Edited by Lise Fontaine, Miriam Taverniers and Kristin Davidse
Special issue of Functions of Language 26:1 (2019) vi, 135 pp.
On the Role of Pragmatics in Construction Grammar
Edited by Rita Finkbeiner
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 11:2 (2019) v, 163 pp.
Usage-based and Typological Approaches to Linguistic Units
Edited by Tsuyoshi Ono, Ritva Laury and Ryoko Suzuki
Special issue of Studies in Language 43:2 (2019) vi, 253 pp.
Asymmetries, Mismatches and Construction Grammar
Edited by Nikos Koutsoukos, Kristel Van Goethem and Hendrik De Smet
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 10:2 (2018) v, 183 pp.
Functionalist and Usage-based Approaches to the Study of Language: In honor of Joan L. Bybee
Edited by K. Aaron Smith and Dawn Nordquist
The contributions to this volume honor Joan Bybee’s 2005 LSA Presidential address “Grammar is Usage and Usage is Grammar,” as a cumulative articulation of Professor Bybee's long and influential career in linguistics. The volume begins with a functional examination of child language acquisition of… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 192] 2018. xxvi, 250 pp.
Interpersonal Meaning: Systemic Functional Linguistics perspectives
Edited by J.R. Martin
Special issue of Functions of Language 25:1 (2018) v, 204 pp.
Lexical meaning as a testable hypothesis: The case of English look, see, seem and appear
Nadav Sabar
This book offers an original treatment of the lexical form look. The work is innovative in that it establishes that the Columbia School conception of an invariant meaning – hitherto found primarily in grammar – is equally operative in core vocabulary items like look and see. The upshot is that… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 75] 2018. xv, 144 pp.
Morphology and emotions across the world's languages
Edited by Maïa Ponsonnet and Marine Vuillermet
Special issue of Studies in Language 42:1 (2018) v, 295 pp.
Recent Developments in Functional Discourse Grammar
Edited by Evelien Keizer and Hella Olbertz
This volume presents a collection of papers using the theory of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) to analyse and explain a number of specific constructions or phenomena (external possessor contructions and binominal constructions, negation, modification, modality, polysynthesis and transparency)… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 205] 2018. ix, 283 pp.
Evidentiality Revisited: Cognitive grammar, functional and discourse-pragmatic perspectives
Edited by Juana I. Marín-Arrese, Gerda Haßler and Marta Carretero
Evidentiality Revisited focuses on semantic-pragmatic based frameworks for the study of evidentials and evidential strategies in European languages (Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish). The book also presents discourse-pragmatic studies, with… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 271] 2017. vi, 320 pp.
Imperatives and Directive Strategies
Edited by Daniël Van Olmen and Simone Heinold
Imperatives and directive strategies have intrigued both formalists and functionalists. They continue to search for the answers to questions like “what are the semantics of the imperative?”, “how is it used (in the world’s languages)?” and “which factors determine the choice between imperatives and… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 184] 2017. vi, 324 pp.
Lexical flexibility in Oceanic languages
Edited by Eva van Lier
Special issue of Studies in Language 41:2 (2017) v, 302 pp.
Stance, resonance and the power of engagement
Edited by Bracha Nir and Elisabeth Zima
Special issue of Functions of Language 24:1 (2017) v, 137 pp.
The Substance and Value of Italian Si
Joseph Davis
This book offers an original treatment of the Italian clitic si. Sharply separating encoded grammar from inference in discourse, it proposes a unitary meaning for si, including impersonals, passives, and reflexives. Si signals third-person participancy but makes no distinctions of number, gender,… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 74] 2017. xiii, 257 pp.
Verb Phrase and Fluid Construction Grammar
Edited by Luc Steels and Katrien Beuls
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 9:2 (2017) v, 162 pp.
Corpus Stylistics as Contextual Prosodic Theory and Subtext
Bill Louw and Marija Milojkovic
The volume presents Louw's Contextual Prosodic Theory from its beginnings to its newest applications. It journeys from delexicalisation and relexicalisation into Semantic Prosody and then to the heart of its contextual requirements within collocation and the thinking of J.R. Firth. Once there, it… read more[Linguistic Approaches to Literature, 23] 2016. xix, 419 pp.
Modal Meaning in Construction Grammar
Edited by Bert Cappelle and Ilse Depraetere
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 8:1 (2016) vi, 129 pp.
Semantic Structure in English
Jim Feist
Syntax puts our meaning (“semantics”) into sentences, and phonology puts the sentences into the sounds that we hear and there must, surely, be a structure in the meaning that is expressed in the syntax and phonology. Some writers use the phrase “semantic structure”, but are referring to conceptual… read more
The Structure of the English NP: Synchronic and diachronic explorations
Edited by Kristin Davidse
Special issue of Functions of Language 23:1 (2016) v, 147 pp.
Third Person References: Forms and functions in two spoken genres of Spanish
Jenny Dumont
This volume, a case study on the grammar of third person references in two genres of spoken Ecuadorian Spanish, examines from a discourse-analytic perspective how genre affects linguistic patterns and how researchers can look for and interpret genre effects. This marks a timely contribution to… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 71] 2016. ix, 179 pp.
Case in Russian: A sign-oriented approach
Alexandra Beytenbrat
This volume presents an analysis of Russian case from a sign-oriented perspective. The study was inspired by William Diver’s analysis of Latin case and follows the spirit of the Columbia School of linguistics. The fundamental premise that underlies this volume is that language is a communicative… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 70] 2015. xiii, 182 pp.
Multimodality and Cognitive Linguistics
Edited by María Jesús Pinar Sanz
The aim of this volume is to advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of the relationship between Multimodality and Cognitive Linguistics. The innovative nature of the volume in relation to those existing in the field lies in the fact that it brings together contributions from three of… read more[Benjamins Current Topics, 78] 2015. x, 212 pp.
On Multiple Source Constructions in Language Change
Edited by Hendrik De Smet, Lobke Ghesquière and Freek Van de Velde
In much writing on language change, there is a tacit assumption that change operates on a single source construction to produce an innovative target construction. This volume challenges this assumption, by showing that many changes involve interactions between multiple source constructions. In… read more[Benjamins Current Topics, 79] 2015. v, 227 pp.
On the Interaction of Constructions with Register and Genre
Edited by Kerstin Fischer and Kiki Nikiforidou
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 7:2 (2015) v, 243 pp.
Semantics: From meaning to text. Volume 3
Igor Mel’čuk
This book presents an innovative and novel approach to linguistic semantics, starting from the idea that language can be described as a mechanism for the expression of linguistic Meanings as particular surface forms, or Texts. Semantics is specifically that system of rules that ensures a transition… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 168] 2015. xx, 546 pp.
The Semantics of Chinese Music: Analysing selected Chinese musical concepts
Adrian Tien
Music is a widely enjoyed human experience. It is, therefore, natural that we have wanted to describe, document, analyse and, somehow, grasp it in language. This book surveys a representative selection of musical concepts in Chinese language, i.e. words that describe, or refer to, aspects of… read more[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts, 5] 2015. xv, 303 pp.
Sensory Perceptions in Language and Cognition
Edited by Rosario Caballero and Carita Paradis
Special issue of Functions of Language 22:1 (2015) v, 159 pp.
Time and Emergence in Grammar: Dislocation, topicalization and hanging topic in French talk-in-interaction
Simona Pekarek Doehler, Elwys De Stefani and Anne-Sylvie Horlacher
This monograph examines how language contributes to the social coordination of actions in talk-in-interaction. Focusing on a set of frequently used constructions in French (left-dislocation, right-dislocation, topicalization, and hanging topic), the study provides an empirically rich contribution… read more[Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 28] 2015. x, 275 pp.
The Why and How of Total Reduplication: Current Issues and New Perspectives
Edited by Daniela Rossi
Special issue of Studies in Language 39:4 (2015) v, 241 pp.
Advances in research on semantic roles
Edited by Seppo Kittilä and Fernando Zúñiga
Special issue of Studies in Language 38:3 (2014) v, 211 pp.
Auxiliary Selection in Spanish: Gradience, gradualness, and conservation
Malte Rosemeyer
Although usage-based linguistics emphasises the need for studies of language change to take frequency effects into account, there is a lack of research that tries to systematically model frequency effects and their relation to diffusion processes in language change. This monograph offers a… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 155] 2014. xix, 313 pp.
The Diachrony of Negation
Edited by Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen and Jacqueline Visconti
Despite intensive research, negation remains elusive. Its expression across languages, its underlying cognitive mechanisms, its development across time, and related phenomena, such as negative polarity and negative concord, leave many unresolved issues of both a definitional and a substantive… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 160] 2014. v, 258 pp.
Discourse linguistics: Theory and practice
Edited by Karin Aijmer and Anita Fetzer
Special issue of Functions of Language 21:1 (2014) iii, 137 pp.
Events, Arguments, and Aspects: Topics in the Semantics of Verbs
Edited by Klaus Robering
The verb has often been considered the 'center' of the sentence and has hence always attracted the special attention of the linguist. The present volume collects novel approaches to two classical topics within verbal semantics, namely argument structure and the treatment of time and aspect. The… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 152] 2014. viii, 373 pp.
The Evidential Basis of Linguistic Argumentation
Edited by András Kertész and Csilla Rákosi
Currently, one of the methodological debates in linguistics focuses on the question of what kinds of data are allowed in different linguistic theories and what subtypes of data can work as evidence for or against particular hypotheses. The first part of the volume puts forward a methodological… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 153] 2014. vi, 320 pp.
Exploring Functional-Cognitive Space
Christopher S. Butler and Francisco Gonzálvez-García
This book, intended primarily for researchers and advanced students, expands greatly on previous work by the authors exploring the topography of the multidimensional “functional-cognitive space” within which functional, cognitive and/or constructionist approaches to language can be located. The… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 157] 2014. xviii, 579 pp.
Frames, constructions, and computation
Edited by Lars Borin, Gerard de Melo, Karin Friberg Heppin and Tiago Timponi Torrent
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 6:1 (2014) v, 135 pp.
The Functional Perspective on Language and Discourse: Applications and implications
Edited by María de los Ángeles Gómez González, Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, Francisco Gonzálvez-García and Angela Downing
Over the last forty years, the functionalist approach to linguistic description and explanation has given rise to several major schools of thought that share two crucial assumptions: (i) form is not independent of meaning/function or language use; and (ii) linguistic description and explanation… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 247] 2014. viii, 292 pp.
Language Processing and Grammars: The role of functionally oriented computational models
Edited by Brian Nolan and Carlos Periñán-Pascual
There is a growing awareness of the significance and value that modelling using information technology can bring to the functionally oriented linguistic enterprise. This encompasses a spectrum of areas as diverse as concept modelling, language processing and grammar modelling, conversational… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 150] 2014. vi, 396 pp.
Number – Constructions and Semantics: Case studies from Africa, Amazonia, India and Oceania
Edited by Anne Storch and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
This book is the outcome of several decades of research experience, with contributions by leading scholars based on long-term field research. It combines approaches from descriptive linguistics, anthropological linguistics, socio-historical studies, areal linguistics, and social anthropology. The… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 151] 2014. xv, 366 pp.
Pragmatic Competence and Relevance
Elly Ifantidou
This book probes into under-researched issues in L2 pragmatics. Firstly, pragmatic competence, pragmatic awareness and metapragmatic awareness are re-defined and clearly distinguished on theoretical grounds. Secondly, pragmatic competence and its manifestations are evaluated on empirical grounds by… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 245] 2014. x, 228 pp.
Qualitative-Quantitative Analyses of Dutch and Afrikaans Grammar and Lexicon
Robert S. Kirsner
Sharing certain assumptions but differing in theory and practice, both Columbia School linguistics (CS) and Cognitive Grammar (CG) have increasingly supported their analyses with quantitative evidence. Citation of individual sentences, in isolation or in context, has been supplemented with counts… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 67] 2014. xi, 239 pp.
Reflections on Constructions across Grammars
Edited by Martin Hilpert and Jan-Ola Östman
Special issue of Constructions and Frames 6:2 (2014) v, 201 pp.
The Sociolinguistics of Grammar
Edited by Tor A. Åfarli and Brit Mæhlum
The aim of this book is to investigate and attain new insights on how and to what extent the wider sociolinguistic context of language use and contact impinges on formal grammatical structures. The papers contained in the book approach this important problem from various points of view by focusing… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 154] 2014. v, 260 pp.
Theory and Practice in Functional-Cognitive Space
Edited by María de los Ángeles Gómez González, Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez and Francisco Gonzálvez-García
The differences among functionalist, cognitivist and/or constructionist models are generally taken to be not absolute, but rather a matter of emphasis and degree, with an increasing permeability between paradigms arising from cross-fertilizing influences. This book further explores this burgeoning… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 68] 2014. vi, 327 pp.
Usage-Based Approaches to Language Change
Edited by Evie Coussé and Ferdinand von Mengden
Usage-based approaches to language have gained increasing attention in the last two decades. The importance of change and variation has always been recognized in this framework, but has never received central attention. It is the main aim of this book to fill this gap. Once we recognize that usage… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 69] 2014. v, 275 pp.
Usage-based Approaches to Japanese Grammar: Towards the understanding of human language
Edited by Kaori Kabata and Tsuyoshi Ono
This volume brings together papers that take usage-based approaches to study the nature of human language, with a focus on the grammar of Japanese. The 12 chapters provide a rich array of data and methodologies, with topics ranging from phonology, modality, and grammatical morphemes, to sentential… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 156] 2014. ix, 308 pp.
Casebook in Functional Discourse Grammar
Edited by J. Lachlan Mackenzie and Hella Olbertz
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… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 137] 2013. ix, 313 pp.
Functional-Historical Approaches to Explanation: In honor of Scott DeLancey
Edited by Tim Thornes, Erik Andvik, Gwendolyn Hyslop and Joana Jansen
Contributions from both well-known practitioners and new voices in the areas of language typology, historical linguistics, and function-based approaches to language description define this volume, as does its foci in two major geographical areas — southeast Asia and northwestern North America. All… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 103] 2013. xviii, 294 pp.
Linking Constructions into Functional Linguistics: The role of constructions in grammar
Edited by Brian Nolan and Elke Diedrichsen
There is a growing awareness of the significance of constructions in grammar in the world’s languages. To date there has not been a single volume that addresses the issues of constructions within a functional Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) account. The book is a collection of articles that will… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 145] 2013. xix, 335 pp.
On multiple source constructions in language change
Edited by Hendrik De Smet, Lobke Ghesquière and Freek Van de Velde
Special issue of Studies in Language 37:3 (2013) vi, 219 pp.
The Regularity of the 'Irregular' Verbs and Nouns in English
Elena Even-Simkin and Yishai Tobin
This volume presents an in-depth study of the so-called irregular Past Tense (sing/sang) and Noun Plural (foot/feet) forms with Internal Vowel Alternation (IVA) in English demonstrating that they possess both a fixed phonological and semantic regularity. The innovative sign-oriented analysis and… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 66] 2013. xvii, 273 pp.
Semantics: From meaning to text. Volume 2
Igor Mel’čuk
This book presents an innovative approach to linguistic semantics, starting from the idea that language is a mechanism for the expression of linguistic meanings as particular surface forms (texts). Semantics is that system of rules that ensures a transition from a Semantic Representation of the… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 135] 2013. xvi, 400 pp.
Grammaticalization and Language Change: New reflections
Edited by Kristin Davidse, Tine Breban, Lieselotte Brems and Tanja Mortelmans
This collective volume focuses on the latest developments in the study of grammaticalization and related processes of change such as degrammaticalization, constructionalization, lexicalization, and petrification. It addresses topical issues relating to the motivations, sources, defining features,… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 130] 2012. viii, 342 pp.
An Introduction to Linguistic Typology
Viveka Velupillai
This clear and accessible introduction to linguistic typology covers all linguistic domains from phonology and morphology over parts-of-speech, the NP and the VP, to simple and complex clauses, pragmatics and language change. There is also a discussion on methodological issues in typology. This… read more[Not in series, 176] 2012. xxii, 517 pp.
Semantics: From meaning to text. Volume 1
Igor Mel’čuk
This book presents an innovative and novel approach to linguistic semantics, beginning with the idea that language can be described as a system for the expression of linguistic Meanings as particular surface forms or Texts. Semantics is specifically that system of rules that ensures a correct… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 129] 2012. xxi, 436 pp.
Theory and data in cognitive linguistics
Edited by Nikolas Gisborne and Willem B. Hollmann
Special issue of Studies in Language 36:3 (2012) v, 258 pp.
Connecting Grammaticalisation
Jens Nørgård-Sørensen, Lars Heltoft and Lene Schøsler
This monograph presents a view on grammaticalisation radically different from standard views centering around the cline of grammaticality. Grammar is seen as a complex sign system, and, as a consequence, grammatical change always comprises semantic change. What unites morphology, topology (word… read more
Ethics and Politics of Translating
Henri Meschonnic
What if meaning were the last thing that mattered in language? In this essay, Henri Meschonnic explains what it means to translate the sense of language and how to do it. In a radical stand against a hermeneutical approach based on the dualistic view of the linguistic sign and against its… read more[Benjamins Translation Library, 91] 2011. vi, 178 pp.
Linguistic Theory and Empirical Evidence
Edited by Bob de Jonge and Yishai Tobin
This volume further elaborates the empirical tradition of Columbia School (CS) Linguistics by offering diverse empirical analyses for a wide variety of languages. These studies open a much needed debate advocating the necessity of the independent validation of linguistic hypotheses. This research… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 64] 2011. vi, 299 pp.
Studies in Transitivity: Insights from Language Documentation
Edited by František Kratochvíl, Alexander R. Coupe and Randy J. LaPolla
Special issue of Studies in Language 35:3 (2011) v, 266 pp.
Subordination in Conversation: A cross-linguistic perspective
Edited by Ritva Laury and Ryoko Suzuki
The articles in this volume examine the notion of clausal subordination based on English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Japanese conversational data. Some of the articles approach ‘subordination’ in terms of social action, taking into account what participants are doing with their talk,… read more[Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 24] 2011. viii, 244 pp.
Continuity and Change in Grammar
Edited by Anne Breitbarth, Christopher Lucas, Sheila Watts and David Willis
One of the principal challenges of historical linguistics is to explain the causes of language change. Any such explanation, however, must also address the ‘actuation problem’: why is it that changes occurring in a given language at a certain time cannot be reliably predicted to recur in other… read more[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 159] 2010. viii, 359 pp.
Deconstructing Constructions
Edited by Christopher S. Butler and Javier Martín Arista
This collection of papers brings together contributions from experts in functional linguistics and in Construction Grammar approaches, with the aim of exploring the concept of construction from different angles and trying to arrive at a better understanding of what a construction is, and what roles… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 107] 2009. xx, 306 pp.
Evidentiality in language and cognition
Edited by Lena Ekberg and Carita Paradis
Special issue of Functions of Language 16:1 (2009) 172 pp.
Language Change in Contact Languages: Grammatical and prosodic considerations
Edited by J. Clancy Clements and Shelome Gooden
Special issue of Studies in Language 33:2 (2009) 250 pp.
Lexical Cohesion and Corpus Linguistics
Edited by John Flowerdew and Michaela Mahlberg
Lexical cohesion is about meaning in text. It concerns the ways in which lexical items relate to each other and to other cohesive devices so that textual continuity is created. Traditionally, lexical cohesion (along with other types of cohesion) has been investigated in individual texts. With the… read more[Benjamins Current Topics, 17] 2009. vi, 124 pp.
Modality in Japanese: The layered structure of the clause and hierarchies of functional categories
Heiko Narrog
Hierarchical clause structure is an important feature of most theories of grammar. While it has been an indispensable part of formal syntactic theories, functional theories have more recently discovered for themselves a ‘layered structure of the clause’. A major focus of the current discussion on… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 109] 2009. xxii, 277 pp.
The Motivated Syntax of Arbitrary Signs: Cognitive constraints on Spanish clitic clustering
Erica C. García
This detailed study challenges the claim that syntax is arbitrary and autonomous, as well as the assumption that Spanish clitic clusters constitute grammaticalized units. Diverse--apparently unrelated--restrictions on clitic clustering in both simplex VP's and Accusative cum Infinitive structures… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 61] 2009. xv, 335 pp.
Corpus and Context: Investigating pragmatic functions in spoken discourse
Svenja Adolphs
Corpus and Context explores the relationship between corpus linguistics and pragmatics by discussing possible frameworks for analysing utterance function on the basis of spoken corpora. The book articulates the challenges and opportunities associated with a change of focus in corpus research, from… read more[Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 30] 2008. xi, 151 pp.
Current Trends in Contrastive Linguistics: Functional and cognitive perspectives
Edited by María de los Ángeles Gómez González, J. Lachlan Mackenzie and Elsa M. González Álvarez
This book examines the contribution of various recent developments in linguistics to contrastive analysis. The articles range across a broad gamut of languages, with most attention going to the languages of Europe. They show how advances in theory and computer technology are together impacting the… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 60] 2008. xxi, 333 pp.
Evaluation in text types
Edited by Monika Bednarek
Special issue of Functions of Language 15:1 (2008) 192 pp.
Parts of Speech: Descriptive tools, theoretical constructs
Edited by Umberto Ansaldo, Jan Don and Roland Pfau
Special issue of Studies in Language 32:3 (2008) 246 pp.
Ditransitivity
Edited by Anna Siewierska and Willem B. Hollmann
Special issue of Functions of Language 14:1 (2007) vi, 173 pp.
Functional Perspectives on Grammar and Discourse: In honour of Angela Downing
Edited by Christopher S. Butler, Raquel Hidalgo Downing and Julia Lavid-López
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… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 85] 2007. xxx, 481 pp.
The Language of Pain: Expression or description?
Chryssoula Lascaratou
How is the universal, yet private and subjective, experience of pain talked about by different people in everyday encounters? What does the analysis of pain-related lexico-phraseological choices, grammatical structures, and linguistic metaphors reveal as to how pain is perceived and experienced?… read more[Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 9] 2007. xii, 238 pp.
Structural-Functional Studies in English Grammar: In honour of Lachlan Mackenzie
Edited by Mike Hannay and Gerard J. Steen
This collection presents a number of studies in the lexico-grammar of English which focus on the one hand on close reading of language in context and on the other hand on current functional theoretical concerns. The various contributions represent distinct functionalist models of language,… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 83] 2007. vi, 393 pp.
Advances in Functional Linguistics: Columbia School beyond its origins
Edited by Joseph Davis, Radmila J. Gorup and Nancy Stern
This collection carries the functionalist Columbia School of linguistics forward with contributions on linguistic theory, semiotics, phonology, grammar, lexicon, and anthropology. Columbia School linguistics views language as a symbolic tool whose structure is shaped both by its communicative… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 57] 2006. x, 344 pp.
Demoting the Agent: Passive, middle and other voice phenomena
Edited by Benjamin Lyngfelt and Torgrim Solstad
Passives, middles, and other voice phenomena are issues at the core of modern linguistic research. This volume brings together different perspectives on voice different theoretical viewpoints, different languages, and different kinds of voice phenomena. The eleven articles each make a valuable… read more[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 96] 2006. x, 333 pp.
Perspectives on Grammar Writing
Edited by Thomas E. Payne and David J. Weber
Special issue of Studies in Language 30:2 (2006) iv, 227 pp.
Three-Participant Constructions in English: A functional-cognitive approach to caused relations
An Laffut
This study aims to give a systematic and comprehensive description of the constructions involved in three important types of alternation: the locative alternation, which is by far the most researched of the three, the image impression alternation and the material/product alternation. The author… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 79] 2006. ix, 268 pp.
Dramatized Discourse: The Mandarin Chinese ba-construction
Zhuo Jing-Schmidt
Language is a symbolic system of meanings evoked by linguistic forms. The choice of forms in communication is non-arbitrary. Rather, speakers pick those forms whose meanings best convey their discourse intention. The meaning of the Mandarin ba-construction, argues Jing-Schmidt, is discourse… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 56] 2005. xxii, 337 pp.
The Dynamics of Language Use: Functional and contrastive perspectives
Edited by Christopher S. Butler, María de los Ángeles Gómez González and Susana M. Doval-Suárez
This book brings together a collection of articles characterized by two main themes: the contrastive study of parallel phenomena in two or more languages, and an essentially functional approach in which language is regarded, first and foremost, as a rich and complex communication system,… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 140] 2005. xvi, 413 pp.
Grammar and Inference in Conversation: Identifying clause structure in spoken Javanese
Michael C. Ewing
This study analyzes how morphosyntactic structures and information flow characteristics are used by interlocutors in producing and understanding clauses in conversational Javanese, focusing on the Cirebon variety of the language. While some clauses display grammatical mechanisms used to code their… read more[Studies in Discourse and Grammar, 18] 2005. x, 276 pp.
Language and Meaning: The structural creation of reality
Christopher Beedham
This book illustrates the structuralist idea that language creates the reality we perceive. The data presented in this volume focus on the problematic issues of the passive construction and irregular (strong) verbs, with examples taken primarily from English with separate subsections on German and… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 55] 2005. xiv, 225 pp.
Cognitive and Communicative Approaches to Linguistic Analysis
Edited by Ellen Contini-Morava, Robert S. Kirsner and Betsy Rodríguez-Bachiller
This volume is the product of a Columbia School Linguistics Conference held at Rutgers University in October 1999, where the plenary speaker was Ronald W. Langacker, a founder of Cognitive Linguistics. The goal of the book is to promote two kinds of dialogue. First, dialogue between Cognitive… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 51] 2004. viii, 389 pp.
Functional Constraints in Grammar: On the unergative–unaccusative distinction
Susumu Kuno and Ken-ichi Takami
This book examines in detail the acceptability status of sentences in the following five English constructions, and elucidates the syntactic, semantic, and functional requirements that the constructions must satisfy in order to be appropriately used: There-Construction, (One’s) Way Construction,… read more[Constructional Approaches to Language, 1] 2004. ix, 242 pp.
Functional Linguistics and Contrastive Description
Edited by Kristin Davidse and Liesbet Heyvaert
Special issue of Languages in Contrast 4:1 (2004) 199 pp.
Grounding and headedness in the noun phrase
Edited by Jean-Christophe Verstraete
Special issue of Functions of Language 11:1 (2004) 145 pp.
Language Typology: A functional perspective
Edited by Alice Caffarel-Cayron, J.R. Martin and Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen
This book is intended as a systemic functional contribution to language typology both for those who would like to understand and describe particular languages against the background of generalizations about a wide range of languages and also for those who would like to develop typological accounts… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 253] 2004. xiv, 702 pp.
What Counts as Evidence in Linguistics?: The case of innateness
Edited by Martina Penke and Anette Rosenbach
Special issue of Studies in Language 28:3 (2004) 280 pp.
Dictionary of the Prague School of Linguistics. Translated from the French, German and Czech sources
Josef Vachek
This is the first English version of a text out of print for more than 40 years, summarising the positions and key concepts of an influential stream of linguistic thought. Using quotations as entries, J. Vachek (1909-1997), a leading advocate of the Prague School, employed more than 160 sources,… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 50] 2003. ix, 213 pp.
Formal Approaches to Function in Grammar: In honor of Eloise Jelinek
Edited by Andrew Carnie, Heidi Harley and MaryAnn Willie
The contributions making up this volume in honor of Eloise Jelinek are written from a formalist perspective that deals with stereotypically functionalist questions about language. Jelinek's pioneering work in formalist syntax has shown that autonomous syntax need not exist in a vacuum. Her work has… read more[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 62] 2003. xii, 375 pp.
Grammatical Metaphor: Views from systemic functional linguistics
Edited by Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen, Miriam Taverniers and Louise J. Ravelli
Since the 1980s, metaphor has received much attention in linguistics in general. Within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) the area of 'grammatical metaphor' has become increasingly more important. This volume aims to raise and debate problematic issues in the study of lexico-grammatical… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 236] 2003. vi, 453 pp.
The Interaction of Data, Description, and Theory in Linguistics: Functional perspectives
Edited by William B. McGregor
Special issue of Functions of Language 9:2 (2003) iv, 206 pp.
Intonation Units in Japanese Conversation: Syntactic, informational and functional structures
Kazuko Matsumoto
This book explores how speakers of Japanese organize their messages into coherent units as they jointly and interactively construct conversational discourse. Specifically, it investigates the syntactic, informational, and functional structures of intonation units (IUs) as basic units of discourse… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 65] 2003. xviii, 212 pp.
Language and Function: To the memory of Jan Firbas
Edited by Josef Hladký
The present volume, originally prepared to celebrate Jan Firbas' 80th birthday, unfortunately is presented only belatedly, to commemorate one of the most outstanding personalities of functional and structural linguistics. Its contributors have been inspired by the richness and penetrating invention… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 49] 2003. x, 336 pp.
Preferred Argument Structure: Grammar as architecture for function
Edited by John W. Du Bois, Lorraine E. Kumpf and William J. Ashby
Preferred Argument Structure offers a profound insight into the relationship between language use and grammatical structure. In his original publication on Preferred Argument Structure, Du Bois (1987) demonstrated the power of this perspective by using it to explain the origins of ergativity and… read more[Studies in Discourse and Grammar, 14] 2003. ix, 458 pp.
Re/reading the past: Critical and functional perspectives on time and value
Edited by J.R. Martin and Ruth Wodak
Re/reading the Past is concerned with the discourses of history, from the complementary perspectives of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The papers in the book stress the discursive construction of the past, focussing on the different social narratives… read more[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 8] 2003. vi, 277 pp.
Structure and Function – A Guide to Three Major Structural-Functional Theories: Part 1: Approaches to the simplex clause
Christopher S. Butler
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… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 63] 2003. xx, 573 pp.
Structure and Function – A Guide to Three Major Structural-Functional Theories: Part 2: From clause to discourse and beyond
Christopher S. Butler
Like its companion volume, this book offers a detailed description and comparison of three major structural-functional theories: Functional Grammar, Role and Reference Grammar and Systemic Functional Grammar, illustrated throughout with corpus-derived examples from English and other languages.… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 64] 2003. xiv, 579 pp.
Structure and Function – A Guide to Three Major Structural-Functional Theories: 2 Volumes (set)
Christopher S. Butler
These two volumes offer a detailed description and comparison of three major structural-functional theories: Functional Grammar, Role and Reference Grammar and Systemic Functional Grammar, illustrated and tested throughout with corpus-derived examples from English and other languages.Part 1… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 63-64] 2003. xx, 573 pp. & xiv, 579 pp.
Bio-Linguistics: The Santa Barbara lectures
T. Givón
Is human language an evolutionary adaptation? Is linguistics a natural science? These questions have bedeviled philosophers, philologists and linguists from Plato through Chomsky. Prof. Givón suggests that the answers fall naturally within an integrated study of living organisms.In this new work,… read more[Not in series, 113] 2002. xviii, 383 pp.
The Nominative & Accusative and their counterparts
Edited by Kristin Davidse and Béatrice Lamiroy
This volume is devoted to the central cases relating to the basic oppositions between subject-object and agent-patient, viz. nominative and accusative, as well as their counterparts such as ergative and absolutive. It aims at contributing to the typological investigation of these cases by providing… read more[Case and Grammatical Relations Across Languages, 4] 2002. x, 363 pp.
Point of View and Grammar: Structural patterns of subjectivity in American English conversation
Joanne Scheibman
This book proposes that subjective expression shapes grammatical and lexical patterning in American English conversation. Analyses of structural and functional properties of English conversational utterances indicate that the most frequent combinations of subject, tense, and verb type are those… read more[Studies in Discourse and Grammar, 11] 2002. xiv, 187 pp.
Prague Linguistic Circle Papers: Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague nouvelle série. Volume 4
Edited by Eva Hajičová, Petr Sgall, Jirí Hana and Tomáš Hoskovec
The fourth volume of the revived series of “Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Prague” brings three contributions (by J. Vachek, O. Leška and V. Skalička) connected with the classical period of the Prague School, as well as papers delivered at the conference “Function, Form, and Meaning: Bridges and… read more[Prague Linguistic Circle Papers / Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague N.S., 4] 2002. viii, 376 pp.
Signal, Meaning, and Message: Perspectives on sign-based linguistics
Edited by Wallis Reid, Ricardo Otheguy and Nancy Stern
This is the second volume of papers on sign-based linguistics to emerge from Columbia School linguistics conferences. One set of articles offers semantic analyses of grammatical features of specific languages: English full-verb inversion; Serbo-Croatian deictic pronouns; English auxiliary do;… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 48] 2002. xxii, 413 pp.
Aspects of “Interpersonal Grammar”: Grounding, modality, and evidentiality
Edited by Kristin Davidse and Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen
This thematic issue focuses on aspects of ‘interpersonal’ grammar. The underlying assumption, found in most functional frameworks, is that utterances are not only ‘representations’ of reality, but also encode the speaker’s attitude to, and his or her interactive intentions with, those… read moreSpecial issue of Functions of Language 8:2 (2001) iv, 154 pp.
Patterns of Text: In honour of Michael Hoey
Edited by Mike Scott and Geoff Thompson †
It is increasingly clear that, in order to understand language as a phenomenon, we must understand the phenomenon of text. Our primary experience of language comes in the form of texts, which embody the complete communicative events through which our language-using lives are lived. These events are… read more[Not in series, 107] 2001. viii, 323 pp.
Syntax: An Introduction. Volume I
T. Givón
This new edition of Syntax: A functional-typological introduction is at many points radically revised. In the previous edition (1984) the author deliberately chose to de-emphasize the more formal aspects of syntactic structure, in favor of a more comprehensive treatment of the semantic and… read more[Not in series, SYN 1] 2001. xviii, 500 pp.
Syntax: An Introduction. Volume II
T. Givón
This new edition of Syntax: A functional-typological introduction is at many points radically revised. In the previous edition (1984) the author deliberately chose to de-emphasize the more formal aspects of syntactic structure, in favor of a more comprehensive treatment of the semantic and… read more[Not in series, SYN 2] 2001. x, 406 pp.
Syntax: An introduction. 2 Volumes (set)
T. Givón
This new edition of Syntax: A functional-typological introduction is at many points radically revised. In the previous edition (1984) the author deliberately chose to de-emphasize the more formal aspects of syntactic structure, in favor of a more comprehensive treatment of the semantic and… read more[Not in series, SYN S] 2001. xviii, 500 pp. & x, 406 pp.
Complementation: Cognitive and functional perspectives
Edited by Kaoru Horie
Complementation, i.e. predication encoded in argument slots, is well-renowned for its syntactic and semantic variability across languages. As such, it poses a tantalizing descriptive/explanatory challenge to linguists of any theoretical persuasion.Recent developments in Cognitive and… read more[Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 1] 2000. vi, 242 pp.
Functional Approaches to Language, Culture and Cognition: Papers in honor of Sydney M. Lamb
Edited by David G. Lockwood, Peter H. Fries and James E. Copeland
This volume contains functional approaches to the description of language and culture, and language and cultural change. The approaches taken by the authors range from cognitive approaches including Stratificational grammar to more socially oriented ones including Systemic Functional linguistics.… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 163] 2000. xxxiv, 656 pp.
A Theory of Syntax for Systemic Functional Linguistics
Robin P. Fawcett
This book describes and evaluates alternative approaches within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to representing the structure of language at the level of form. It assumes no prior knowledge of SFL, and can therefore be read as an introduction to current issues within the theory. It will… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 206] 2000. xxviii, 360 pp.
Function and Structure: In honor of Susumu Kuno
Edited by Akio Kamio and Ken-ichi Takami
This collection of papers on functional syntax shows the development of a specific stream of functional linguistics initiated by Susumu Kuno of Harvard University. Inspired by Prague School linguists such as Jan Firbas and Vilém Mathesius, Kuno developed a more comprehensive and theory-oriented… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 59] 1999. x, 398 pp.
Functionalism and Formalism in Linguistics: Volume I: General papers
Edited by Michael Darnell, Edith A. Moravcsik, Michael Noonan, Frederick J. Newmeyer and Kathleen Wheatley
The 23rd UWM Linguistics Symposium (1996) brought together linguists of opposing theoretical approaches – functionalists and formalists – in order to determine to what extent these approaches really differ from each other and to what extent the approaches complement each other. The two volumes of… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 41] 1999. vi, 514 pp.
Functionalism and Formalism in Linguistics: Volume II: Case studies
Edited by Michael Darnell, Edith A. Moravcsik, Michael Noonan, Frederick J. Newmeyer and Kathleen Wheatley
The 23rd UWM Linguistics Symposium (1996) brought together linguists of opposing theoretical approaches — functionalists and formalists — in order to determine to what extent these approaches really differ from each other and to what extent the approaches complement each other. The two volumes of… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 42] 1999. vi, 407 pp.
Functionalism and Formalism in Linguistics: 2 Volumes (set)
Edited by Michael Darnell, Edith A. Moravcsik, Michael Noonan, Frederick J. Newmeyer and Kathleen Wheatley
The 23rd UWM Linguistics Symposium (1996) brought together linguists of opposing theoretical approaches — functionalists and formalists — in order to determine to what extent these approaches really differ from each other and to what extent the approaches complement each other. The two volumes of… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 41-42] 1999. vi, 486 pp. & vi, 407 pp.
Prague Linguistic Circle Papers: Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague nouvelle série. Volume 3
Edited by Eva Hajičová, Tomáš Hoskovec, Oldřich Leška †, Petr Sgall and Zdena Skoumalová
This volume is the third one of the revived series of Travaux, which was the well-known international book series of the classical Prague Linguistic Circle, published in the years 1929-39. The tradition of the Circle still attracts attention in broad circles of European and American linguistics. read more[Prague Linguistic Circle Papers / Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague N.S., 3] 1999. viii, 310 pp.
Text and Context in Functional Linguistics
Edited by Mohsen Ghadessy
The shift towards a sociolinguistic approach to the analysis of language in the last few decades has necessitated new definitions for a number of concepts that linguists have taken for granted for a long time. This volume attempts to demystify the important notions of ‘text’ and ‘context’ by… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 169] 1999. xviii, 340 pp.
Contrastive Functional Analysis
Andrew Chesterman
Why is a raven like a writing-desk? The concept of similarity lies at the heart of this new book on contrastive analysis. Similarity judgements depend partly on properties of the objects being compared, and partly on what the person judging considers to be relevant to the assessment; similarity… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 47] 1998. viii, 230 pp.
Functional Grammar and Verbal Interaction
Edited by Mike Hannay and A. Machtelt Bolkestein
Functional Grammar (FG) as set out by Simon Dik is the ambitious combination of a functionalist approach to the study of language with a consistent formalization of the underlying structures which it recognizes as relevant. The present volume represents the attempts made within the FG framework to… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 44] 1998. xii, 308 pp.
Lexical Perspectives on Transitivity and Ergativity: Causative constructions in English
Maarten Lemmens
Fusing insights from cognitive grammar, systemic-functional grammar and Government & Binding, the present work elaborates and refines Davidse’s view that the English grammar of lexical causatives is governed by the transitive and ergative paradigms, two distinct models of causation (Davidse 1991,… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 166] 1998. xii, 268 pp.
Linguistic Choice across Genres: Variation in spoken and written English
Edited by Antonia Sánchez-Macarro and Ronald Carter
This book, based on revised papers originally delivered at the VII International Systemic Functional Workshop in Valencia in 1995, explores some of the choices open to speakers and writers for the expression of meaning in different socio-cultural contexts. Many of the papers draw their inspiration… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 158] 1998. viii, 347 pp.
The Structure of the Lexicon in Functional Grammar
Edited by Hella Olbertz, Kees Hengeveld and Jesús Sánchez García
The papers collected in this volume concern five different aspects of the role of the lexicon in the theory of Functional Grammar such as developed by Simon C. Dik and his co-workers. The volume starts off with an eminently practical section on the Functional-Lexematic Model, a lexicological and… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 43] 1998. xii, 312 pp.
The Categories of Grammar: French lui and le
Alan Huffman
This book offers an analysis of the French clitic object pronouns lui and le in the radically functional Columbia school framework, contrasting this framework with sentence-based treatments of case selection. It suggests that features of the sentence such as subject and object relations, normally… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 30] 1997. xiv, 379 pp.
Directions in Functional Linguistics
Edited by Akio Kamio
Functional linguistics is concerned with the function of language and considers it an essense of human language. Views like this is not particularly new, but rather traditional in the history of linguistics. But today functional linguistics is constituted by a wide range of theoretical and… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 36] 1997. xiii, 259 pp.
Essays on Language Function and Language Type: Dedicated to T. Givón
Edited by Joan L. Bybee, John Haiman † and Sandra A. Thompson
In their subject matter and in their theoretical orientation all the papers in this volume reflect the powerful influence of T. Givón. Most of them deal with questions of morphosyntactic typology, pragmatics, and grammaticalization theory. Many of them are directly based on extensive fieldwork on… read more[Not in series, 82] 1997. vi, 480 pp.
Grammatical Relations: A functionalist perspective
Edited by T. Givón
This volume presents a functional perspective on grammatical relations (GRs) without neglecting their structural correlates. Ever since the 1970s, the discussion of RGs by functionally-oriented linguists has focused primarily on their functional aspects, such as reference, cognitive accessibility… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 35] 1997. viii, 350 pp.
Reconnecting Language: Morphology and Syntax in Functional Perspectives
Edited by Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen, Kristin Davidse and Dirk Noël
Although the contributors to this book do not belong to one particular ‘school’ of linguistic theory, they all share an interest in the external functions of language in society and in the relationship between these functions and internal linguistic phenomena. In this sense they all take a… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 154] 1997. xiii, 339 pp.
Content, Expression and Structure: Studies in Danish functional grammar
Edited by Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, Michael Fortescue, Peter Harder, Lars Heltoft and Lisbeth Falster Jakobsen
This collection of papers offers an alternative to mainstream functional linguistics on two points. Especially in American linguistics, function and structure are often viewed almost as polar opposites; in addition, structure is often understood as being only a matter of linguistic form — or… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 29] 1996. xvi, 510 pp.
Functional Descriptions: Theory in practice
Edited by Ruqaiya Hasan †, Carmel Cloran and David Butt
This volume focuses on the relation between theory and description by examining aspects of transitivity in different languages. Transitivity — or case grammar, to use the popular term — has always occupied a centre-stage position in linguistics, not least because of its supposedly privileged… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 121] 1996. xxxvi, 381 pp.
The Grammar of Possession: Inalienability, incorporation and possessor ascension in Guaraní
Maura Velázquez-Castillo
The Grammar of Possession: Inalienability, incorporation and possessor ascension in Guaraní, is an exhaustive study of linguistic structures in Paraguayan Guaraní which are directly or indirectly associated with the semantic domain of inalienability. Constructions analyzed in the book include… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 33] 1996. xvi, 274 pp.
Lexical Functions in Lexicography and Natural Language Processing
Edited by Leo Wanner
Lexical Functions in Lexicography and Natural Language Processing is entirely devoted to the topic of Lexical Functions, which have been introduced in the framework of the Meaning-Text Theory (MTT) as a means for describing restricted lexical co-occurrence and derivational relations. It provides… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 31] 1996. xx, 355 pp.
Prague Linguistic Circle Papers: Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague nouvelle série. Volume 2
Edited by Eva Hajičová, Oldřich Leška †, Petr Sgall and Zdena Skoumalová
Volume 2 of the Prague Linguistic Circle Papers constitutes a single whole together with Vol. 1 of the series, reviving the classical series of Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Prague which was of great importance for the development of European structural linguistics in the 1930s. In the present… read more[Prague Linguistic Circle Papers / Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague N.S., 2] 1996. viii, 346 pp.
Studies in Anaphora
Edited by Barbara A. Fox
The last 15 years has seen an explosion of research on the topic of anaphora. Studies of anaphora have been important to our understanding of cognitive processes, the relationships between social interaction and grammar, and of directionality in diachronic change. The contributions to this volume… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 33] 1996. xii, 518 pp.
Toward a Calculus of Meaning: Studies in markedness, distinctive features and deixis
Edited by Edna Andrews and Yishai Tobin
This volume contains papers presented at a symposium in honor of Cornelis H. van Schooneveld and invited papers on the topics of invariance, markedness, distinctive feature theory and deixis. It is not a Festschrift in the usual sense of the word, but more of a collection of articles which… read more[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 43] 1996. xxviii, 432 pp.
Coherence in Spontaneous Text
Edited by Morton Ann Gernsbacher and T. Givón
The main theme running through this volume is that coherence is a mental phenomenon rather than a property of the spoken or written text, or of the social situation. Coherence emerges during speech production-and-comprehension, allowing the speech receiver to form roughly the same episodic… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 31] 1995. x, 267 pp.
Discourse, Grammar and Typology: Papers in honor of John W.M. Verhaar
Edited by Werner Abraham, T. Givón and Sandra A. Thompson
This volume combines papers selected for their affinity with work on discourse analysis and language typology. The methodological platform is the authors' conviction that all linguistic work needs to be empirical in the sense that (1) generalizations are to be made on the basis of spoken texts in… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 27] 1995. xx, 352 pp.
Functionalism and Grammar
T. Givón
This book is Prof. Givón's long-awaited critical examination of the fundamental theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the functionalist approach to grammar. It challenges functionalists to take their own medicine and establish non-circular empirical definitions of both 'function' and… read more[Not in series, 74] 1995. xvii, 486 pp.
Iconicity in Language
Edited by Raffaele Simone
Several current linguistic approaches converge in rejecting the wide-spread idea that language is an autonomous system, i.e. that it is structured independently from the outside world and the natural equipment of language users. Around the world, semiotically biased linguistics (functionalism,… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 110] 1995. xii, 315 pp.
Modality in Grammar and Discourse
Edited by Joan L. Bybee and Suzanne Fleischman
This volume brings together a collection of 18 papers that look into the expression of modality in the grammars of natural languages, with an emphasis on its manifestations in naturally occurring discourse. Though the individual contributions reflect a diversity of languages, of synchronic and… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 32] 1995. viii, 575 pp.
On Subject and Theme: A discourse functional perspective
Edited by Ruqaiya Hasan † and Peter H. Fries
The ten papers in this volume focus on Subject and Theme. Theme began its life as a semantic notion in the work of Vilém Mathesius, while Subject has traditionally been seen as just a syntactic entity. More recently two related perspectives on these concepts have attracted linguists' attention: the… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 118] 1995. xlvi, 414 pp.
Prague Linguistic Circle Papers: Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague nouvelle série. Volume 1
Edited by Eva Hajičová, Miroslav Červenka, Oldřich Leška † and Petr Sgall
This volume is the first one of the revived series of Travaux, which was the well-known international book series of the classical Prague Linguistic Circle, published in the years 1929-39. The tradition of the Circle still attracts attention in broad circles of European and American linguistics.… read more[Prague Linguistic Circle Papers / Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague N.S., 1] 1995. x, 336 pp.
Word Order in Discourse
Edited by Pamela A. Downing and Michael Noonan
This volume brings together a collection of 18 papers dealing with the problem of word order variation in discourse. Word order variation has often been treated as an essentially unpredictable phenomenon, a matter of selecting randomly one of the set of possible orders generated by the grammar.… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 30] 1995. x, 595 pp.
Acting Out Participant Examples in the Classroom
Stanton E.F. Wortham
This volume explores a relational pattern that occurs during one type of speech event classroom “participant examples.” A participant example describes, as an example of something, an event that includes at least one person also participating in the conversation. Participants with a role in the… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 30] 1994. xiv, 178 pp.
Constructing a Productive Other: Discourse theory and the Convention refugee hearing
Robert F. Barsky
This book is a description of the process of constructing a productive Other for the purpose of being admitted to Canada as a Convention refugee. The whole claiming procedure is analyzed with respect to two actual cases, and contextualized by reference to pertinent national and international… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 29] 1994. x, 272 pp.
The Grammar of Space
Soteria Svorou
A cross-linguistic study of grammatical morphemes expressing spatial relationships that discusses the relationship between the way human beings experience space and the way it is encoded grammatically in language. The discussion of the similarities and differences among languages in the encoding… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 25] 1994. xiv, 290 pp.
Invariance, Markedness and Distinctive Feature Analysis: A contrastive study of sign systems in English and Hebrew
Yishai Tobin
This volume provides a new kind of contrastive analysis of two unrelated languages English and Hebrew based on the semiotic concepts of invariance, markedness and distinctive feature theory. It concentrates on linguistic forms and constructions which are remarkably different in each language… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 111] 1994. xxii, 406 pp.
The Prague School of Structural and Functional Linguistics
Edited by Philip A. Luelsdorff
The importance of the Prague School for the rise of structuralism and for integration of the theoretical linguistics of today can hardly be overestimated. The volume brings together 13 papers showing the main results of the research of the Prague School and of its continuation in the domains of… read more[Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe, 41] 1994. vii, 385 pp.
Praguiana 1945–1990
Edited by Philip A. Luelsdorff, Jarmila Panevová and Petr Sgall
The aim of this volume is to witness how the activities of the Prague School have continued to bring important new insights and discussions between the 1940s and the present time. Contributions are included which have escaped attention on an international scale because they were published in Czech;… read more[Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe, 40] 1994. x, 250 pp.
The Reality of Linguistic Rules
Susan D. Lima, Roberta Corrigan and Gregory Iverson
This volume presents a selection of the best papers from the 21st Annual University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Linguistics Symposium. Researchers from linguistics, psychology, computer science, and philosophy, using many different methods and focusing on many different facts of language, addressed the… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 26] 1994. xxiii, 480 pp.
Semantic and Lexical Universals: Theory and empirical findings
Edited by Cliff Goddard and Anna Wierzbicka
This set of papers represents a unique collection; it is the first attempt ever to empirically test a hypothetical set of semantic and lexical universals across a number of genetically and typologically diverse languages. In fact the word 'collection' is not fully appropriate in this case, since… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 25] 1994. viii, 510 pp.
The Syntax of Sentence and Text: A Festschrift for František Daneš
Edited by Svĕtla Čmejrková and František Štícha
This is a collection of papers inspired by the work of František Daneš and is published in honour of his 75th birthday. Daneš' international contribution to the development of Prague School functionalism, the theory of functional sentence perspective, discourse studies and semantics is reflected in… read more[Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe, 42] 1994. 398 pp.
Typological Studies in Negation
Edited by Peter Kahrel and René van den Berg
This collection of articles offers descriptions of the negation system in 16 languages. As not much is known about negation systems in non-European languages, the first aim of the volume is to provide data on various aspects on negation; for all articles these data were collected on the basis of… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 29] 1994. x, 385 pp.
Voice and Inversion
Edited by T. Givón
This collection aims first to establish a structure-independent, language-independent definition of pragmatic voice, and more specifically then a universal functional definition of “inverse”. The grammar and pragmatic function of the four major voice constructions direct-active, inverse, passive,… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 28] 1994. viii, 402 pp.
Voice: Form and Function
Edited by Barbara A. Fox and Paul J. Hopper
The volume's central concern is grammatical voice, traditionally known as diathesis, and its classical manifestations as Active, Middle, and Passive. While numerous problems in the meaning, syntax, and morphology of these categories in Indo-European remain unsolved, their counterparts in more… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 27] 1994. xiii, 377 pp.
Causatives and Transitivity
Edited by Bernard Comrie and Maria Polinsky
This volume brings together 18 typological studies of causative and related constructions (transitivity, voice, other expressions of cause) by 19 scholars from North America, Western Europe, and Russia. The inspirations for the volume is the pioneering work on causative constructions by the… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 23] 1993. x, 399 pp.
English Grammar: A function-based introduction. Volume I
T. Givón
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… read more[Not in series, ENGRAM 1] 1993. xxii, 318 pp.
English Grammar: A function-based introduction. Volume II
T. Givón
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… read more[Not in series, ENGRAM 2] 1993. xv, 363 pp.
English Grammar: A function-based introduction. 2 Volumes (set)
T. Givón
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… read more[Not in series, ENGRAM S] 1993. xxii, 318 pp. & xvi, 363 pp.
English Speech Rhythm: Form and function in everyday verbal interaction
Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
This monograph reconsiders the question of speech isochrony, the regular recurrence of (stressed) syllables in time, from an empirical point of view. It proposes a methodology for discovering isochrony auditorily in speech and for verifying it instrumentally in the acoustic laboratory. In a… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 25] 1993. x, 346 pp.
Historical Change in Serial Verb Constructions
Carol Lord
This work examines both historical and comparative evidence in documenting the sweep of diachronic change in the context of serial verb constructions. Using a wide range of data from languages of West Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, it demonstrates how shifts in meaning and usage result in… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 26] 1993. x, 273 pp.
The Middle Voice
Suzanne Kemmer
This book approaches the middle voice from the perspective of typology and language universals research. The principal aim is to provide a typologically valid characterization of the category of middle voice in terms of which it can be incorporated in a cognitively-based theory of human language.… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 23] 1993. xii, 300 pp.
Pragmatics and Classical Sanskrit: A pilot study in linguistic politeness
Lieve Van de Walle
This book explores the possibilities and limitations of pragmatic research in classical Sanskrit concentrating on linguistic politeness. The four case studies it comprises are in essence empirical, and try to accurately describe a fairly limited number of interactions between an also limited number… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 28] 1993. xii, 454 pp.
Studies in Functional Stylistics
Edited by Jan Chloupek and Jiří Nekvapil
The 15 contributions in the present collection can be divided roughly into three groups: (1) Papers directly following up functional stylistics and the theory of language culture, elaborated in the classical period of the Prague Linguistic School. (2) Papers concerning the problems of style in a… read more[Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe, 36] 1993. 293 pp.
Aspects of a Cognitive-Pragmatic Theory of Language: On cognition, functionalism, and grammar
Jan Nuyts
This book is about a theory of language that combines two observations (1) that language is based on an extensive cognitive infrastructure (cognitivism) and (2) that it is functional for its user (functionalism). These observations are regarded as two dimensions of one phenomenon that both need to… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 20] 1992. xii, 399 pp.
Layered Structure and Reference in a Functional Perspective: Papers from the Functional Grammar Conference, Copenhagen, 1990
Edited by Michael Fortescue, Peter Harder and Lars Kristoffersen
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… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 23] 1992. xiii, 444 pp.
Functional Grammar: A Field Approach
Alexander V. Bondarko
Every grammar has to a greater or lesser extent a functional aspect. In this book, Bondarko provides a comprehensive discourse on the theoretical foundations of grammar, concentrating on functional-semantic fields, with emphasis on the diversity of their structural types. Criteria for… read more[Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe, 35] 1991. viii, 207 pp.
Syntax: A functional-typological introduction. Volume II
T. Givón
The long-awaited second volume of the two-volume work on syntax from a functional-typological perspective. Grammar is viewed as a non-arbitrary language-processing device, to be understood in terms of the various substantive parameters relevant to language: Communicative function, cognitive… read more[Not in series, 50] 1991. xxvi, 554 pp.
A Functional Grammar of Gooniyandi
William B. McGregor
This volume sets out to provide a comprehensive description of the grammar of Gooniyandi, a non-Pama-Nyungan language of the southern-central Kimberley region of Western Australia. It covers phonetics and phonology, word phrase and clause structure, and the semantics of closed-class grammatical… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 22] 1990. xx, 618 pp.
Layers and Levels of Representation in Language Theory: A functional view
Edited by Jan Nuyts, A. Machtelt Bolkestein and Co Vet
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… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 13] 1990. xii, 348 pp.
Theory of Language: The Representational Function of Language
Karl Bühler
Karl Bühler (1879-1963) was one of the leading theoreticians of language of this century. His masterwork Sprachtheorie (1934) has been praised widely and gained considerable recognition in the fields of linguistics, semiotics, the philosophy of language and the psychology of language. The work has,… read more[Foundations of Semiotics, 25] 1990. lxii, 508 pp.
Linguistics in a Systemic Perspective
Edited by James D. Benson, Michael J. Cummings and William S. Greaves
The purpose of this book is to provide a general introduction to Systemic Linguistics in the form of essays written by leading figures in the field. These are, with one exception, not previously published, and taken together they constitute a comprehensive coverage of the diverse interests of… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 39] 1988. x, 452 pp.
The Theory of Neutralization and the Archiphoneme in Functional Phonology
Tsutomu Akamatsu
The theory of neutralization and the archiphoneme is well known to have been expounded by the Prague School. It is now being fully accepted and practised by A. Martinet and his associates, to whom Akamatsu refers as the neo-Prague School. The objective is to propose a maximally functionalist theory… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 43] 1988. xxi, 533 pp.
Emotive Signs in Language and Semantic Functioning of Derived Nouns in Russian
Bronislava Volkova
This monograph is intended as a contribution to the integral description of language and verbal communication. Chapter I and Chapters VII and VIII are concerned with general problems of emotivity and expressivity in language as such and on all linguistic levels. These chapters describe emotivity… read more[Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe, 24] 1987. xi, 270 pp.
Functionalism in Linguistics
Edited by René Dirven † and Vilém Fried
This volume offers a variety of viewpoints on the functional approach to the study of language. After an exposition of the Prague School functionalism, and Dik's and Halliday's functional approaches, it presents a wider area of text-linguistic, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, theoretical,… read more[Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe, 20] 1987. xviii, 489 pp.
Language Topics: Essays in honour of Michael Halliday. Volume 1
Edited by Ross Steele and Terry Threadgold
This volume in honour of Michael Halliday begins with a section on the background to the development of MAK’s ideas. The second section groups papers on language development in early childhood, which has always been one of Halliday’s main interests. The focus of the third section is on aspects of… read more[Not in series, LT 1] 1987. xxxii, 490 pp.
Language Topics: Essays in honour of Michael Halliday. Volume 2
Edited by Ross Steele and Terry Threadgold
This second volume in honour of Michael Halliday contains three sections: The Design of Language, Text and Discourse and Exploring Language as Social Semiotic, and concludes with a recent interview conducted by Paul Thibault in which Halliday provides further insights in his theory of language. The… read more[Not in series, LT 2] 1987. xvi, 669 pp.
Structures and their Functions in Usan
Ger P. Reesink
Usan is a Papuan language. In this monograph on the grammatical structures of Usan and their function the author shows the unique features of this language: how speakers can exploit certain principles for communicative purposes, how the language reflects their physical environment. Uniqueness can… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 13] 1987. xviii, 369 pp.
Sentence Adverbials in a Functional Description
Eva Koktová
The author presents empirical arguments in favor of a joint syntactico-semantic treatment, within the framework of a functional generative description, of a range of adverbial expressions which should be viewed as belonging to a single, lexically heterogeneous but functionally homogeneous, class… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond, VII:2] 1986. viii, 96 pp.
Contributions to Functional Syntax, Semantics and Language Comprehension
Edited by Petr Sgall
This volume presents a rather complete survey of the research activities of the Prague group of algebraic linguistics. Some of the papers included bear witness to the fact that algebraic linguistics, or the formal description of language, is not the only domain in which the Prague group is active.… read more[Linguistic and Literary Studies in Eastern Europe, 16] 1985. 379 pp.
Syntax: A functional-typological introduction. Volume I
T. Givón
[Not in series, 17] 1984. xx, 464 pp.
Topic Continuity in Discourse: A quantitative cross-language study
T. Givón
The functional notion of “topic” or “topicality” has suffered, traditionally, from two distinct drawbacks. First, it has remained largely ill defined or intuitively defined. And second, quite often its definition boiled down to structure-dependent circularity. This volume represents a major… read more[Typological Studies in Language, 3] 1983. v, 492 pp.
You Know: A discourse-functional approach
Jan-Ola Östman
The basic function the expression you know serves in conversational discourse is said to be that of a pragmatic particle used when the speaker wants the addressee to accept as mutual knowledge (or at least be cooperative with respect to) the propositional content of his utterance. The fact that you… read more[Pragmatics & Beyond, II:7] 1981. ix, 91 pp.