Definiteness Across Languages
DOWNLOAD
Download Definiteness Across Languages PDF/ePub or read online books in Mobi eBooks. Click Download or Read Online button to get Definiteness Across Languages book now. This website allows unlimited access to, at the time of writing, more than 1.5 million titles, including hundreds of thousands of titles in various foreign languages. If the content not found or just blank you must refresh this page
Definiteness Across Languages
DOWNLOAD
Author : Ana Aguilar-Guevara
language : en
Publisher: Language Science Press
Release Date : 2019
Definiteness Across Languages written by Ana Aguilar-Guevara and has been published by Language Science Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2019 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.
Definiteness has been a central topic in theoretical semantics since its modern foundation. However, despite its significance, there has been surprisingly scarce research on its cross-linguistic expression. With the purpose of contributing to filling this gap, the present volume gathers thirteen studies exploiting insights from formal semantics and syntax, typological and language specific studies, and, crucially, semantic fieldwork and cross-linguistic semantics, in order to address the expression and interpretation of definiteness in a diverse group of languages, most of them understudied. The papers presented in this volume aim to establish a dialogue between theory and data in order to answer the following questions: What formal strategies do natural languages employ to encode definiteness? What are the possible meanings associated to this notion across languages? Are there different types of definite reference? Which other functions (besides marking definite reference) are associated with definite descriptions? Each of the papers contained in this volume addresses at least one of these questions and, in doing so, they aim to enrich our understanding of definiteness.
Definiteness Across Languages
DOWNLOAD
Author : Violeta Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado
language : en
Publisher: Saint Philip Street Press
Release Date : 2020-10-09
Definiteness Across Languages written by Violeta Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado and has been published by Saint Philip Street Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-10-09 with categories.
Definiteness has been a central topic in theoretical semantics since its modern foundation. However, despite its significance, there has been surprisingly scarce research on its cross-linguistic expression. With the purpose of contributing to filling this gap, the present volume gathers thirteen studies exploiting insights from formal semantics and syntax, typological and language specific studies, and, crucially, semantic fieldwork and cross-linguistic semantics, in order to address the expression and interpretation of definiteness in a diverse group of languages, most of them understudied. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.
In The World Of Definite
DOWNLOAD
Author : Pasquale De Marco
language : en
Publisher: Pasquale De Marco
Release Date : 2025-03-15
In The World Of Definite written by Pasquale De Marco and has been published by Pasquale De Marco this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2025-03-15 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.
In the realm of language, definiteness stands as a cornerstone, shaping the way we communicate and convey meaning. This comprehensive book delves into the multifaceted world of definiteness, unveiling its intricate mechanisms and diverse manifestations across languages. Definiteness transcends the mere presence of definite articles like "the" in English. It encompasses a spectrum of linguistic expressions, including demonstratives, personal pronouns, and specific noun phrases. Through definiteness, speakers signal shared knowledge, emphasize crucial information, and guide the flow of discourse. This book embarks on an intellectual journey, exploring the profound interplay between definiteness and cognitive processes. It examines how we perceive and organize information, construct and interpret discourse, and interact with the world around us through the lens of definiteness. By unraveling these connections, we gain a deeper understanding of the intricate workings of human language and cognition. With meticulous attention to detail, this book dissects the grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of definiteness. It investigates its relationship with quantification, aspect, modality, and negation, revealing the intricate web of linguistic interactions that shape meaning and communication. Furthermore, this book celebrates the cross-linguistic diversity of definiteness. Drawing upon examples from a multitude of languages, it showcases the myriad ways in which languages express and utilize definiteness. This comparative approach illuminates the universal underpinnings of language while highlighting its remarkable capacity for variation. Throughout its pages, this book unveils the subtle nuances of definiteness, demonstrating its profound impact on meaning and communication. It invites readers to embark on a captivating exploration of this linguistic phenomenon, promising to deepen their understanding of language and its intricate mechanisms. Whether you are a linguist, a student of language, or simply someone fascinated by the intricacies of human expression, this book is an invaluable resource. It provides a comprehensive overview of definiteness, offering fresh perspectives and insights into the power and beauty of human language. If you like this book, write a review!
Articles In The World S Languages
DOWNLOAD
Author : Laura Becker
language : en
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Release Date : 2021-09-20
Articles In The World S Languages written by Laura Becker and has been published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-09-20 with Foreign Language Study categories.
This study provides a systematic overview of articles and article systems in the world’s languages using a sample of 104 languages. Articles can be classified into 10 types according to their referential functions: definite, anaphoric, weak definite, recognitional, indefinite, presentational, exclusive-specific, nonspecific, inclusive-specific, and referential articles. All 10 types are described in detail with examples from various languages of the world. The book also addresses crosslinguistic trends concerning the distribution and the development of different article types, and it proposes a typology of article systems. The aim of this study is to provide a general crosslinguistic overview concerning the attested properties and distributions of articles. It is geared towards readers with interests in language typology and the nominal domain, and it can serve as a point of reference for language-specific studies of articles or determiners.
The Noun Phrase Across Languages
DOWNLOAD
Author : Tsuyoshi Ono
language : en
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Release Date : 2020-07-15
The Noun Phrase Across Languages written by Tsuyoshi Ono and has been published by John Benjamins Publishing Company this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-07-15 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.
The ‘NP’ is one of the least controversial grammatical units that linguists work with. The NP is often assumed to be universal, and appears to be robust cross-linguistically (compared to ‘VP’ or even ‘clause’) in that it can be manipulated in argument positions in constructed examples. Furthermore, for any given language, its internal structure (order and type of modifiers) tends to be relatively fixed. Surprisingly, however, the empirical basis for ‘NP’ has never been established. The chapters in this volume examine the NP in everyday interactions from diverse languages, including little-studied languages as well as better-researched ones, in a variety of interactional settings. Together, these chapters show that cross-linguistically, the category NP is not as robust as has been assumed: in the context of temporally unfolding human interaction, its structural status is constantly negotiated in terms of participants’ evolving social agendas.
Formal Approaches To Languages Of South America
DOWNLOAD
Author : Cilene Rodrigues
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date : 2023-05-15
Formal Approaches To Languages Of South America written by Cilene Rodrigues and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-05-15 with Psychology categories.
This book analyzes the linguistic diversity of South America based on approaches deeply rooted in the tradition of formal grammar. The chapters brought together in this contributed volume consider native languages all kinds of languages used in the region, including sign languages, indigenous languages and the romance languages (Portuguese and Spanish) originally introduced by European colonizers which underwent processes of transformation giving rise to new, local grammars. One fourth of the language families of the world are located in South America, but the majority of languages in the region are still understudied and out of the radar of theoretical linguistics mostly because their grammars are not well-known by international researchers. This book aims to fill this gap by bringing together studies rooted in the formal grammar approach first developed by Noam Chomsky, which sees language not only as mere corpora attested in oral and written production, but also as expressions of systems of thought and language production which are essential parts of human cognition. The book is divided in three parts – sign languages, romance languages and indigenous languages –, and brings together studies of the following South American languages: Brazilian Sign Language (Libras - Língua Brasileira de Sinais) Argentinian Sign Language (LSA - Lengua de Señas Argentina) Peruvian Sign Language (LSP- Lengua de Señas Peruana) Brazilian Portuguese Chilean and Argentinian Spanish Quechua Paraguayan Guarani A’ingae Macro-Jê languages Formal Approaches to the Languages of South America will be an invaluable resource both for theoretical linguists and cognitive scientists by providing access to top quality research on understudied languages and enabling these languages to be incorporated into comparative studies that can contribute to advance the knowledge of general principles governing all human languages.
Nominal Anchoring
DOWNLOAD
Author : Kata Balogh
language : en
Publisher: Language Science Press
Release Date :
Nominal Anchoring written by Kata Balogh and has been published by Language Science Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.
The papers in this volume address to different degrees issues on the relationship of articles systems and the pragmatic notions of definiteness and specificity in typologically diverse languages: Vietnamese, Siwi (Berber), Russian, Mopan (Mayan), Persian, Danish and Swedish. The main questions that motivate this volume are: How do languages with and without an article system go about helping the hearer to recognize whether a given noun phrase should be interpreted as definite, specific or non-specific? Is there clear-cut semantic definiteness without articles or do we find systematic ambiguity regarding the interpretation of bare noun phrases? If there is ambiguity, can we still posit one reading as the default? What exactly do articles in languages encode that are not analyzed as straightforwardly coding (in)definiteness? Do we find linguistic tools in these languages that are similar to those found in languages without articles? Most contributions report on research on different corpora and elicited data or present the outcome of various experimental studies. One paper presents a diachronic study of the emergence of article systems. On the issue of how languages with and without articles guide the hearer to the conclusion that a given noun phrase should be interpreted as definite, specific or non-specific, the studies in this paper argue for similar strategies. The languages investigated in this volume use constructions and linguistic tools that receive a final interpretation based on discourse prominence considerations and various aspects of the syntax-semantics interface. In case of ambiguity between these readings, the default interpretation is given by factors (e. g., familiarity, uniqueness) that are known to contribute to the salience of phrases, but may be overridden by discourse prominence. Articles that do not straightforwardly mark (in)definiteness encode different kinds of specificity. In the languages studied in this volume, whether they have articles or do not have an article system, we find similar factors and linguistic tools in the calculation process of interpretations. The volume contains revised selected papers from the workshop entitled Specificity, definiteness and article systems across languages held at the 40th Annual Conference of the German Linguistic Society (DGfS), 7-9 March, 2018 at the University of Stuttgart.
Genericity
DOWNLOAD
Author : Alda Mari
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2013
Genericity written by Alda Mari and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.
This book provides an up-to-date introduction to the study of generics. It gathers new work from senior and young researchers and is organized along three main areas of study: the generic and individuals; genericity and time; and the sources of genericity and types of judgment.
Definiteness
DOWNLOAD
Author : Christopher Lyons
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 1999-03-13
Definiteness written by Christopher Lyons and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1999-03-13 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.
This 1999 textbook investigates definiteness both from a comparative and a theoretical point of view, showing how languages express definiteness and what definiteness is. It surveys a large number of languages to discover the range of variation in relation to definiteness and related grammatical phenomena, such as demonstratives, possessives and personal pronouns. It outlines work done on the nature of definiteness in semantics, pragmatics and syntax, and develops an account on which definiteness is a grammatical category represented in syntax as a functional head (the widely discussed D). Consideration is also given to the origins and evolution of definite articles in the light of the comparative and theoretical findings. Among the claims advanced are that definiteness does not occur in all languages, though the pragmatic concept which it grammaticalizes probably does.
Article Emergence In Old English
DOWNLOAD
Author : Lotte Sommerer
language : en
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Release Date : 2018-05-22
Article Emergence In Old English written by Lotte Sommerer and has been published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2018-05-22 with Language Arts & Disciplines categories.
This book investigates nominal determination in Old English and the emergence of the definite and the indefinite article. Analyzing Old English prose texts, it discusses the nature of linguistic categorization and argues that a usage-based, cognitive, constructionalist approach best explains when, how and why the article category developed. It is shown that the development of the OE demonstrative 'se' (that) and the OE numeral 'an' (one) should not be told as a story of two individual, grammaticalizing morphemes, but must be reconceptualized in constructional terms. The emergence of the morphological category ‘article’ follows from constructional changes in the linguistic networks of OE speakers and especially from ‘grammatical constructionalization’ (i.e. the emergence of a new, schematic, mostly procedural form-meaning pairing which previously did not exist in the constructicon). Next to other functional-cognitive reasons, the book especially highlights analogy and frequency effects as driving forces of linguistic change.