Pragmatic Organization of Discourse in the Languages of Europe

The volume is a collection of papers reporting the results of investigations on the interaction of discourse and sentence structure in the languages of Europe. The subjects discussed in the book include: morphosyntactic characteristics of spontaneous spoken texts; different patterns of word order in a pragmatic perspective; the coding of the pragmatic functions topic and focus in sentences with non-canonical word orders (e.g. dislocations, clefts); the range of functions of verb-subject order in declarative clauses and the notion of theticity; prosodic patterns of de-accenting of given information; deixis and anaphora; coding of definiteness and article systems. The book provides the empirical basis for the comparative survey of major phenomena found in the languages of Europe which have pragmatic relevance. Beside traditional areas of investigation at the interface between syntax and pragmatics such as dislocations, new areas are explored, such as the prosody of given information. Data are considered within a functional-typological approach.

Auteur

Giuliano Bernini is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Bergamo, Italy. Marcia L. Schwartz is affiliated with the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany.

Texte du rabat

Research on language universals and research on linguistic typology are not antagonistic, but rather complementary approaches to the same fundamental problem: the relationship between the amazing diversity of languages and the profound unity of language. Only if the true extent of typological divergence is recognized can universal laws be formulated. In recent years it has become more and more evident that a broad range of languages of radically different types must be carefully analyzed before general theories are possible. Typological comparison of this kind is now at the centre of linguistic research. The series empirical approaches to language typology presents a platform for contributions of all kinds to this rapidly developing field. The distinctive feature of the series is its markedly empirical orientation. All conclusions to be reached are the result of a deepened study of empirical data. General problems are focused on from the perspective of individual languages, language families, language groups, or language samples. Special emphasis is given to the analysis of phenomena from little known languages, which shed new light on long-standing problems in general linguistics. The series is open to contributions from different theoretical persuasions. It thus reflects the methodological pluralism that characterizes the present situation. Care is taken that all volumes be accessible to every linguist and, moreover, to every reader specializing in some domain related to human language. A deeper understanding of human language in general, based on a detailed analysis of typological diversity among individual languages, is fundamental for many sciences, not only for linguists. Therefore, this series has proven to be indispensable in every research library, be it public or private, which has a specialization in language and the language sciences. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.

Résumé

"The rich empirical data collected in this volume will undoubtelly make it attractive to researchers interested in cross-linguistic variation, information structure, and corpus study."
H. Wind Cowles in: Folia Linguistica 41/2007

Contenu
Part I: General issues0. Introduction Giuliano Bernini1. Spoken and written language Jim Miller and M.M.Jocelyne Fernandez-Vest Part II: From function to form2. Sentence topics in the languages of Europe Elena S. Maslova and Giuliano Bernini3. Focus in the languages of Europe Jim Miller4. Deixis and Anaphora Yaron Matras and Machtelt Bolkestein5. Theticity Hans-Jürgen Sasse Part III: From form to function6. The de-accenting of given information: a cognitive universal? Alan Cruttenden7. Interaction of syntactic and pragmatic factors on basic word order in the languages of Europe(Rosanna Sornicola8. Articles and article systems in some areas of Europe Christoph Schroeder Index of namesIndex of languagesIndex of subjects