Form and Function of Parasyntactic Presentation Structures

Form and Function of Parasyntactic Presentation Structures PDF Author: Joybrato Mukherjee
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004488901
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
This study investigates prosody-syntax interactions from a functional perspective and based on authentic corpus data. Drawing on Halliday's well-known interpretation of the tone unit as an information unit, Halford's idea of a prosodically and syntactically defined talk unit and Esser's concept of abstract presentation structures, a modified talk unit model is developed. The talk unit is built up of one to many tone unit(s). The focus of both the quantitative and the functional analysis is on the interplay between prosodic status and syntactic status at tone unit boundaries by means of which talk units as parasyntactic units are established. The database is provided by a sample of about 50,000 words mainly taken from the London-Lund Corpus of Spoken English. The findings reveal that speakers have at their disposal and make use of prosody-syntax interactions in order to structure information effectively and to allow for or facilitate turn taking. This volume is not only of interest for corpus linguists, but for functionalists in general and intonationists in particular. In analysing the stylistic and pragmatic potential of talk units and applying corpus linguistic methodology, this study breaks new ground with regard to functional and empirical approaches to spoken English.

Form and Function of Parasyntactic Presentation Structures

Form and Function of Parasyntactic Presentation Structures PDF Author: Joybrato Mukherjee
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004488901
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
This study investigates prosody-syntax interactions from a functional perspective and based on authentic corpus data. Drawing on Halliday's well-known interpretation of the tone unit as an information unit, Halford's idea of a prosodically and syntactically defined talk unit and Esser's concept of abstract presentation structures, a modified talk unit model is developed. The talk unit is built up of one to many tone unit(s). The focus of both the quantitative and the functional analysis is on the interplay between prosodic status and syntactic status at tone unit boundaries by means of which talk units as parasyntactic units are established. The database is provided by a sample of about 50,000 words mainly taken from the London-Lund Corpus of Spoken English. The findings reveal that speakers have at their disposal and make use of prosody-syntax interactions in order to structure information effectively and to allow for or facilitate turn taking. This volume is not only of interest for corpus linguists, but for functionalists in general and intonationists in particular. In analysing the stylistic and pragmatic potential of talk units and applying corpus linguistic methodology, this study breaks new ground with regard to functional and empirical approaches to spoken English.

Punctuation as a Means of Medium-Dependent Presentation Structure in English

Punctuation as a Means of Medium-Dependent Presentation Structure in English PDF Author: Sebastian Patt
Publisher: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag
ISBN: 3823377531
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Despite its everyday relevance, the reputation of punctuation is tarnished. Actually, modern English punctuation is often considered not more than a necessary evil. For many people, punctuation usage follows seemingly arbitrary and unmotivated rules. The present approach moves away from a static, rulebased description towards a more dynamic, contextbased interpretation of punctuation. Punctuation is a highly versatile medium-dependent means of presentational choice. To accept this view is to take a significant step towards closing the gap that still exists between punctuational theory and the actual usage of punctuation. Punctuation adopts a guiding role for the reader and the present study explores this guide potential, providing a thorough analysis of both the linguistic status and the communicative value of punctuation.

Extending the Scope of Corpus-based Research

Extending the Scope of Corpus-based Research PDF Author: Sylviane Granger
Publisher: Rodopi
ISBN: 904201136X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
This collection of articles highlights some of the challenges facing English Corpus Linguistics at the beginning of the 21st century and shows how these challenges are being addressed by researchers.

Inversion in Modern Written English

Inversion in Modern Written English PDF Author: Rolf Kreyer
Publisher: Gunter Narr Verlag
ISBN: 9783823362272
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description


The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar

The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar PDF Author: Thomas Hoffmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199376638
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The last decade has seen a rise in popularity in construction-based approaches to grammar. The various approaches within the rubric 'construction grammar' all see language as a network of constructions-pairings of form and meaning. Construction Grammar, as a kind of cognitive linguistics, differs significantly from mainstream generative grammar as espoused by Chomsky and his followers. Advocates of Construction Grammar see it as a psychologically plausible theory of human language. As such, it is capable of providing a principled account of language acquisition, language variation and language change. Research in Construction Grammar also includes multidisciplinary cognitive studies in psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and computational linguistics. The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar is the first authoritative reference work solely dedicated to Construction Grammar. Divided into five sections, the book will be an invaluable resource that students and scholars alike can turn to for a comprehensive account of current work on Construction Grammar, its theoretical foundations, and its applications to and relationship with other kinds of linguistic enquiry.

Handbook of Pragmatics

Handbook of Pragmatics PDF Author: Jan-Ola Östman
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027263078
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
This encyclopaedia of one of the major fields of language studies is a continuously updated source of state-of-the-art information for anyone interested in language use. The IPrA Handbook of Pragmatics provides easy access — for scholars with widely divergent backgrounds but with convergent interests in the use and functioning of language — to the different topics, traditions and methods which together make up the field of pragmatics, broadly conceived as the cognitive, social and cultural study of language and communication, i.e. the science of language use. The Handbook of Pragmatics is a unique reference work for researchers, which has been expanded and updated continuously with annual installments since 1995. Also available as Online Resource: https://www.benjamins.com/online/hop/

Rhythm in Speech, Prose and Verse

Rhythm in Speech, Prose and Verse PDF Author: Jürgen Esser
Publisher: Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH
ISBN: 3832528458
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
In contrast to other works, the linguistic approach to rhythm presented in this book does not start from decontextualized structures but from performance data in a bottom-up fashion. Drawing on Halliday's distinction between wording, writing, and sounding, the proposed model takes account of several levels of abstraction. Important categories for data analysis are syllable rhythm and accent rhythm, which interact to establish prominence patterns (peaks and valleys) that can be observed in spontaneous and prepared speech, readings and recitals. Excluding subjective factors of analysis, the new model offers a tool to describe the rhythmic potential of prose and verse and to evaluate rhythmic performances of reading and reciting.

Intonation Units Revisited

Intonation Units Revisited PDF Author: Dagmar Barth-Weingarten
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027266905
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Intonation units have been notoriously difficult to identify in natural talk. Problems include fuzzy boundaries, lack of exhaustivity, and the potential circularity involved when studying their interface with other language-organizational dimensions. This volume advocates a way to resolve such problems: the ‘cesura’ approach. Cesuras, or breaks in the flow of talk, are created by discontinuities in the prosodic-phonetic parameters of speech that cluster to various extents at certain points in time. Using conversation-analytic and interactional-linguistic methodology, the volume identifies the parameters creating cesuras in talk-in-interaction and proposes ways to notate them depending on the researcher’s goal. It also offers a way to study the role of cesuras at the prosody-syntax interface non-circularly, which leads to new insights concerning language variation and change. The volume will thus be of major import to anyone working with natural spoken language, its chunks, its various dimensions, and its variation and change.

Exploring ELF

Exploring ELF PDF Author: Anna Mauranen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521177529
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
This book explores the emerging area of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in academic settings. The emergence and recognition of English used as a Lingua Franca (ELF) offers new opportunities for investigating language change and language contact. This volume explores the use of English in an academic context and between speakers from a range of language backgrounds, and is the only book to date to present spoken academic English from a non-native speaker perspective. Data examined from the one-million-word English as a Lingua Franca in Academic Settings (ELFA) corpus provides an in-depth account of how speakers use and shape the language through dialogue in intellectually and verbally demanding situations. Available separately as a hardback.

Linear Unit Grammar

Linear Unit Grammar PDF Author: John McH. Sinclair
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027293066
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
People have a natural propensity to understand language text as a succession of smallish chunks, whether they are reading, writing, speaking or listening. Linguists have found that this propensity can shed light on the nature and structure of language, and there are many studies which attempt to harness the potential of natural chunking.This book explores the role of chunking in the description of discourse, especially spoken discourse. It appears that chunking offers a sound but flexible platform on which can be built a descriptive model which is more open and comprehensive than more familiar approaches to structural description. The model remains linear, in that it avoids hierarchies, and it concentrates on the combinatorial patterns of text. The linear approach turns out to have many advantages, bringing together under one descriptive method a wide variety of different styles of speech and writing. It is complementary to established grammars, but it raises pertinent questions about many of their assumptions.