On Interpreting Construction Schemas

On Interpreting Construction Schemas PDF Author: Nicole Delbecque
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110207842
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume addresses the constructional variability with transitive and causative verbs from the point of view of their respective action and motion patterns. Drawing on the theoretical advances registered in cognitive approaches to language (Cognitive Grammar, Construction Grammar and space semantics), the papers substantiate new interpretations and adduce empirical evidence from various languages to refine or adjust existing analyses of transitivity and causation. The different contributions all address the crucial question of how concrete and abstract notions of human behavior drive linguistic expressions. Cognitive linguists consider that linguistic competence functions in terms of complex conceptual units: the native speaker knows and manipulates conceptual blocks without paying further attention to their constitutive parts or their internal organization. However, as this volume illustrates, the role of the constitutive parts and their internal organization cannot simply be reduced to zero. A multidimensional approach to construction schemas is at stake. That is, the speaker applies proper embodied subroutines to build a coherent meaning, but the construction schemas are also rooted in the linguistic patterns the speaker and hearer are familiar with. The volume is primarily intended for scholars working within cognitive-semantic research at large. Given its theoretical and applied character (in the sense of giving empirical evidence for specific problems in the grammar), the volume will also be of great interest to anyone concerned with syntactic processes, construction grammar or with the cognitive structure of discourse. The descriptive and theoretical insights indeed dwell on areas that are currently dealt with in modern linguistics.

On Interpreting Construction Schemas

On Interpreting Construction Schemas PDF Author: Nicole Delbecque
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110207842
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume addresses the constructional variability with transitive and causative verbs from the point of view of their respective action and motion patterns. Drawing on the theoretical advances registered in cognitive approaches to language (Cognitive Grammar, Construction Grammar and space semantics), the papers substantiate new interpretations and adduce empirical evidence from various languages to refine or adjust existing analyses of transitivity and causation. The different contributions all address the crucial question of how concrete and abstract notions of human behavior drive linguistic expressions. Cognitive linguists consider that linguistic competence functions in terms of complex conceptual units: the native speaker knows and manipulates conceptual blocks without paying further attention to their constitutive parts or their internal organization. However, as this volume illustrates, the role of the constitutive parts and their internal organization cannot simply be reduced to zero. A multidimensional approach to construction schemas is at stake. That is, the speaker applies proper embodied subroutines to build a coherent meaning, but the construction schemas are also rooted in the linguistic patterns the speaker and hearer are familiar with. The volume is primarily intended for scholars working within cognitive-semantic research at large. Given its theoretical and applied character (in the sense of giving empirical evidence for specific problems in the grammar), the volume will also be of great interest to anyone concerned with syntactic processes, construction grammar or with the cognitive structure of discourse. The descriptive and theoretical insights indeed dwell on areas that are currently dealt with in modern linguistics.

Building and Interpreting Possession Sentences

Building and Interpreting Possession Sentences PDF Author: Neil Myler
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262551098
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 471

Get Book Here

Book Description
A wide-ranging generative analysis of the typology of possession sentences, solving long-standing puzzles in their syntax and semantics. A major question for linguistic theory concerns how the structure of sentences relates to their meaning. There is broad agreement in the field that there is some regularity in the way that lexical semantics and syntax are related, so that thematic roles (the different participant roles in an event: agent, theme, goal, etc.) are predictably associated with particular syntactic positions. In this book, Neil Myler examines the syntax and semantics of possession sentences, which are infamous for appearing to diverge dramatically from this broadly regular pattern. On the one hand, Myler points out, possession sentences have too many meanings; in any given language, the construction used to express archetypal possessive meanings (such as personal ownership) is also often used to express other apparently unrelated notions (body parts, kinship relations, and many others). On the other hand, possession sentences have too many surface structures; languages differ markedly in the argument structures used to convey the same possessive meanings. Myler argues that recent work on the syntax-semantics interface in the generative tradition has developed the tools needed to solve these puzzles. Examining and synthesizing ideas from the literature and drawing on data from many languages (including some understudied Quechua dialects), Myler presents a novel way to understand the apparent irregularity of possession sentences while preserving explanations of general cross-linguistic regularities, offering a unified approach to the syntax and semantics of possession sentences that can also be integrated into a general theory of argument structure.

Evidence-Informed Learning Design

Evidence-Informed Learning Design PDF Author: Mirjam Neelen
Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers
ISBN: 1789661420
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book Here

Book Description
Learning and Development (L&D) programmes are too often based on fads, the latest trends or learning designers' personal preferences without critical evaluation. Evidence-Informed Learning Design allows learning professionals to move away from this type of approach by showing them how to assess and apply relevant scientific literature, learning science research and proven learning techniques to design their training in a way that will make a measurable difference to employee performance and overall business success. Packed with tips, tools and examples, Evidence-Informed Learning Design enables L&D and training professionals to save both time and money by ensuring that efforts are focused on designing learning that's proven to be effective. Covering techniques like interleaving and self-directed and self-regulated learning, as well as debunking myths and fallacies in the field, it covers how best to test, measure and reinforce learning in both online, offline and face-to-face scenarios. To ensure that employees develop the skills the business needs to succeed and that the L&D function is recognised as adding true organizational value, this book is essential reading for anyone responsible for designing learning.

eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction

eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction PDF Author: Gudni Gudnason
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0203077962
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 976

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since 1994, the European Conferences of Product and Process Modelling (www.ecppm.org) have provided a review of research, development and industrial implementation of product and process model technology in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Facilities Management (AEC/FM) industry. Product/Building Information Modelling has matured sig

Reading and Comprehension in the African Context

Reading and Comprehension in the African Context PDF Author: Wanja Kibui
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 9966040536
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 140

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book makes an important contribution to existing knowledge on the processes of reading and comprehension by identifying the various approaches and corresponding theories. The book is organized in various chapters that cumulatively lead to our entry into the three key areas. Chapter One provides important background to reading as a skill, explaining the hidden dynamics that avoid the process and outcome of reading. Chapter Two deals with comprehension and vocabulary, both very important aspects of the reading process, while Chapter Three focuses on the relationship between reading, remembering and perception. Chapters four and five deal with various ways of assessing comprehension and the role of the reader respectively.

Paradigms in Word Formation

Paradigms in Word Formation PDF Author: Alba E. Ruz
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027257426
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Get Book Here

Book Description
The focus of Paradigms in Word Formation: Theory and applications is on the relevance of paradigms for linguistic description. Paradigmatic organization has traditionally been considered an inherent feature of inflectional morphology, but research in the last decades clearly shows the existence of paradigms in word formation, especially in affixal derivation, often at the expense of other word-formation processes. This volume seeks to address the role that paradigms may play in the description of compounding, conversion and participles. This volume should be of interest to anyone specialized in the field of English morphology and word formation.

Non-Nuclear Cases

Non-Nuclear Cases PDF Author: Nicole Delbecque
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027269246
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Get Book Here

Book Description
In contrast with the central arguments of the event structure, which have been extensively studied, much less attention has been given to non-arguments. To bridge this gap, the present volume focuses on prepositional and adverbial phrases expressing instrumental, causal, spatial, temporal roles and the like, i.e. semantic roles which have been typically associated with oblique case. The various contributions show that case in general, and oblique case in particular, is at the intersection between form and meaning: at issue are the nuclear versus non-nuclear status of these phrases and the semantic roles they express. The import of these phrases on the event structure is described in a functional-cognitive perspective for Cora, Nyulnyul, German, Dutch, French and Spanish. The specific analyses of empirical phenomena presented in this volume, as well as their implications for linguistic theory in general, will be of interest for scholars interested in syntax, semantics and pragmatics. This is the sixth and final volume of the Case and Grammatical Relations across Languages project.

Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects

Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects PDF Author: Jóhanna Barðdal
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027263515
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
Interest in non-canonically case-marked subjects has been unceasing since the groundbreaking work of Andrews and Masica in the late 70’s who were the first to document the existence of syntactic subjects in another morphological case than the nominative. Their research was focused on Icelandic and South-Asian languages, respectively, and since then, oblique subjects have been reported for language after language throughout the world. This newfangled recognition of the concept of oblique subjects at the time was followed by discussions of the role and validity of subject tests, discussions of the verbal semantics involved, as well as discussions of the theoretical implications of this case marking strategy of syntactic subjects. This volume contributes to all these debates, making available research articles on different languages and language families, additionally highlighting issues like language contact, differential subject marking and the origin of oblique subjects.

Case Studies from Austronesia, the Pacific, the Americas, and Theoretical Outlook

Case Studies from Austronesia, the Pacific, the Americas, and Theoretical Outlook PDF Author: Andrej Malchukov
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110429373
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 1000

Get Book Here

Book Description
Earlier empirical studies on valency have looked at the phenomenon either in individual languages or a small range of languages, or have concerned themselves with only small subparts of valency (e.g. transitivity, ditransitive constructions), leaving a lacuna that the present volume aims to fill by considering a wide range of valency phenomena across 30 languages from different parts of the world. The individual-language studies, each written by a specialist or group of specialists on that language and covering both valency patterns and valency alternations, are based on a questionnaire (reproduced in the volume) and an on-line freely accessible database, thus guaranteeing comparability of cross-linguistic results. In addition, introductory chapters provide the background to the project and discuss its main characteristics and selected results, while a series of featured articles by leading scholars who helped shape the field provide an outside perspective on the volume’s approach. The volume is essential reading for anyone interested in valency and argument structure, irrespective of theoretical persuasion, and will serve as a model for future descriptive studies of valency in individual languages.

Binominal Quantifiers in Spanish

Binominal Quantifiers in Spanish PDF Author: Katrien Dora Verveckken
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110406837
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 524

Get Book Here

Book Description
Quantification is central to human experience (cf. Aristotle’s Organon): the most basic aspects of human life and reasoning involve quantity assessment. This study sheds lights on a highly frequent way to express quantification in Spanish, viz. the binominal quantifier (e.g. un aluviónN1 de llamadasN2 ‘a flood of calls’) which assesses the quantity of N2 in terms of N1. This volume offers a corpus-based, cognitive-functional analysis of binominal quantifiers (BQ) in Spanish. The first part is dedicated to the development of BQs and starts from the assumption that BQs are cross-linguistically involved in grammaticalization. This monograph frames the history of BQs in Spanish in terms of constructional levels of change and highlights the complex interplay between analogical thinking and conceptual persistence. The second part motivates both the ample variation in the paradigm of quantifying nouns and their combinatorial pattern by the very same mechanism of conceptually-driven analogy. The study thus yields an innovative functional model of BQs in Spanish, in synchrony and in diachrony, with major implications for reference grammars and theory building.