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E-book
Author Frajzyngier, Zygmunt

Title The Emergence of Functions in Language
Published Oxford : Oxford University Press USA - OSO, 2021

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Description 1 online resource (337 p.)
Contents Cover -- The Emergence of Functions in Language -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- List of abbreviations -- 1: Introduction -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.1.1 Basic assumptions -- 1.1.2 The main question -- 1.1.3 Theoretical assumptions: The meaning of a linguistic form -- 1.1.4 How to describe functions -- 1.2 Universal versus non-universal functional domains -- 1.2.1 Universal functions -- 1.2.2 Rephrasing the main question: How do non-universal functions come about? -- 1.3 State of the art -- 1.4 The structure of the book -- 1.5 Communicative motivation
1.6 The role of the initial state -- 1.6.1 The benefactive function in English -- 1.6.2 Point-of-view of the subject -- 1.6.3 Goal-orientation -- 1.7 The principle of functional transparency -- 1.8 The role of the lexicon in the emergence of functions -- 1.9 Metonymic extensions as a motivation -- 1.10 Opportunistic emergence of functions -- 1.10.1 The emergence of an associated event -- 1.10.2 Coding gender in content questions -- 1.10.3 Coding grammatical relations -- 1.11 Emergence of functions through language contact -- 1.12 Languages often discussed in the present volume
1.12.1 Sino-Russian idiolects -- 1.12.2 Chadic languages -- 2: Methodology -- 2.1 The aim of the chapter -- 2.2 Discovery of forms -- 2.3 Discovery of lexical items with grammatical functions -- 2.4 Discovery of constructions -- 2.5 Structural function versus meaning -- 2.5.1 The third-person agreement marker -s in English -- 2.6 Discovery of functions -- 2.6.1 General principles -- 2.6.2 Discovering the functional domain -- 2.6.3 The progressive aspect in English -- 2.6.4 The perfect in English -- 2.7 The function of the (short) reflexive form in some IE languages
2.7.1 The forms: The short reflexive, the long reflexive, and the reflexive verbs -- 2.7.2 The fallacy of the coreferentiality analysis -- 2.7.4 The category point-of-view -- 2.8 The function of subject pronouns: The test of omission -- 2.9 Polysemy or one function? The English demonstrative 'that' -- 2.10 Methodology for the reconstruction of functions -- 2.11 The lexicon as a tool for the reconstruction of functions -- 2.12 Discovery of motivations of functions -- 2.12.1 Selecting the functions for examination -- 2.12.2 The initial state -- 2.12.3 Metonymic change -- 2.12.4 Language contact
2.13 Conclusions -- 3: Forced interpretation: The emergence of the comment clause -- Motivation 1: Communicative need -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.1.1 The aim of the study and the problem -- 3.1.2 The specific language problem -- 3.1.3 The importance of the study -- 3.2 Hypotheses regarding the use of the demonstrative -- 3.3 Comment clause in Polish -- 3.3.1 Demonstratives in Polish -- 3.3.2 Comment clause in Polish -- 3.3.2.1 Comment clause after the initial modal adverb -- 3.3.2.2 Comment after an initial temporal adverb -- 3.3.2.3 Comment on topic -- 3.3.2.4 Comment on proposition
Summary This volume explores the question of why languages differ in the meanings expressed by their grammatical systems. It offers a new methodology to explore the differences and the motivations behind the emergence of meanings, based on data from a wide range of languages, including English, French, Polish, Chadic languages, and Sino-Russian idiolects
Notes Description based upon print version of record
Subject Grammar, Comparative and general -- Grammatical categories.
Semantics.
semantics.
Grammar, Comparative and general -- Grammatical categories
Semantics
Form Electronic book
Author Butters, Marielle
ISBN 9780192582560
0192582569