LINGUIST List 12.2000

Thu Aug 9 2001

Books: Typology, Language and the Law

Editor for this issue: Naomi Ogasawara <naomilinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Kimberly Kahn, Typology: Radical Construction Grammar by William Croft
2. Kimberly Kahn, Typology: Indefinite Pronouns by Martin Haspelmath
3. Kimberly Kahn, Language and the Law: Law and The Language of Indentity by Matoesian

RADICAL CONSTRUCTION GRAMMAR
William Croft, University of Manchester

This book is based on the results of research in language typology,
and motivated by the need for a theory to explain them. Croft
proposes intimate links between syntactic and semantic structures, and
argues that the basic elements of any language are not syntactic but
rather syntactic-semantic "Gestalts." He puts forward a new approach
to syntactic representation and a new model of how language and
languages work.

July 2001 352 pp.
0-19-829954-0 paper $27.95
0-19-829955-9 cloth $78.00
Oxford University Press
 
For more information about Linguistics titles from Oxford:
Visit the Oxford University Press USA web site at
http://www.oup-usa.org 

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
Martin Haspelmath, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany

(Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory)

This book is the first comprehensive and encyclopaedic investigation
of indefinite pronouns (expressions like someone, anything, nowhere)
in the languages of the world. It shows that the range of variation in
the functional and formal properties of indefinite pronouns is subject
to a set of universal implicational constraints, and proposes
explanations for these universals. Oxford Studies in Typology and
Linguistic Theory offers a forum for promoting research and analysis
that is both typologically and theoretically informed. Each book in
the series will focus on a particular topic, providing an overview of
the available cross-linguistic data and, at the same time, engaging
such key theoretical issues as the boundaries or limitations of
different approaches in dealing with typological data.

 "...the book is clearly written and well edited, and the facts
provided offer a great deal of food for thought to anyone with an
interest in cross-linguistic work, whether such interest is confined
within the Germanic family alone or is taken with a broader
view."--American Journal of Germanic Linguistics and Literatures
 "A welcome addition to the typological literature, this book is the
most comprehensive work to date devoted exclusively to the
description of indefinite pronouns in the world's
languages....Haspelmath's presentation offers generally interesting
reading, giving us many facts, testable universal claims, and
tantalizing attempts at explanation....the book can serve...as a
useful reference work."--Anthropological Linguistics
 "One couldn't wish for a better book to inaugurate the
series....The book is highly recommended, not only to field
workers who will find that this study contains enough theoretical
predictions to test against the indefinite pronoun system in the
language or languages they are working on, but also to any
linguist who wants to see a text book example of a linguistic
analysis....Anyone working on two or more closely related
languages should be required to read this book."--Notes on
Linguistics

1997 (paper April 2001) 384 pp.; 111 line illus, 2 maps
0-19-829963-X paper $29.95
0-19-823560-7 cloth $80.00
Oxford University Press
 
For more information about Linguistics titles from Oxford:
Visit the Oxford University Press USA web site at
http://www.oup-usa.org 

LAW AND THE LANGUAGE OF IDENTITY: Discourse in the William Kennedy Smith Rape 
Trial
Greg M. Matoesian, University of Illinois, Chicago

In this volume, Gregory Matoesian uses the notorious 1991 rape trial
of William Kennedy Smith to provide an in-depth analysis of language
use and its role in that specific trial as well as in the law in
general. He draws on the fields of conversation analysis,
ethnomethodology, linguistic anthropology and social theory to show
how language practices shape--and are shaped by--culture and the law,
particularly in the social construction of rape as a legal fact. This
analysis examines linguistic strategies from both defense and
prosecutorial viewpoints, and how they relate to issues of gender,
sexual identity, and power.

August 2001 320 pp.
0-19-512330-1 paper $29.95
0-19-512329-8 cloth $60.00
Oxford University Press
 
For more information about Linguistics titles from Oxford:
Visit the Oxford University Press USA web site at
http://www.oup-usa.org