LINGUIST List 13.2421

Mon Sep 23 2002

Books: Semantics: Goddard & Wierzbicka (eds.)

Editor for this issue: Tomoko Okuno <tomokolinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. paul, Semantics: Goddard & Wierzbicka (eds.)

			
Title: Meaning and Universal Grammar
Subtitle: Theory and empirical findings
Series Title: Studies in Language Companion Series
			
Publication Year: 2002
			
Publisher: John Benjamins 
 http://www.benjamins.com/
			
Editor: Cliff Goddard 
Editor: Anna Wierzbicka 
				

Hardback: ISBN: 1588112659, Pages: , Price: USD 72.00

			
Abstract:

This book develops a bold new approach to universal grammar, based on
research findings of the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM)
program. The key idea is that universal grammar is constituted by the
inherent grammatical properties of some 60 empirically established
semantic primes, which appear to have concrete exponents in all
languages. For six typologically divergent languages (Mangaaba-Mbula,
Mandarin Chinese, Lao, Malay, Spanish and Polish), contributors
identify exponents of the primes and work through a substantial set of
hypotheses about their combinatorics, valency properties,
complementation options, etc. Each study can also be read as a
semantically-based typological profile. Four theoretical chapters by
the editors describe the NSM approach and its application to
grammatical typology. As a study of empirical universals in grammar,
this book is unique for its rigorous semantic orientation, its
methodological consistency, and its wealth of cross-linguistic detail.

Lingfield(s): Semantics
			 
Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)