LINGUIST List 13.2437

Wed Sep 25 2002

Books: Pragmatics: Leafgren

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

Directory

1. paul, John Leafgren: Pragmatics

			
Title: Degrees of Explicitness
Subtitle: Information structure and the packaging of Bulgarian
subjects and objects
Series Title: Pragmatics & Beyond New Series
			
Publication Year: 2002
			
Publisher: John Benjamins 
 http://www.benjamins.com/
			
Author: John Leafgren 
				
Hardback: ISBN: 1588112209, Pages: xii, 252 pp., Price: USD 81.00

			
Abstract:

This book explores factors relevant in the choices speakers and
writers make in regard to explicitness of reference to the subjects
and objects in their utterances. Bulgarian is a particularly
felicitous target language for this type of study, since it possesses
a rich inventory of available packaging techniques, ranging from zero
reference, to various stressed and unstressed single forms, to actual
doubled ("reduplicated") constructions. The study systematically
addresses the need to avoid referential and grammatical ambiguity, and
the crucial influence of emphasis. Another, and perhaps most
interesting central factor is the status of what the communication is
about, which is assessed on two different levels. The book makes use
of data from both published Bulgarian fiction and naturally occurring
oral conversations. The fundamental similarities between these modes
of communication with respect to noun phrase selection is
demonstrated, but explanations are also proposed for the observable
differences.


Table of Contents

List of tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Subjects
Direct and indirect objects
Conclusion
Notes
Data sources
References
Appendix --- Oral data examples prior to normalization
Index

Lingfield(s): Pragmatics
			 
Subject Language(s): Bulgarian (Language code: BLG)
 			 
Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)