LINGUIST List 9.1441

Wed Oct 14 1998

Books: Axiomatic Ling

Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scottlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Christoph Eyrich, Axiomatic Linguistics

			 James Dickins

		 Extended Axiomatic Linguistics

 		1998. 23 x 15,5 cm. XII, 493 pages
		 Cloth DM 198,-/approx. US$ 124.00
			 ISBN 3-11-016086-2
	 Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 111

 Mouton de Gruyter * Berlin * New York

This volume presents the semiotic and linguistic theory of extended
axiomatic functionalism, focusing on its application to linguistic
description. The theory is compared with other approaches to semiotics
and linguistics, and particularly with the standard version of
axiomatic functionalism.

An informal account is given of the twin basic components of the
theory - the signum ontology and the system ontology. The former
provides a set-theoretically based account of the network of
relationships between the abstractions of linguistic theory (at whose
apex stands the signum), and the phonetic and semantic facts of speech
events. The latter deals with the purely abstract level of analysis,
and covers roughly the traditional areas of phonology and grammar. A
set of postulates, constituting a formal statement of the theory, is
provided in an appendix.

It is shown that the signum ontology can provide adequate accounts -
sometimes in conjunction with interfacing extra-theoretical models -
of a range of phenomena from phonetics to pragmatics, including
incomplete neutralization, imperfect synonymy, polysemy, idiom, and
figures of speech (particularly metaphor). The relationship between
core-linguistics and psycholinguistics is considered, and an initial
model is developed for the interface between extended axiomatic
functionalism, as a sentence-linguistic theory, and text-linguistics.

The issues dealt with in this book are not only relevant to extended
axiomatic functionalism and indicative of its broad scope, but are
also of current interest in linguistics generally; the analyses
proposed are considered in the context of existing analyses
throughout.

Without disguising complexities, the book presents extended axiomatic
functionalism in a clear and accessible manner. Wide use is made of
figures and cross-referencing, and detailed indices are provided.
_______________________________________________________________________

Mouton de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 
Postfach 30 34 21 200 Saw Mill River Road 
D-10728 Berlin Hawthorne, NY 10532 
Germany USA 
Fax: +49 (0)30 26005-351 Fax: +1 914 747-1326 
email: moutondegruyter.de

This and further publications can also be ordered via World Wide Web: 
 http://www.deGruyter.com

The following contributing LINGUIST publishers have made their backlists available on the World Wide Web:

1998 Contributors