LINGUIST List 17.3056

Wed Oct 18 2006

Books: Semantics/Syntax: Yamamoto

Editor for this issue: Maria Moreno-Rollins <marialinguistlist.org>

Directory         1.    Paul Peranteau, Agency and Impersonality: Yamamoto
Message 1: Agency and Impersonality: Yamamoto
Date: 17-Oct-2006
From: Paul Peranteau <paulbenjamins.com>
Subject: Agency and Impersonality: Yamamoto


Title: Agency and Impersonality Subtitle: Their Linguistic and Cultural Manifestations Series Title: Studies in Language Companion Series 78 Published: 2006 Publisher: John Benjamins
                http://www.benjamins.com/

Book URL: http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=SLCS%2078

Author: Mitsumi Yamamoto Hardback: ISBN: 9027230889 Pages: 152 Price: U.S. $ 119.00
Hardback: ISBN: 9027230889 Pages: 152 Price: Europe EURO 99.00
Abstract:

In this monograph the author probes the fundamental nature of the conceptof agency and its importance to human language and cognition. Whereasprevious studies focused on grammatical manifestations this original workaddresses such issues as the strong relationship between agency andresponsibility, a philosophical interpretation of the concept of agency anda variety of epistemic attitudes towards agency that strongly influence ourview of the world. Different cultures and languages process and expressagency differently. To illustrate the co-relation between the linguisticexpressions of agency and cultural stereotypes that lurk behind individualnatural languages, the author analyses Japanese and English parallelcorpora. It is shown that English tends to highlight agency in expressingactions and events, whereas Japanese largely obfuscates agency throughimpersonalising potential agents. Through the case studies on theselanguages this book sheds light on the close connection between language,thought and culture and contributes to the resurging interest in linguisticrelativity.

Table of contents

Acknowledgements ixList of Abbreviations xi1. Introduction 1-92. What is agency? 11-373. Linguistic treatment of agency and its manifestations in Japanese andEnglish: With reference to the concept of 'impersonality' 39-694. Agency, impersonality and world-view: With reference to linguistic andsocio-cultural relativity 71-1175. Some enigmas concerning agency, impersonality and 'reality' 119-130Notes 131-136References 137-144Index 145-151

Linguistic Field(s): Semantics                             Syntax
Subject Language(s): English (eng)                             Japanese (jpn)
Written In: English (eng )

See this book announcement on our website: http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=21843


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