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This study investigates the properties of a set of Italian adverbs (among others: pure ‘also’, solo ‘only’, un po’ ‘a bit’) that, in specific contexts of use, modify the speech acts in which they appear. On the one hand, these elements specify the way in which a speech act should be interpreted with reference to the specific interactional context, modifying its illocutionary force. On the other hand, they index presupposed/inferred meanings active in the common ground of the interaction, integrating the speech act in the common ground. These functions closely resemble those of the elements that, especially in the German linguistic tradition, are called modal particles. Drawing ...
This typological overview compares the degree to which different languages have means to give expression to modality (possibility, necessity) without lexical and direct inflectional means. The criterial patterns derive from a variety of languages such as German, English, Chinese, French, Scandinavian, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Polish, and Gothic as well as Old High German. They encompass mainly the auxiliaries HAVE and BE, together with either an infinitival embedding of a full verb linked by the infinitival preposition TO, or other aspectual means. It is demonstrated that what appears as typical covert modal expressions in the Germanic languages, and the Indo-European ones in a wider sense, cannot be seen as a recurrent pattern in non-Indo-European languages. Yet, there are recurrent and plausible forms that allow for generalizations.
This volume posits that evidentials and other types of epistemic marking (i.e. epistemics) are deictic forms, indexing knowledge representation and attribution, and need to be analysed in context. The volume adopts an interaction- and discourse-based perspective to the study of meaning and distribution of epistemics in a varied sample of languages. Its primary aim is to further our understanding of epistemics by addressing three main analytical challenges: (1) the context-sensitivity of epistemic forms, (2) comparability of forms and systems across languages, and (3) linking data-driven analyses of epistemics focusing on interaction and discourse to traditional analyses of similar forms.
Germanic languages have been recognized as having not only intensifying or focus particles, but also so-called modal particles. The relevant items are specialized discourse markers joined by characteristic syntactic properties. After an introductory overview of the complex field, the contributions of the current volume capitalize on, but also work much further beyond the baseline of the established insights. They offer analyses of (a) new data types within and sometimes across several Germanic languages (e.g. varieties/stages of German, Dutch, or Norwegian), encompassing different classes of particles and a variety of syntactic-semantic as well as usage-based aspects; (b) the classical dichotomy between languages like German and English when it comes to the availability of modal particles both synchronically and diachronically; (c) crucial integrated insight from non-Germanic languages such as French, Hungarian, Italian, Mandarin, or Vietnamese. A number of mostly interface-based proposals of several languages as well as further generalizations are put on the table for both expert and novice readers in the field.
German-Americans represent the largest self-declared ancestry group in the United States of America. The period from the 200th anniversary celebration of Germantown's founding in 1883 to the end of the First World War was an age of intense turmoil within the ranks of German-American communities. These decades were marked by a massive political and cultural realignment as well as major contributions to the (self-)definition of German-Americanness. Historians and sociolinguists with backgrounds in German or American studies offer a fresh look at a critical period in the history of German-American communities.
With the exception of English and its varieties, all Present-Day Germanic languages display some kind of verb-second (V2) rule, according to which the finite verbal form has to be put in the second position of the clause in declarative utterances. But even within the Germanic domain, the exact contours of the V2 rule vary strongly in time and space. Above all, the so-called bottleneck demanding that one and only one constituent be placed before the finite verb is not equally respected in all Germanic varieties. The typology of V2 violations, apparent or real, is now regarded as a core question for the typology of V2 itself. The present volume is concerned with all kinds of alleged “cracks ...
With the exception of English and its varieties, all Present-Day Germanic languages display some kind of verb-second (V2) rule, according to which the finite verbal form has to be put in the second position of the clause in declarative utterances. But even within the Germanic domain, the exact contours of the V2 rule vary strongly in time and space. Above all, the so-called bottleneck demanding that one and only one constituent be placed before the finite verb is not equally respected in all Germanic varieties. The typology of V2 violations, apparent or real, is now regarded as a core question for the typology of V2 itself. The present volume is concerned with all kinds of alleged “cracks ...