1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910792676403321

Autore

Altshuler Daniel <1981->

Titolo

Events, states and times : an essay on narrative discourse in English / / Daniel Altshuler

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berlin ; ; Boston : , : De Gruyter Open, , [2016]

©2016

ISBN

3-11-048591-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (x, 176 pages) : illustrations

Disciplina

401/.41

Soggetti

Discourse analysis, Narrative

Grammar, Comparative and general

English language - Verb phrase

English language - Semantics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-176).

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Part I: Narrative progression: From discourse connectivity to event partitivity -- 1. Preliminary thoughts: Narrative discourse -- 2. Prominence: A look at 'now' -- 3. Coherence: A look at NARRATION and RESULT -- Appendices -- Part II: Semantics and pragmatics of tense: The nuts and bolts -- 4. Cessation and double access -- 5. Sequence of tense -- 6. Concluding thoughts: Ways of composing with viewpoint aspect -- Bibliography

Sommario/riassunto

This monograph investigates the temporal interpretation of narrative discourse in two parts. The theme of the first part is narrative progression. It begins with a case study of the adverb 'now' and its interaction with the meaning of tense. The case study motivates an ontological distinction between events, states and times and proposes that 'now' seeks a prominent state that holds throughout the time described by the tense. Building on prior research, prominence is shown to be influenced by principles of discourse coherence and two coherence principles, NARRATION and RESULT, are given a formally explicit characterization. The key innovation is a new method for testing the definitional adequacy of NARRATION and RESULT, namely by



an abductive argument. This contribution opens a new way of thinking about how eventive and stative descriptions contribute to the perceived narrative progression in a discourse. The theme of the second part of the monograph is the semantics and pragmatics of tense. A key innovation is that the present and past tenses are treated as scalar alternatives, a view that is motivated by adopting a particular hypothesis concerning stative predication. The proposed analysis accounts for tense in both matrix clauses and in complements of propositional attitudes, where the notorious double access reading arises. This reading is explored as part of a corpus study that provides a glimpse of how tense semantics interacts with Gricean principles and at-issueness. Several cross-linguistic predictions of the analysis are considered, including their consequences for the Sequence of Tense phenomenon and the Upper Limit Constraint. Finally, a hypothesis is provided about how tense meanings compose with temporal adverbs and verb phrases. Two influential analysis of viewpoint aspect are then compared in light of the hypothesis. The monograph is directed at graduate students and researchers in semantics, pragmatics and philosophy of language. The analysis of narrative discourse that is developed in the monograph synthesizes and builds on prior collaborative research with Corien Bary, Valentine Hacquard, Thomas Roberts, Roger Schwarzschild, Una Stojnić, Károly Varasdi and Aaron White. Daniel Altshuler is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the School of Cognitive Science, Hampshire College and an Adjunct Professor of Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.



2.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910153184603321

Autore

Camuffo Arnaldo

Titolo

Lean Transformations for Small and Medium Enterprises : Lessons Learned from Italian Businesses / / Arnaldo Camuffo

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Productivity Press, , 2017

ISBN

1-315-39780-3

1-315-39782-X

1-315-39781-1

Edizione

[1st edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (195 pages)

Disciplina

658.4/063

Soggetti

Small business - Italy

Organizational change - Italy

Reengineering (Management) - Italy

Lean manufacturing - Italy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

A Productivity Press book.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

chapter 1. Little big lean champions -- chapter 2. Understanding the Italian context -- chapter 3. How to transform SMEs -- chapter 4. The transformation paths of Italian SMEs -- chapter 5. Leading successful lean transformations in SMEs.

Sommario/riassunto

Lean Transformations for Small and Medium Enterprises: Lessons Learned from Italian Businesses summarizes two decades of research, teaching, and practice on lean thinking. Based on quantitative analysis of 100 cases of Lean transformations and 20 in-depth case studies of successfully transformed SMEs, it explains how to undertake lean transformations that lead to operational and financial performance improvement, and uses the Lean Transformation Framework --conceptualized by John Shook at the Lean Enterprise Institute--as a practical approach to design and de-risk the transformation process. SMEs' leaders wishing to undertake and sustain a lean transformation must:  Make a serious and lasting commitment to transform, avoiding the temptation to change course of action; Choose accurately the value streams that require improvement as defined by strategy deployment; Build capabilities to sustain the transformation; Lead by example by



going to gemba and creating a culture of respect for people that goes beyond the visible devices and artifacts of Lean tools.