1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910461432303321

Autore

Givón Talmy <1936->

Titolo

English grammar [[electronic resource]] . Volume I : a function-based introduction / / T. Givón

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Amsterdam, : John Benjamins Pub. Co., 1993

ISBN

1-280-49728-9

9786613592514

90-272-7389-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (340 p.)

Disciplina

428.2

Soggetti

English language - Grammar

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

ENGLISH GRAMMAR A FUNCTION-BASED INTRODUCTION Volume I; Title page; Copyright page; Table of contents; FOREWORD; 1. INTRODUCTION; 1.1. GRAMMAR AND COMMUNICATION; 1.1.1. Structure vs. function; 1.1.2. Arbitrary vs. motivated rules of grammar; 1.1.3. Rules of grammar vs. communicative strategies; 1.1.4. Cross-language diversity of grammatical strategies; 1.2. WHOSE GRAMMAR?; 1.2.1. Prescriptive vs. descriptive grammars; 1.2.2. Historic time; 1.2.3. Age: The grammar of youth; 1.2.4. Spoken vs. written language; 1.2.5. Educated vs. uneducated grammar; 1.2.6. Formal vs. informal grammar

1.2.7. Grammar and social status1.2.8. Grammar and ethnic minorities; 1.2.9. Geographical dialects; 1.2.10. Grammar and foreign talk; 1.2.11. Grammar and individual style; 1.3. GRAMMAR FOR COMMUNICATION; 1.3.1. Major functions of language; 1.3.2. Words, clauses, discourse; 1.3.3. Grammar as a communicative code; 1.3.3.1. Joint coding; 1.3.3.2. Coding devices in syntax; 1.4. THEME AND VARIATION IN SYNTACTIC DESCRIPTION; 1.5. PARSING: TREE DIAGRAMS; 1.6. DEEP STRUCTURE, SURFACE STRUCTURE AND MEANING; NOTES; 2. VOCABULARY: WORDS AND MORPHEMES; 2.1. PRELIMINARIES

2.1.1. Recapitulation: Meaning, information and communication2.1.2. The conceptual lexicon: Semantic features and semantic fields; 2.1.3. Shared vocabulary: Meaning and cultural world-view; 2.1.4. History of



the English lexicon; 2.2. LEXICAL VS. GRAMMATICAL VOCABULARY; 2.2.1. Lexical words; 2.2.2. Grammatical morphemes; 2.2.3. Derivational morphemes; 2.3. THE MORPHEMIC STATUS OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY; 2.4. LEXICAL WORD-CLASSES; 2.4.1. Membership criteria; 2.4.2. Natural classes: Prototypicality and variability; 2.4.3. Semantic overview; 2.4.4. Nouns; 2.4.4.1. Semantic characteristics

2.4.4.2. Syntactic behavior2.4.4.3. Morphological characteristics; 2.4.5. Adjectives; 2.4.5.1. Semantic characteristics; 2.4.5.1.1. Prototypical adjectives; 2.4.5.1.2. Less prototypical adjectives; 2.4.5.1.3. Derived adjectives; 2.4.5.1.4. Polarity of antonymic pairs; 2.4.5.2. Syntactic behavior; 2.4.5.3. Morphological characteristics; 2.4.5.3.1. Grammatical morphology; 2.4.5.3.2. Derivational morphology; 2.4.6. Verbs; 2.4.6.1. Semantic characterization; 2.4.6.2. Syntactic characterization; 2.4.6.3. Morphological characterization; 2.4.6.3.1. Grammatical morphology

2.4.6.3.2. Derivational morphology2.4.7. Adverbs; 2.4.7.1. Preamble; 2.4.7.2. Mariner adverbs; 2.4.7.3. Time, frequency or aspectuality adverbs; 2.4.7.4. Epistemic adverbs; 2.4.7.5. Evaluative adverbs; 2.4.7.6. Adverbs modifying adjectives; 2.4.7.7. Emphatic adverbs; 2.5. MINOR WORD CLASSES; 2.5.1. Preamble; 2.5.2. Prepositions; 2.5.3. Inter-clausal connectives; 2.5.3.1. Conjunctions; 2.5.3.2. Subordinators; 2.5.4. Pronouns; 2.5.5. Determiners; 2.5.5.1. Articles; 2.5.5.2. Demonstratives; 2.5.5.3. Possessor pronouns; 2.5.6. Quantifiers; 2.5.7. Numerals; 2.5.8. Ordinals; 2.5.9. Auxiliarie

2.5.10. Interjections

Sommario/riassunto

The approach to language and grammar that motivates this book is unabashedly functional; grammar is not just a system of empty rules, it is a means to an end, an instrument for constructing concise coherent communication. In grammar as in music, good expression rides on good form. Figuratively and literally, grammar like musical form must make sense. But for the instrument to serve its purpose, it must first exist; the rules must be real, they can be explicitly described and taught. This book is intended for both students and teachers, at college level, for both native and nonnative speakers.