Items related to Structure in Language (Routledge Studies in Linguistics)

Structure in Language (Routledge Studies in Linguistics) - Softcover

Book 8 of 40: Routledge Studies in Linguistics

Berg, Thomas

 
9780415542241: Structure in Language (Routledge Studies in Linguistics)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0415542243 ISBN 13: 9780415542241
Publisher: Routledge, 2012

Synopsis

This book examines one of the allegedly unique features of human language: structure sensitivity. Its point of departure is the distinction between content and structural units, which are defined in psycholinguistic terms. The focus of the book is on structural representations, in particular their hierarchicalness and their branching direction. Structural representations reach variable levels of activation and are therefore gradient in nature. Their variable strength is claimed to account for numerous effects including differences between individual analytical levels, differences between languages as well as pathways of language acquisition and breakdown. English is found to be consistent in its branching direction and to have evolved its branching direction in line with the cross-level harmony constraint. Structure sensitivity is argued to be highly variable both within and across languages and consequently an unlikely candidate for a defining property of human language.

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About the Author

Thomas Berg is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and is the author of Language Structure and Change.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Routledge
Publication date
2012
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0415542243
ISBN 13 
9780415542241
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
1
Number of pages
408