Accessing Noun-Phrase Antecedents (Routledge Library Editions: Linguistics) - Softcover

Ariel, Mira

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138965731 ISBN 13: 9781138965737

Publisher: Routledge, 2016

Synopsis

Accessing Noun-Phrase Antecedents offers a radical shift in the analysis of discourse anaphora, from a purely pragmatic account to a cognitive account, in terms of processing procedures. Mira Ariel defines referring expressions as markers signalling the degree of Accessibility in memory of the antecedent. The notion of Accessibility is explicitly defined, the crucial factors being the Salience of the antecedent, and the Unity between the antecedent and the anaphor.

This analysis yields an astonishing array of new results. The precise distribution of referring expressions in actual discourse is directly predicted. Several universals of anaphoric relations are stated. Thus, although not all languages necessarily have the same markers, and nor do they assign them precisely the same function, Ariel shows that they all obey the same Accessibility marking hierarchy.

This book will be compulsory reading for anyone with an interest in the semantics and pragmatics of referring expressions, in the interaction of semantics and pragmatics, and more generally in the interaction between peripheral and central cognitive systems.

About this title

About the Author:

Mira Ariel is a Professor in the Linguistics Department at Tel Aviv University, Israel. Her recent publications include Pragmatics and Grammar (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1138965731
• ISBN 13: 9781138965737
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 271