Exploring the Syntax-Semantics Interface (Paperback)

Robert D. van Valin, Jr.

ISBN 10: 052101056X / ISBN 13: 9780521010566

Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005

About this Item

Paperback. Language is a system of communication in which grammatical structures function to express meaning in context. While all languages can achieve the same basic communicative ends, they each use different means to achieve them, particularly in the divergent ways that syntax, semantics and pragmatics interact across languages. This book looks in detail at how structure, meaning, and communicative function interact in human languages. Working within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG), Van Valin proposes a set of rules, called the 'linking algorithm', which relates syntactic and semantic representations to each other, with discourse-pragmatics playing a role in the linking. Using this model, he discusses the full range of grammatical phenomena, including the structures of simple and complex sentences, verb and argument structure, voice, reflexivization and extraction restrictions. Clearly written and comprehensive, this book will be welcomed by all those working on the interface between syntax, semantics and pragmatics. This book looks at how syntax, semantics and pragmatics interact in different ways across human languages. Written within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar, which proposes a set of rules to link semantic and syntactic relations to each other, it discusses topics across the full range of grammatical phenomena. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780521010566

Bibliographic Details

Title: Exploring the Syntax-Semantics Interface (...

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Publication Date: 2005

Binding: Paperback

Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis:

While all languages can achieve the same basic communicative ends, they each use different means to achieve them, particularly in the divergent ways that syntax, semantics and pragmatics interact across languages. Written within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar, which proposes a set of rules to link semantic and syntactic relations to each other, this book discusses in detail how structure, meaning, and communicative function interact in human languages. Clearly written and comprehensive, it will be welcomed by all those working on the interface between syntax, semantics and pragmatics.

About the Author:

Robert D. Van Valin Jr is Professor and Chair of Linguistics at the State University of New York, Buffalo.