A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis Of The English Imperative

This volume offers the first comprehensive description of English imperatives made from a Cognitive Linguistic perspective. It proposes a new way of explaining the meaning and function of the imperative independently of illocutionary act classifications, which allows for quantifying the strength of imperative force in terms of parameters and numerical values. Furthermore, the book applies the theory of Construction Grammar to account for the felicity of imperatives in complex sentences. The model of description explains explicitly a wide range of phenomena, including frequency of use, prototypical vs. non-prototypical uses of the English imperative and the choice between longer vs. shorter directives including the imperative. A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of the English Imperative: With Special Reference to Japanese Imperatives is intended for both researchers and students interested in the English imperative and Directive Speech Acts at large and for the linguists working within the Cognitive Linguistics and/or Construction Grammar approach.

This volume offers the first comprehensive description of English imperatives made from a Cognitive Linguistic perspective. It proposes a new way of explaining the meaning and function of the imperative independently of illocutionary act classifications, which allows for quantifying the strength of imperative force in terms of parameters and numerical values. Furthermore, the book applies the theory of Construction Grammar to account for the felicity of imperatives in complex sentences. The model of description explains explicitly a wide range of phenomena, including frequency of use, prototypical vs. non-prototypical uses of the English imperative and the choice between longer vs. shorter directives including the imperative. A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of the English Imperative: With Special Reference to Japanese Imperatives is intended for both researchers and students interested in the English imperative and Directive Speech Acts at large and for the linguists working within the Cognitive Linguistics and/or Construction Grammar approach.

Imperatives and directive strategies have intrigued both formalists and functionalists. They continue to search for the answers to questions like “what are the semantics of the imperative?”, “how is it used (in the world’s languages)?” and “which factors determine the choice between imperatives and other directive strategies?”. This volume takes a broadly functional-typological perspective and contributes to the literature in several respects. It presents new data from a variety of languages, some of which have not been studied in depth before. It exemplifies the benefits of traditional methodologies as well as the potential of more innovative ones. In addition, the volume sheds new light on the imperative as a typological notion, its meaning and uses and its interaction with other grammatical categories. It also offers new insights into the relation between different directive strategies within and across languages and into the (dis)similarities between equivalent directive strategies in a language family.

"This volume is the product of a Columbia School Linguistics Conference held at Rutgers University in October 1999, where the plenary speaker was Ronald W. Langacker, a founder of Cognitive Linguistics. The goal of the book is to promote two kinds of dialogue. First, dialogue between Cognitive Grammar and the particular sign-based approach to language known as the Columbia School." "The second kind of dialogue is that among several sign-based approaches themselves and also between them and two competitors: grammaticalization theory and generic functionalism. Topics range from phonology to discourse. Analytical problems are taken from a wide range of languages including English, German, Guarani, Hebrew, Hualapai, Japanese, Korean, Macedonian, Mandarin, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Urdu, and Yaqui."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

First Published in 1998. This work is an unrevised version of my 1996 University of California, Santa Cruz Ph.D. dissertation. The only changes that have been made are corrections of typographical errors, minor rewording, updating of references, and the inclusion of an index. I would like to thank Rosemary Plapp and Kristi Long for help with proofreading and preparation of the manuscript.

Cognitive English Grammar is designed to be used as a textbook in courses of English and general linguistics. It introduces the reader to cognitive linguistic theory and shows that Cognitive Grammar helps us to gain a better understanding of the grammar of English. The notions of motivation and meaningfulness are central to the approach adopted in the book. In four major parts comprising 12 chapters, Cognitive English Grammar integrates recent cognitive approaches into one coherent model, allowing the analysis of the most central constructions of English. Part I presents the cognitive framework: conceptual and linguistic categories, their combination in situations, the cognitive operations applied to them, and the organisation of conceptual structures into linguistic constructions. Part II deals with the category of ‘things’ and their linguistic structuring as nouns and noun phrases. It shows how things are grounded in reality by means of reference, quantified by set and scalar quantifiers, and qualified by modifiers. Part III describes situations as temporal units of various layers: internally, as types of situations; and externally, as located relative to the time of speech and grounded in reality or potentiality. Part IV looks at situations as relational units and their structuring as sentences. Its two chapters are devoted to event schemas and space and metaphorical extensions of space.Cognitive English Grammar offers a wealth of linguistic data and explanations. The didactic quality is guaranteed by the frequent use of definitions and examples, a glossary of the terms used, overviews and chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, and study questions. For the Key to Study Questions click here.

The legendary Greek figure Orpheus was said to have possessed magical powers capable of moving all living and inanimate things through the sound of his lyre and voice. Over time, the Orphic theme has come to indicate the power of music to unsettle, subvert, and ultimately bring down oppressive realities in order to liberate the soul and expand human life without limits. The liberating effect of music has been a particularly important theme in twentieth-century African American literature. The nine original essays in Black Orpheus examines the Orphic theme in the fiction of such African American writers as Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, James Baldwin, Nathaniel Mackey, Sherley Anne Williams, Ann Petry, Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker, Gayl Jones, and Toni Morrison. The authors discussed in this volume depict music as a mystical, shamanistic, and spiritual power that can miraculously transform the realities of the soul and of the world. Here, the musician uses his or her music as a weapon to shield and protect his or her spirituality. Written by scholars of English, music, women's studies, American studies, cultural theory, and black and Africana studies, the essays in this interdisciplinary collection ultimately explore the thematic, linguistic structural presence of music in twentieth-century African American fiction.