The book explores a unique language spoken 450 km offshore from Papua New Guinea, noted for its intricate phonological, morphological, and syntactic features. As the last surviving member of its language family, it offers valuable insights into the linguistic landscape of the region prior to the Austronesian expansion, highlighting its historical significance and the limited influence of surrounding languages.
This Element tries to discern the known unknowns in the field of Pragmatics, the 'Dark Matter' of the title. It thus offers a brief review of some central areas of pragmatics, and a survey of targets for future research. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
This study is about the principles for constructing polite speeches. The core of it first appeared in Questions and Politeness, edited by Esther N. Goody (now out of print). It is here reissued with a fresh introduction that surveys the considerable literature in linguistics, psychology and the social sciences that the original extended essay stimulated, and suggests distinct directions for research. The authors describe and account for some remarkable parallelisms in the linguistic construction of utterances with which people express themselves in different languages and cultures. A motive for these parallels is isolated and a universal model is constructed outlining the abstract principles underlying polite usages. This is based on the detailed study of three unrelated languages and cultures: the Tamil of South India, the Tzeltal spoken by Mayan Indians in Chiapas, Mexico, and the English of the USA and England. This volume will be of special interest to students in linguistic pragmatics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, anthropology, and the sociology and social psychology of interaction.
Focusing on linguistic diversity, Levinson examines how variations in language shape cognitive processes and influence thought patterns. By analyzing different languages, he uncovers insights into the interplay between language and perception, challenging traditional views on the universality of human thought. The book offers a compelling exploration of how linguistic structures can affect the way individuals understand and interact with the world around them.
An integrative and lucid analysis of central topics in the field of linguistic pragmatics deixis, implicature, presupposition, speed acts, and conversational structure.