Point of view and grammar : structural patterns of subjectivity in American English conversation / Joanne Scheibman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scheibman, Joanne.

Series:

Studies in discourse and grammar ; v. 11.

Studies in discourse and grammar, 0928-8929 ; v. 11

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Spoken English--United States.

English language.

English language--Social aspects--United States.

English language--United States--Grammar.

English language--Discourse analysis.

Speech acts (Linguistics).

Interpersonal relations.

Conversation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (202 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Pub., c2002.

Summary:

This book proposes that subjective expression shapes grammatical and lexical patterning in American English conversation. Analyses of structural and functional properties of English conversational utterances indicate that the most frequent combinations of subject, tense, and verb type are those that are used by speakers to personalize their contributions, not to present unmediated descriptions of the world. These findings are informed by current research and practices in linguistics which argue that the emergence, or conventionalization, of linguistic structure is related to the frequency with which speakers use expressions in discourse. The use of conversational data in grammatical analysis illustrates the local and contingent nature of grammar in use and also raises theoretical questions concerning the coherence of linguistic categories, the viability of maintaining a distinction between semantic and pragmatic meaning in analytical practice, and the structural and social interplay of speaker point of view and participant interaction in discourse.

Contents:

Point of View and Grammar

Editorial page

Title page

LCC page

Dedication page

Contents

Acknowledgements

List of tables

Chapter 1 Linguistic subjectivity and usage-based linguistics

Notes

Chapter 2 Classification and coding of conversational data

Chapter 3 Patterns of subjectivity in person and predicate

Chapter 4 The evaluative character of relational clauses

Chapter 5 Summaries and conclusions

Appendix A: Transcription symbols

Appendix B: Intermediate function verbs in the database

References

Index

The series STUDIES IN DISCOURSE AND GRAMMAR (SiDaG).

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [177]-182) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-16092-3

9786612160929

90-272-9615-4

OCLC:

179163946