Communicative organization in natural language : the semantic-communicative structure of sentences / Igor Melcuk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Melcuk, Igor A. (Igor Aleksandrovic), 1932-

Series:

Studies in language companion series ; v. 57.

Studies in language companion series, 0165-7763 ; v. 57

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Grammar, Comparative and general--Sentences.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Semantics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (408 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Other title information on cover: Observatory of meaning text linguistics

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : J. Benjamins, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The book defines the concept of Semantic-Communicative Structure [= Sem-CommS]-a formal object that is imposed on the starting Semantic Structure [= SemS] of a sentence (under text synthesis) in order to turn the selected meaning into a linguistic message. The Sem-CommS is a system of eight logically independent oppositions: 1. Thematicity (Rheme vs. Theme), 2. Givenness (Given vs. Old), 3. Focalization (Focalized vs. Non-Focalized), 4. Perspective (Foregrounded vs. Backgrounded), 5. Emphasis (Emphasized vs. Non-Emphasized), 6. Presupposedness (Presupposed vs. Non-Presupposed), 7. Unitariness (Unitary vs. Articulated), 8. Locutionality (Communicated vs. Signaled). The values of these oppositions mark particular subnetworks of the starting SemS and thus allow for the distinction between sentences such as (a) A man killed a dog vs. The dog was killed by a man, (b) John washed the window vs. It was John who washed the window or (c) It hurts! vs. Ouch! The proposed Sem-Comm-oppositions are conceived as an attempt at sharpening the well-known notions of Topic ~ Comment, Focus, etc. Possible linguistic strategies for expressing the values of the Sem-Comm-oppositions in different languages are discussed at some length, with linguistic illustrations.

Contents:

Communicative Organization in Natural Language

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Contents

Introduction: Six Basic Questions Answered

Chapter I. General Characterization of the Semantic-Communicative Structure of Sentences

Chapter II. Basic Categories of Semantic-Communicative Structure

Chapter III. Sem-Comm-Oppositions: Linguistic Comments and Illustrations

Bibliography

Subject Index

Name Index

Language Index

The STUDIES IN LANGUAGE COMPANION SERIES (SLCS).

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [366]-380) and indexes.

ISBN:

9786612160011

9781282160019

128216001X

9789027294838

9027294836

OCLC:

70773677