The substance and value of Italian si / Joseph Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Joseph, 1958- author.

Series:

Studies in functional and structural linguistics ; Volume 74.

Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 1385-7916 ; Volume 74

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Si (The Italian word).

Italian language--Etymology.

Italian language.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (258 pages) : illustrations, tables.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam, [Netherlands] ; Philadelphia, [Pennsylvania] : John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2017.

Summary:

This book offers an original treatment of the Italian clitic si. Sharply separating encoded grammar from inference in discourse, it proposes a unitary meaning for si, including impersonals, passives, and reflexives. Si signals third-person participancy but makes no distinctions of number, gender, or case role. The analysis advances the Columbia School framework by relying on just these straightforward oppositions, attributing variety of interpretation largely to language use rather than to grammar. The analysis places si within a network of oppositions involving all the other clitics. Data come primarily from twentieth-century and more recent published and on-line literature. The book will be of interest to functional linguists, students of reflexivity, and scholars of the Italian language.

Contents:

Prelim pages

Table of contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. What is si ?

Chapter 2. Opting out of sex and number

Chapter 3. The system of Focus on Participants

Chapter 4. The system of Degree of Control

Chapter 5. Scale of Degree of Control

Chapter 6. Scale of Degree of Control

Chapter 7. Grammatical constancy and lexical idiosyncrasy

Chapter 8. Grammar constrained by lexicon

Chapter 9. Number and gender with si used impersonally

Chapter 10. Other related matters

Chapter 11. Background and theory

Sources of data and translation, with abbreviations

References

Index of names

Subject index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9789027215840

9789027265272 (ebook)