The book presents a cross-linguistic hierarchy of natural language "syntactic coding of topic accessibility" (including, for example, discourse participant prominence).[1] Givón describes the aim of the research, documented in the book, as "the rather ambitious goal ... to define, in a preliminary but cross-linguistically stable fashion, the basic principles of iconicity underlying the syntactic coding of the topic identification domain."[2]
Givón's starting point was his previously published (1978, 1979, 1981 and 1982) one-dimensional scale. As listed by him, from "most continuous/accessible topic" to "most discontinuous/inaccessible topic" this was as follows:[1]
The language specific studies provided in the book are on Japanese, Amharic, Ute, Biblical Hebrew, Latin-American Spanish, written English, spoken English, Hausa and Chamorro. The data from these languages were analysed according to a common methodology, explained by Givón in the introduction to the book, and agreed upon by all the other contributors. The methodology involved quantitative measurements, which although statistical, were designed to be repeatable and applicable to any language.
Topic Continuity in Discourse — overview of book provided by publisher
December 03, 2023
topic, continuity, discourse, subtitled, quantitative, cross, language, study, book, edited, talmy, givón, with, contributions, himself, other, experts, various, languages, part, series, typological, studies, language, supplement, series, academic, journal, st. Topic Continuity in Discourse subtitled A Quantitative Cross Language Study is a book edited by Talmy Givon with contributions by himself and other experts in various languages It is part of the series Typological Studies in Language a supplement series to the academic journal Studies in Language and was published by John Benjamins in 1983 Topic Continuity in DiscourseAuthorTalmy GivonLanguageEnglishSeriesTypological Studies in LanguageSubjectpragmaticsGenrenonfictionPublisherJohn BenjaminsPublication date1983Pages492ISBN90 272 2867 1OCLC10313658LC ClassP302 T66x 1983The book presents a cross linguistic hierarchy of natural language syntactic coding of topic accessibility including for example discourse participant prominence 1 Givon describes the aim of the research documented in the book as the rather ambitious goal to define in a preliminary but cross linguistically stable fashion the basic principles of iconicity underlying the syntactic coding of the topic identification domain 2 Givon s starting point was his previously published 1978 1979 1981 and 1982 one dimensional scale As listed by him from most continuous accessible topic to most discontinuous inaccessible topic this was as follows 1 zero anaphora unstressed bound pronouns and grammatical agreement stressed independent pronouns right dislocated definite noun phrases NP neutral ordered NPs left dislocated NPs Y moved NPs or contrastive topicalization cleft and focus constructions referential indefinite NPsThe language specific studies provided in the book are on Japanese Amharic Ute Biblical Hebrew Latin American Spanish written English spoken English Hausa and Chamorro The data from these languages were analysed according to a common methodology explained by Givon in the introduction to the book and agreed upon by all the other contributors The methodology involved quantitative measurements which although statistical were designed to be repeatable and applicable to any language Contents 1 See also 2 Notes and references 3 Bibliography 4 External linksSee also editCognitive science Context Cotext Human universals Language universals Pragmatics Psycholinguistics Sociolinguistics Universal grammarNotes and references edit a b Givon 1983 17 Givon 1983 18 emphasis original Bibliography editGivon Talmy Topic Continuity in Discourse A Quantitative Cross Language Study Typological Studies in Language 3 Amsterdam John Benjamins 1983 External links editTopic Continuity in Discourse overview of book provided by publisher Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Topic Continuity in Discourse amp oldid 931254735, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
