book notice

[Ellen L. Contini-Morava]

Ellen Contini-Morava and Barbara Sussman Goldberg (eds.), Meaning as
Explanation:  Advances in Linguistic Sign Theory.  Berlin:  Mouton de
Gruyter 1995.  ISBN 3-11-014122-1.  Cloth, 487 pp. DM 248.
A collection of papers from theoretical perspectives that share a
conception of language as a system of meaningful signs.  In
sign-oriented theories the distribution of linguistic forms is
explained in terms of the contribution of their meanings to the
message communicated, and the data are drawn from actual discourse
rather than invented, decontextualized examples.  Includes comparison
of theory and method among major sign-oriented approaches, and analyses
of data from a variety of languages.