Book notice

[Peter Harder]

  Ahem...I wonder if I might call your attention to:

  Functional Semantics. A Theory of Meaning, Structure and
  Tense in English. By Peter Harder. Berlin/New York: Mouton de
  Gruyter, 1996 (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 87.
  586 pp, DM 200,-. ISBN 3-11-014941-9).

  The book contains an integrated theory of function, cognition and
  linguistic structure - illustrated with an account of tense based on the
  theory.
        Beginning with a discussion of the intellectual history of the
  concept of meaning, it argues that not only meaning but all the central
  concepts of linguistics, including linguistic structure, must be
  understood as based on function. It further analyses the fundamental
  confusion that underlies some basic notions in the accepted picture of
  linguistics, such as the trinity of syntax, semantics and pragmatics, and
  suggests a revised view in which the semantic half of syntax has a
  central role - from a structural as well as a functional and cognitive
  point of view.
        In comparing this view of syntax with the mainstream view, it
  shows that the Chomskyan view of syntax is the result of a confusion of
  metalanguage with object language: like others before him, Chomsky
  'discovered' his own descriptive apparatus in the object itself.
        The book proposes a general theory of the relation between
  functional and cognitive aspects of language, relates the theory to the
  evolution of language as well as clause structure, and shows how tense
  fits into this picture.

        Thank you for allowing your attention to be called! (Peter Harder)