3 New books of functional interest

[Paul Peranteau]

John Benjamins Publishing has just introduced these three new works related
to the functional paradigm.

Reflexives. Forms and functions.
Zygmunt FRAJZYNGIER and Traci S. CURL (University of Colorado) (eds.)
Typological Studies in Language 40
US & Canada: 1 55619 653 9 / USD 85.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 2939 2 / NLG 170.00 (Hardcover)

The importance of reflexive markers in the study of language structure
cannot be underestimated: they participate in the coding of the argument
structure of a clause; in the coding of semantic relations between
arguments and verbs; in the coding of the relationship between arguments;
in the coding of aspect; in the coding of point of view; and in the Coding
of the information structure of a clause.
The present volume offers an approach to reflexive forms and functions
from several perspectives: a formal approach where reflexives are
discussed within a well-defined model of language representation; a
typological approach; a historical approach concentrating on
grammaticalization of reflexives and on the changes that pronouns and
anaphors undergo; and a functionalist approach where functions of
reflexive forms are described. The languages from which data were drawn
represent a wide variety of language families and language types: English,
Old English, Dutch, German, Tsakhur (Nakh-Dagestanian), Spanish, French,
Bantu and Chadic languages. The variety of languages discussed and the
different approaches taken complement each other in that each contributes
an important piece to the understanding of reflexives in a
cross-linguistic perspective.

Contributions by: E. Reuland; E. König and P. Siemund; W. Abraham; M.
Schladt; Z. Frajzyngier; R. Maldonado; E. van Gelderen; E.A. Lyutikova; R.
Waltereit.


Reciprocals. Forms and functions.
Zygmunt FRAJZYNGIER and Traci S. CURL (University of Colorado) (eds)
Typological Studies in Language 41
US & Canada: 1 55619 654 7 / USD 79.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 2940 6 / NLG 158.00 (Hardcover)

The theoretical issues addressed in the present volume are semantic and
cognitive properties of reciprocal events, syntactic properties of
reciprocals, and the relationship of reciprocals to other grammatical
categories. Several papers discuss the history of reciprocal
constructions, offering alternative hypotheses regarding the
grammaticalization of reciprocals. The formal, functional, typological and
historical approaches in the present volume complement each other,
contributing together to the understanding of forms, and syntactic and
semantic properties of reciprocal markers. Several papers in the present
volume make a double contribution to the problems of reciprocal
constructions: they provide new descriptive data and they address
theoretical issues at the same time.
The languages discussed include: English, Dutch, German, Greek, Polish,
Nyulnyulan (Australia), Amharic
(Ethio-Semitic), Bilin (Cushitic), Chadic languages, Bantu, Halkomelem
(Salishan), Mandarin, Yukaghir and a number of Oceanic languages. The
volume also includes a study of grammaticalization of reciprocals and
reflexives in African languages.

Contributions by: Bernd Heine; Martin Everaert; Frank Lichtenberk; Meichun
Liu; William McGregor; Donna Gerdts; Elena Maslova; and Zygmunt
Frajzyngier.


Constructions in Cognitive Linguistics.
Selected papers from the Fifth International Cognitive Linguistics
Conference, Amsterdam, 1997.
Ad FOOLEN (University of Nijmegen) and Frederike van der LEEK (University
of Amsterdam) (eds.)
Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 178
US & Canada: 1 55619 955 4 / USD 75.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 3684 4 / NLG 150.00 (Hardcover)

This volume contains selected papers from the 5th ICLC, Amsterdam 1997.
The papers present cognitive analyses of a variety of constructions
(phrasal verbs, prepositional phrases, transitivity, accusative versus
dative objects, possessives, gerunds, passives, causatives, conditionals),
in a variety of languages (English, German, Dutch, Polish, Greek, Hebrew,
Japanese, Thai, Fijian). Besides analyses of 'objective construal', the
volume reflects the increasing interest in subjectivity (grounding and
speaker involvement). It also includes, lastly, contributions on the
acquisition and agrammatic loss of constructions.

Contributions by: Angeliki Athanasiadou & René Dirven; Barbara Dancygier;
Robert Dewell; Ad Foolen; Patrick Griffiths; Beate Hampe; Liesbet
Heyvaert; Hiroko Ihara & Ikuyo Fujita; Agata Kochanska; Frederike van der
Leek; Nili Mandelbit & Gilles Fauconnier; Tanja Mortelmans; Kiki
Nikiforidou & Demetra Katis; Hidemitsu Takahashi; Kingkarn Thepkanjana;
Eijiro Tsuboi.


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