33.3768, Books: Communicative Efficiency: Levshina

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3768. Fri Dec 09 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3768, Books: Communicative Efficiency: Levshina

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Editor for this issue: Maria Lucero Guillen Puon <luceroguillen at linguistlist.org>
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Date: Fri, 09 Dec 2022 16:50:37
From: Ellena Moriarty [ellena.moriarty at cambridge.org]
Subject: Communicative Efficiency: Levshina

 


Title: Communicative Efficiency 
Subtitle: Language Structure and Use 
Publication Year: 2022 
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
	   http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics
	

Book URL: https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/cognitive-linguistics/communicative-efficiency-language-structure-and-use?format=HB 


Author: Natalia Levshina

Hardback: ISBN:  9781108840798 Pages:  Price: U.S. $ 110.00
Hardback: ISBN:  9781108840798 Pages:  Price: U.K. £ 85.00
Hardback: ISBN:  9781108840798 Pages:  Price: Europe EURO 99.20


Abstract:

All living beings try to save effort, and humans are no exception. This
groundbreaking book shows how we save time and energy during communication by
unconsciously making efficient choices in grammar, lexicon and phonology. It
presents a new theory of 'communicative efficiency', the idea that language is
designed to be as efficient as possible, as a system of communication. The new
framework accounts for the diverse manifestations of communicative efficiency
across a typologically broad range of languages, using various corpus-based
and statistical approaches to explain speakers' bias towards efficiency. The
author's unique interdisciplinary expertise allows her to provide rich
evidence from a broad range of language sciences. She integrates diverse
insights from over a hundred years of research into this comprehensible new
theory, which she presents step-by-step in clear and accessible language. It
is essential reading for language scientists, cognitive scientists and anyone
interested in language use and communication.
 



List of Figures ; List of Tables; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of
Abbreviations; Part I. Different Types of Efficiency in Language: 1.
Communicative efficiency: main concepts; 2. Efficiency and formal length; 3.
Efficiency and the order of meaningful elements; 4. Other ways of saving
effort; Part II. Efficiency and Language Evolution: 5. Emergence of efficient
language patterns; 6. From trade-offs to causal networks; Part III. Case
Studies: 7. Efficient form-meaning mapping in causative constructions; 8.
Differential case marking and efficiency; 9. Efficient use of function words
in English alternations; 10. Conclusions and perspectives Appendices;
References; Index.
 


Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science
                     Language Documentation


Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=165693




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