11.608, Books: Syntax, Semantics, Historical Ling

Sat Mar 18 04:38:34 UTC 2000

LINGUIST List:  Vol-11-608. Fri Mar 17 2000. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 11.608, Books: Syntax, Semantics, Historical Ling

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=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Thu, 16 Mar 2000 16:59:35 -0400
From:  Jud Wolfskill <wolfskil at MIT.EDU>
Subject:  An Introduction to Semantics, G. Chierchia & S. McConnell-Ginet

2)
Date:  Thu, 16 Mar 2000 16:46:40 -0400
From:  Jud Wolfskill <wolfskil at MIT.EDU>
Subject:  Syntax & Semantics: The Syntactic Process, M. Steedman

3)
Date:  Thu, 16 Mar 2000 22:04:02 -0500
From:  Paul Peranteau <paul at benjamins.com>
Subject:  Historical Linguistics: Language History: An Introduction, A. Sihler

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 16 Mar 2000 16:59:35 -0400
From:  Jud Wolfskill <wolfskil at MIT.EDU>
Subject:  An Introduction to Semantics, G. Chierchia & S. McConnell-Ginet

The following is a book which readers of this list might find of
interest.  For more information please visit
http://mitpress.mit.edu/promotions/books/CHIEP2F99

Meaning and Grammar
An Introduction to Semantics
second edition

Gennaro Chierchia and Sally McConnell-Ginet

This self-contained introduction to natural language semantics
addresses the major theoretical questions in the field. The authors
introduce the systematic study of linguistic meaning through a
sequence of formal tools and their linguistic applications. Starting
with propositional connectives and truth conditions, the book moves to
quantification and binding, intensionality and tense, and so on. To
set their approach in a broader perspective, the authors also explore
the interaction of meaning with context and use (the
semantics-pragmatics interface) and address some of the foundational
questions, especially in connection with cognition in general. They
also introduce a few of the most accessible and interesting ideas from
recent research to give the reader a bit of the flavor of current work
in semantics. The organization of this new edition is modular; after
the introductory chapters, the remaining material can be covered in
flexible order. The book presupposes no background in formal logic (an
appendix introduces the basic notions of set theory) and only a
minimal acquaintance with linguistics. This edition includes a
substantial amount of completely new material and has been not only
updated but redesigned throughout to enhance its user-friendliness.

Gennaro Chierchia is Professor of Linguistics at the University of
Milan. Sally McConnell-Ginet is Professor of Linguistics at Cornell
University.

7 x 10, 522 pp., 15 illus., paper ISBN 0-262-53164-X, cloth ISBN
0-262-03269-4

-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 16 Mar 2000 16:46:40 -0400
From:  Jud Wolfskill <wolfskil at MIT.EDU>
Subject:  Syntax & Semantics: The Syntactic Process, M. Steedman

The following is a book which readers of this list might find of
interest.  For more information please visit
http://mitpress.mit.edu/promotions/books/STE1SHF99

The Syntactic Process
Mark Steedman

In this book Mark Steedman argues that the surface syntax of natural
languages maps spoken and written forms directly to a compositional
semantic representation that includes predicate-argument structure,
quantification, and information structure without constructing any
intervening structural representation. His purpose is to construct a
principled theory of natural grammar that is directly compatible with
both explanatory linguistic accounts of a number of problematic
syntactic phenomena and a straightforward computational account of the
way sentences are mapped onto representations of meaning. The radical
nature of Steedman's proposal stems from his claim that much of the
apparent complexity of syntax, prosody, and processing follows from
the lexical specification of the grammar and from the involvement of a
small number of universal rule-types for combining predicates and
arguments.

The book covers topics in formal linguistics, intonational phonology,
computational linguistics, and experimental psycholinguistics,
presenting them as an integrated theory of the language faculty in a
form accessible to readers from any of those fields.

Mark Steedman is Professor of Cognitive Science in the Division of
Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Surface
Structure and Interpretation (MIT Press, 1996).

6 x 9, 328 pp., 11 illus., cloth ISBN 0-262-19420-1

Language, Speech, and Communication series

A Bradford Book

-------------------------------- Message 3 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 16 Mar 2000 22:04:02 -0500
From:  Paul Peranteau <paul at benjamins.com>
Subject:  Historical Linguistics: Language History: An Introduction, A. Sihler

John Benjamins Publishing presents for your use:

LANGUAGE HISTORY . An introduction.
by Andrew L. Sihler (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 191
xvi, 299 pp.
US & Canada: HB 1 55619 968 6  USD 70.00   / pb: 1 55619 969 4  USD $29.95
Rest of world:  HB:  90 272 3697 6  NLG 140.00 / pb: 90 272 3698 4  NLG 60.00
Examination copies available

This classroom-tested volume aspires to be a brief but technically and
factually accurate exposition of linguistic description and history.
Whether studied as prime subject or as background information, it
should help students understand the assumptions and reasoning that
underlie the contents of their handbooks and etymological
dictionaries.

This book should be a useful guide for anyone unfamiliar with
(historical) linguistics who is studying the history of a language,
and also for those who are enrolled in courses devoted to reading
texts in old languages.

Contents:

Introduction
1. Changes in Pronunciation: Assimilation; Dissimilation; Addition of
   segments; Loss of segments; Metathesis; Other interactions between
   segments; Changes in manner of articulation.
2. Sound Laws: Merger; Primary split (conditioned merger); Secondary split
   (phonolo-gization); Sound laws; Efficient causes of sound change;
   Patternless changes.
3. Analogy: Leveling analogy; Recomposition; Contamination; Portmanteau
   words; Folk etymology; Morphological analogy; Hypercorrection.
4. Semantic Change: Changes in the number of features; Pejoration and
   melioration; Foregrounding of connotations; Figurative meanings (metaphor,
   metonymy); Changes resulting from changes in the structure of language,
   reinterpretation of ambiguities, and changes in the physical or social
   environment; Calques; The etymological fallacy.
5. Reconstruction: The comparative method; Reconstruction of features of
   morphology, semantics, and syntax; Internal reconstruction; The
   relationship between phonological restructuring and internal reconstruction.
6. External Aspects of Language: Language and dialect; Differentiation of
   languages; Languages in contact.
7. Written Records: The interpretation of written records; Transliteration;
   Borrowing; Multiple values of symbols; Chronology; Borrowing symbols;
   Comparative evidence; Typology, parallelism; Statements by contemporaneous
   authorities; Poetry.

Appendix: Phonetics  the mechanisms of speech and the classifications of
speech sounds.
Glossary; Glossary of Terms in German
Bibliography
Index

			John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Offices:	Philadelphia			Amsterdam:
Websites: 	http://www.benjamins.com	http://www.benjamins.nl
E-mail:		service at benjamins.com		customer.services at benjamins.nl
Phone:		+215 836-1200			+31 20 6762325
Fax: 		+215 836-1204			+31 20 6739773

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