18.2201, Books: Pragmatics/Discourse Analysis/Phonology: Zuo, Zuo

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LINGUIST List: Vol-18-2201. Sun Jul 22 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 18.2201, Books: Pragmatics/Discourse Analysis/Phonology: Zuo, Zuo

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1)
Date: 12-Jul-2007
From: Ulrich Lueders < lincom.europa at t-online.de >
Subject: The Computing of Discourse Focus: Zuo, Zuo

 

	
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Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:38:25
From: Ulrich Lueders [lincom.europa at t-online.de]
Subject: The Computing of Discourse Focus: Zuo, Zuo
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Title: The Computing of Discourse Focus 
Series Title: LINCOM Studies in Pragmatics 06  

Publication Year: 2007 
Publisher: Lincom GmbH
	   http://www.lincom.eu
	
Author: Wei Zuo
Author: Yan Zuo

Paperback: ISBN: 3895866172  Pages: 180 Price: Europe EURO 67.00


Abstract:

This dissertation is a comprehensive and in-depth study of the notion of
focus with two of its salient characteristics being the interdisciplinary
approach adopted and the range of query covered. The research is largely
motivated by the realization that focus is a notion figuring crucially in
both core linguistic studies such as phonetics/phonology, syntax,
semantics, and discourse analysis, and peripheral linguistic areas such as
psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics and in particular computational
linguistics.

The major contributions of the study can be summarized as follows. Firstly
after a critical review of the various previous definitional accounts, it
is concluded that the notion of focus is best defined as a
cognito-pragmatic one and accordingly the constructs of knowledge store and
discourse model are postulated before a working definition of focus is
proposed. Secondly, on the basis of this definition, the process of focus
determination in discourse is captured in the form of a formal algorithm,
namely, Focus Determination Algorithm (FDA), which, being programmable and
operationable, can be integrated into the discourse modeling system. This
formalization is enabled by the constructs of knowledge store and discourse
model introduced before and substantiated by research findings from social
psychology and neuropsychology. Thirdly, the linguistic, in particular the
prosodic, means of realizing focus is discussed and for this purpose data
from a range of languages are cited. Similar to the determination of focus,
the process of how accent is assigned on the basis of focus is also
captured in a semi-formalized manner by virtue of a procedural algorithm,
namely, an Accent Determination Procedure (ADP).

As just mentioned, the research is marked by its interdisciplinary
perspective; it incorporates impetuses, insights and inputs from core
linguistics (specifically phonology and discourse analysis), computational
linguistics, social psychology, and neuropsychology. What is particularly
noteworthy is its orientation towards and potential significance for
natural language processing, especially the generation of natural speech by
enabling the integration of discourse-level information such as focus into
the prosody generation model.

Key Words: focus; cognito-pragmatic; discourse generation; accentuation;
natural language.

2nd printing 2007. 



Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis
                     Phonology
                     Pragmatics


Written In: English  (eng)
	
See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=30266


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