Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics Books

Book SynopsisUnderstanding Semantics, Second Edition, provides an engaging and accessible introduction to linguistic semantics. The first part takes the reader through a step-by-step guide to the main phenomena and notions of semantics, covering levels and dimensions of meaning, ambiguity, meaning and context, logical relations and meaning relations, the basics of noun semantics, verb semantics and sentence semantics. The second part provides a critical introduction to the basic notions of the three major theoretical approaches to meaning: structuralism, cognitive semantics and formal semantics.Key features include: A consistent mentalist perspective on meaning Broad coverage of lexical and sentence semantics, including three new chapters discussing deixis, NP semantics, presuppositions, verb semantics and frames Examples from a wider range of languages that include German, Japanese, Spanish and Russian. Practical exercises on linguistic Trade ReviewPraise for the first edition "Understanding Semantics is an original and innovative resource for introductory courses on linguistic semantics, excelling in particular in conciseness and accessibility of presentation."Linguistics 43-2 "Löbner's book is strongly recommended and is best seen as a starting point in one's inquiry into what semantics comprises."Luna Filipovic Kleiner, Journal of Pragmatics Praise for the second edition "Sebastian Löbner deserves great credit for producing an introduction to linguistic meaning that is both accessible and thorough." Chris Lucas, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK "This excellent and well-written introductory textbook provides students with easy access to the fascinating world of semantics." Klaus von Heusinger, University of Cologne, Germany "Sebastian Löbner’s Understanding Semantics is a rare treat for both seasoned researchers in semantics and novices to the field, and I believe this book should be on every semantics curriculum as it has been on mine since it first appeared." Luna Filipovic, University of East Anglia, UK "Without stinting on presenting core areas of sentential logic, predication, and lexical relations, the new edition of this comprehensive survey of semantics is enhanced by three new chapters. Students will benefit from the exercises that cover the intersection of semantic and pragmatics at the lexical, sentential and cognitive levels and require seeking evidence from their own as well as typologically diverse languages." Laurel Smith Stvan, University of Texas at Arlington, USA Table of Contents1. Meaning and semantics2. Dimensions of meaning3. Ambiguity4. Meaning and context5. Predication6. Verbs7. Meaning and logic8. Meaning relations9. Meaning components10. Meaning and language comparison11. Meaning and cognition12. Frames13. Formal semantics

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Book SynopsisIn a first phase of the project, I obtained drawings of the six different building types treated in this book from more than 100 children aged 3-12 years in Turkey during a stay there as part of the faculty of Architecture of the Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon under the auspices of the UN ESCO/UNDP program TUR/75/012.Table of ContentsI. The Development of Intelligence and Drawing Ability in Children.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Developmental Semiotics.- 3. The Mental Image.- 4. Drawing Development.- 5. Drawing in Nursery School.- 6. Grapheme Development.- II. Children’s Drawings of Buildings.- 7. Introduction to the Study of Children’s Drawings of Buildings.- 8. Methods of the Central Study.- 9. Results of the Central Study.- 10. Discussion of the Results.- References.

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Book SynopsisAn Ideological Analysis of Breastfeeding in Contemporary America: Disciplining the Maternal Body analyzes the discourses involved in the pro-breastfeeding, breast is best paradigm, highlighting how such politically charged rhetoric restrains women's ability to make the choices that are best for them and their families. Loreen Olson and Jenni M. Simon combat the idea that is so often espoused by medical professionals, researchers, and society at large: to be a good parent, one must provide breast milk to the infant in order for the baby to grow into a healthy, productive citizen. By exposing the biases present, Olson and Simon advocate for the need to make discursive space for all parents and all feeding choices. Scholars of communication, rhetoric, gender and women's studies, and feminism will find this book particularly useful.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Discourse, Ideology, and Breastfeeding: The Breast-is-Best Discursive Formation and the Construction of Hegemonic Mothering Chapter 2: Building the Breast-is-Best Discursive Formation: A Genealogy of Hegemonic Motherhood Chapter 3: Creating the Gaze: The Birth of the Medi-Institutionalization of Breastfeeding Chapter 4: Disciplining the Maternal Body: Discourses for Expecting Moms Chapter 5: Disciplining the Marginalized Maternal Body: Discourses of Race, Class, and Privilege Chapter 6: Talking Back: The Discourses of Lived Experience Chapter 7: Talking Back and Taking Back: Discourses of Resistance and Change

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Book SynopsisHow rhetoric—the art of persuasion—can help us navigate an age of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and political acrimony The discipline of rhetoric was the keystone of Western education for over two thousand years. Only recently has its perceived importance faded.  In this book, renowned rhetorical scholar Robin Reames argues that, in today’s polarized political climate, we should all care deeply about learning rhetoric. Drawing on examples ranging from the destructive ancient Greek demagogue Alcibiades to modern-day conspiracists like Alex Jones, Reames breaks down the major techniques of rhetoric, pulling back the curtain on how politicians, journalists, and “journalists” convince us to believe what we believe—and to talk, vote, and act accordingly. Understanding these techniques helps us avoid being manipulated by authority figures who don’t have our best interests at heart. It also grants us rare ins

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Book SynopsisFreedom and Dialogue in a Polarized World argues that our most cherished ideas about freedom—being left alone to do as we please, or uncovering the truth—have failed us. They promote the polarized thinking that blights our world. Rooted in literature, political theory and Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of language, this book introduces a new concept: dialogic freedom. This concept combats polarization by inspiring us to feel freer the better able we are to see from the perspectives of others. To say that freedom is dialogic is to apply to it an idea about language. If you and I are talking, I anticipate from you a response that could be friendly, hostile, or indifferent, and this awareness helps determine what I say. If you look bored or give me a blank stare, I might not say anything at all. In this sense language is dialogic. The same can be said of freedom. Our decisions take into account the voices of others to which we feel answerable, and these voices coauthor our choices. In today’s polarized world, prevailing concepts of freedom as autonomy and enlightenment have encouraged us to take refuge in echo chambers among the like-minded. Whether the subject is abortion, terrorism, or gun control, these concepts encourage us to shut out the voices of those who dare to disagree. We need a new way to think about freedom. Freedom and Dialogue in a Polarized World presents riveting moments of choice from Homer’s Iliad, Dante’s Inferno, Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Melville’s “Benito Cereno,” Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony,” and Morrison’s Beloved, in order to advocate reading for and with dialogic freedom. It ends with a practical application to the debate about abortion and an invitation to rethink other polarizing issues. For more information, please visit: http://dialogicfreedom.weebly.com/.Trade Review"To see true dialogue as a way of allowing conflicting voices to hear and understand one another is to offer hope of some resolution in our current world of polarization and impasse. Sharon's book on Freedom and Dialogue in a Polarized World does just that, by taking us back to some great debates of literary art, like Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in which dialogic freedom takes the liberating form of seeking out a continuum of layers of knowing, as Portia and Shylock fail to navigate a way of transcending the hostility and cultural deafness that holds them apart. This thoughtful book is timely in the best sense." -- David Bevington, Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago“In 1919, a dark year for Europe full of dire pronouncements on the ‘crisis of culture,’ Mikhail Bakhtin began to develop an arsenal of precious philosophical ideas by which civilization might better live: intuitive empathy, dialogue, a carnival fearlessness and sense of the cosmic whole, the unfinalizability of consciousness. Over the next three decades he illustrated their dynamics through the literary genius of Dostoevsky, Goethe, Rabelais. Sharon Schuman’s book adopts a similar technique. In successive chapters, Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Melville, Dostoevsky, Kafka, and Toni Morrison provide the lens and morally textured background for the “life of an idea” that Schuman has fashioned out of Bakhtinian materials to address our present culture’s crisis of freedom. It is a conceptual crisis peculiar to a free society (in Stalinist Russia, Bakhtin would have gazed on it in wonder). The two definitions Schuman considers foundational in the West—freedom as autonomy and freedom as enlightenment—must be supplemented by a concept less devoted to the static comfort zone of each person’s individual rights and belief. Moving with the dissonant other, she suggests, is possible, interesting, and wise. Decision-making and freedom are both “two-sided acts.” An outsiderly or “alien” view on things is essential to our own. As the reader gradually and gratefully comes to see, assimilating these insights through literature makes them not just politically relevant, but immortal.” -- Caryl Emerson, A. Watson Armour III University Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsContents Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introducing Dialogic Freedom 2. A Father Begs for his Son’s Corpse in the Iliad 3. Passion and Freedom in Dante’s Inferno 4. Deaf to Shylock in The Merchant of Venice 5. The Virtuosity of Satan in Paradise Lost 6. Shaping the Master’s Vision in “Benito Cereno” 7. The Grand Inquisitor’s Silent Christ 8. Goading a Reader of “In the Penal Colony”` 9. Freedom Under Impossible Conditions in Beloved 10. Freedom Under Construction in a Polarized World Appendix A: Theoretical Roots of Dialogic Freedom Appendix B: Discussion Guide for Teachers, Students, and Book Groups Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBy integrating cognitive linguistics and sociocultural theories, this groundbreaking book presents empirical studies on selected grammatical and semantic aspects that are challenging for second/foreign language learners. Through in-depth studies exploring eight different languages, this book offers insights generated through the synergy between cognitive linguistics and sociocultural theories that can be readily incorporated into teaching.

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Book SynopsisThis book traces the re-emergence of nationalism in the media, popular culture and politics, and the normalization of far-right nativist ideologies and attitudes in Austria between 1995 and 2015, within the framework of Critical Discourse Studies. In doing so, it brings together a range of theoretical and empirical approaches to identity politics, contemporary popular culture, far-right populism and commemoration. While contradictory yet intertwined tendencies towards renationalization and transnationalization have often framed debates about European identities, the so-called refugee crisis of 2015 intensified and polarized these debates. The COVID-19 pandemic, as another major crisis, saw nation-states react by closing borders, while symbols of banal nationalism proliferated. The data under discussion here, drawn from a variety of empirical studies, suggest that changes in memory politics—the way past events are collectively remembered and tied into current political discourses—are also linked to the dynamics of migration; the influence of financial and climate crises; changing gender politics; and a new transnational European politics of the past. Accordingly, the authors assess current challenges to liberal democracies, as well as fundamental human and constitutional rights, in relation to new trends of renationalization across Europe and beyond.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Nationalisms old and new Ruth Wodak and Markus Rheindorf 1. Discourses about Nationalism Ruth Wodak 2. The Discourse-Historical Approach: Methodological innovation and Triangulation Markus Rheindorf 3. Negotiations of a Shared Past and National Identity 1995-2015 Markus Rheindorf and Ruth Wodak 4. Whose story? – Narratives of persecution, flight and survival told by the children of Austrian Holocaust survivors Ruth Wodak and Markus Rheindorf 5. Disciplining the Unwilling: Normalization of (Demands for) Punitive Measures against Immigrants in Austrian Populist Discourse Markus Rheindorf 6. Nativist gender and body politics Ruth Wodak and Markus Rheindorf 7. Entering the Post-Shame Era. The Rise of Illiberal Democracy, Populism and Neo-Authoritarianism in Europe. The case of the turquoise-blue government in Austria 2017/2018 Ruth Wodak 8. Borders, Fences and Limits: Protecting Austria from Refugees. Metadiscursive negotiation of meaning in the current refugee crisis Markus Rheindorf and Ruth Wodak 9. Re/inventing nationalism: Crisis Communication and Crisis Management during COVID-19 in Austria Ruth Wodak

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the ways in which handheld networked devices can be used to enhance and augment interpersonal communication. The author examines in depth how the addition of visual and multimodal input, access to online search engines and the inclusion of participants from distant geographical locations (either synchronously or asynchronously) affects our face to face interactions. Presenting research data from several years of autoethnographic observation, this balanced work reveals the consequences, both positive and negative, of technology-dependent forms of discourse. In doing so, this sociolinguistic perspective fills a gap in the current literature and indicates possible future directions for the study of augmented communication. It will appeal in particular to students and scholars of sociolinguistics, applied linguistics and digital humanities.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: History of Augmented Communication: technology and disability.- Chapter 3: Augmented Communication as a modern phenomenon in ordinary speech.- Chapter 4: Types of Augmented Communication.- Chapter 5: Stepping Back: Analysis and Discussion of ICT and language change.- Chapter 6: Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book interrogates the role of quantification in stories on social media: how do visible numbers (e.g. of views, shares, likes) and invisible algorithmic measurements shape the stories we post and engage with? The links of quantification with stories have not been explored sufficiently in storytelling research or in social media studies, despite the fact that platforms have been integrating sophisticated metrics into developing facilities for sharing stories, with a massive appeal to ordinary users, influencers and businesses alike. With case-studies from Instagram, Reddit and Snapchat, the authors show how three types of metrics, namely content metrics, interface metrics and algorithmic metrics, affect the ways in which cancer patients share their experiences, the circulation of specific stories that mobilize counter-publics and the design of stories as facilities on platforms. The analyses document how numbers structure elements in stories, indicate and produce engagement and become resources for the tellers’ self-presentation. This book will be of interest to students and scholars working in the fields of narrative and social media studies, including narratology, biography studies, digital storytelling, life-writing, narrative psychology, sociological approaches to narrative, discourse and sociolinguistic perspectives.Trade Review“Georgakopoulou, Iversen, & Stage invite readers to rethink concepts such as narrative, interaction, tellership, and tellability, as well as the active role of numbers IN and AS social media stories. … The book stands for an imperative necessity to reflect about equating participation in digital media with democratization, engaging readers in new narrative formats and the pervasive way quantification has entered our lives. It mobilizes a rethinking of key concepts, contributing to storytelling research and social media studies.” (Meiriane Martins Aguiar, Language in Society, Vol. 51 (3), 2022)Table of ContentsChapter 1: Analyzing Quantified Stories on Social Media.- Chapter 2: Measuring and Narrating the Disrupted Self on Instagram.- Chapter 3: Making Memes Count: Platformed Rallying on Reddit.- Chapter 4: Curating Stories - Curating Metrics: Directives in the Design of Stories.- Chapter 5: Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis text deals with one of the central problems for theories of word-formation, the productivity of morphological processes.

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Book SynopsisThe book will focus on the textualization process of long oral epics, found today mainly outside Europe, especially on their oral composition, documentation, codification in writing, editing and publication. Interesting fieldwork-based studies on living oral epics are able to inform us about the problems of textualization in a way which will also interest scholars studying long-dead epic traditions such as Homer, Beowulf, Nibelungenlied, Edda, etc. The problem of textualization has been vividly discussed in recent years in anthropology, folkloristics, literary studies, philology and linguistics. The book will open an ethnographic angle on the discussion on how long epics are composed and used in a variety of cultural contexts.

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This compilation of invited contributions, gathering an international collection of cognitive and functional linguists, offers an outline of original empirical work carried out in grounding theory. Grounding is a central notion in cognitive grammar that addresses the linking of semantic content to contextual factors that constitute the subjective ground (or situation of speech). The volume illustrates a growing concern with the application of cognitive grammar to constructions establishing deixis and reference. It proposes a double focus on nominal and clausal grounding, as well as on ways of integrating analyses across these domains.

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Book SynopsisNorwegian Modals is a detailed description of the syntactic and semantic properties of modals in Norwegian. Modal verbs in Mainland Scandinavian languages have received much less attention than their English and German counterparts, hence this book seizes the opportunity to present a range of new data and generalizations relevant for the study of Scandinavian languages, but also for the study of modality in Germanic and other languages. The book critically evaluates a range of proposals from the modality literature, focusing on the Theta-properties and the scopal properties of Modals in Germanic languages, and concludes that none of these previous proposals are able to account for the syntax of modals in Norwegian. The Theta-properties of modals are shown to depend on the construction in which the modal occurs, hence neither a raising analysis, a control analysis, nor a raising-versus-control analysis in fact suffices to exhaust these properties of Norwegian modals. The interplay of modals with tense and aspect is likewise thoroughly investigated, presenting a range of data revealing that existing universalist proposals are insufficient to account for even quite regular patterns. Instead, a new analysis is presented, building on a new compositional tense system which exploits aspectual features of predicates and selectional preferences of modal classes.Trade Review"[...] this is a very welcome and solid addition to the general topic of modality and its generalizable description."Werner Abrahamin: Studies in Language 7/2007

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Book SynopsisThe volume focuses on the interaction of different levels of linguistic analysis (syntax, semantics, pragmatics) and the interfaces between them, on the convergence of different theoretical models in explaining linguistic phenomena, and on recent interdisciplinary approaches to linguistic analysis. Its theoretical importance lies in bringing out and highlighting some of the common trends and directions found in recent theoretical frameworks which focus on themes traditionally downplayed by mainstream 20th century linguistics. It further familiarizes the reader with the methodology used in such frameworks and shows how methodology developed in different theoretical perspectives can often converge in yielding similar results. While representing different traditions, all papers in this volume assume a necessity for the study of language to be paired with the study of cognition and for linguistics to develop more substantive links to other disciplines, thereby creating converging trends into the new century. The structure of this volume reflects this assumption along a cline of theoretical models and methodologies, starting from those that view language as part of cognition and ending with those that consider the language faculty to be distinct from general cognition. Thus the volume is divided into five parts: (I) relaxing level boundaries, (II) focusing on level interaction, (III) drawing on different theories, (IV) exploring field interaction, and (V) interdisciplinary perspectives on modularity. The volume is of particular relevance to scholars and students who are interested in an in-depth overview of 20th century linguistics outside/beyond the generative paradigm, and in exploring the development of 20th century legacy into current work.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Converging trends for 21st century linguistics: A theoretical background Part I : Relaxing level boundaries Eve Sweetser Putting the "same" meaning together from different pieces Klaus-Uwe Panther and Linda L. Thornburg Motivation and convention in some speech-act constructions: A cognitive-linguistic approach Bert Cornillie Subjectivity in Spanish esperar -based constructions Part II : Focusing on level interaction Katarzyna M. Jaszczolt Prolegomena to Default Semantics Eliza Kitisand Anastasios Tsangalidis Expressivity as an option of tense-aspect in language: The case of Modern Greek imperfective past Michalis Georgiafentis Focus: The interplay of phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics Part III : Drawing on different theories Michiel Leezenberg Greek tragedy as impolite conversation: Towards a practice approach in linguistic theory Marina Terkourafi Pragmatic correlates of frequency of use: The case for a notion of "minimal context" Chryssoula Lascaratouand Sophia Marmaridou Metaphor in Greek pain-constructions: Cognitive and functional perspectives Svetlana Kurtes Contrastive Linguistics: A 21st century perspective Part IV : Exploring field interaction Anastasios F. Christidis The nature of language: Twentieth century approaches Nick Enfield Micro- and macro-dimensions in linguistic systems Joel Walters Bilingualism as matchmaker: Towards a marriage of sociopragmatic and psycholinguistic research Alexandra Kallia The social and psychological modalities of politeness Part V : Interdisciplinary perspectives on modularity Deirdre Wilson New dimensions for research on pragmatics and modularity Elly Ifantidou Heresay devices and metarepresentation

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Book SynopsisIn view of the considerable number of recent publications devoted to various applications of Cognitive Linguistics, the book focusses on fields that have not been extensively dealt with within the CL framework. The book gathers presentations that deal with fields of application as defined in the introduction to the first volume in the ACL series (Kristiansen et al 2006). The articles in the first section ("From loop to cycle") are defining papers written by eminent scholars whose position within the field of CL has been firmly established. They touch upon issues of continuing relevance to the discipline and introduce thematic areas covered in the next four sections of the volume. Papers in these sections are mainly written by young scholars, whose research illustrates various ways to implement the cycle through different forms of contextualization, either presenting descriptive applications that lead to theoretical amendments or widening the field of possible applications, often interdisciplinary, e.g. to theological or metaphysical discourse. Frequently, section papers provide illustration for the empirical turn in Cognitive Linguistics, demonstrating the ways in which application of theory to new data using new methodologies leads to refinement, development or modification of the theoretical framework. The book is of relevance to students of (applied) linguistics, interested or specializing in language acquisition and pedagogy, intercultural communication, literary and translation studies, as well as to academics and students representing cognate disciplines.

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Book SynopsisIn line with the increasing use of empirical methods in Cognitive Linguistics, the current volume explores the uses of quantitative, in particular corpus-driven, techniques for the study of meaning. It shows how these techniques contribute to the core theoretical issues of Cognitive Semantics as well as how they inform semantic analysis. The research presented in the volume constitutes an important step towards an Empirical Cognitive Semantics.Trade Review"Overall, this volume is an important contribution to the development of empirical Cognitive Semantics. This collection of high-quality papers provides the reader with an insight into the most important empirical approaches in corpus-driven semantic research."Natalia Levshina in: Linguist List 20.3011

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Book SynopsisThis book addresses an under-researched area within populism studies: the discourse of supporters of populist parties. Taking the 2019 European elections as their case study, the authors analyse how supporters in eleven different countries construct identities and voting motivations on social media. The individual chapters comprise a range of methods to investigate data from different social media platforms, defining populism as a political strategy and/or practice, realised in discourse, that is based on a dichotomy between “the people”, who are unified by their will, and an out-group whose actions are not in the interest of the people, with a leader safeguarding the interests of the people against the out-group. The book identifies what motivates people to vote for populist parties, what role national identities and values play in those motivations, and how the social media postings of populist parties are recontextualised in supporters’ comments to serve as a voting motivation.

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Book SynopsisThe Human Condition prompts our creative strivings beyond the natural round of life toward outstanding achievements. This book explains how the emergence of Human Condition lifts natural endowment of the individual to the level of excellence. It shows how natural forces and promptings of life transmute through creative Human Condition subliminal passions of the soul into innumerable streaks of spiritual significance.Table of ContentsTHEMATIC STUDY: LITERATURE AND THE PASSION OF VIRTUE; L. Kimmel. Part I. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY VIRTUES AS REFLECTED IN CHINESE LITERATURE; T-I Dow. REVISITING THE TRADITIONAL VIRTUES OF THE HERO: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF WILFRED OWEN’S DISABLED SOLDIER; B. Micallef. BEAUTY, TASTE AND ENLIGHTENMENT IN HUME’S AESTHETIC THOUGH; V.G. Rivas. Part II. VIRTUES OF THE HEART: FEODOR DOSTOEVSKY AND THE ETHIC OF LOVE; E. Cherkasova. THE WILLING SUBJECT AND THE NON-WILLING IN THE TAO TE CHING AND NIETZSCHE’S HYPERBOREAN: TAOIST AND DECONSTRUCTIVE CHALLENGES TO THE IDEA OF VIRTUE; B. Ross. SPIRITUAL VIRTUE IN MARILYNNE ROBINSON’S GILEAD; R.M. Painter. Part III. INHERENT AND INTENTIONAL INQUIRIES ON VIRTUES; A. Ashvo-Munoz. STRIVING AND ACCEPTING LIMITS AS COMPETING META-VIRTUES: GOETHE’S FAUST AND IBSEN’S THE WILD DUCK; R.J. Wilson III. HAPPINESS, DIVISION, AND ILLUSIONS OF THE SELF IN PLATO’S SYMPOSIUM; P. Weigel. THE VIRTUE OF RESPONSIBILITY: FEMININITY, TEMPORALITY, AND SPACE IN MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM’S THE HOURS; A. Ljung-Baruth. Part IV. ENLIGHTENMENT, HUMANIZATION AND BEAUTY IN THE LIGHT OF SCHILLER’S LETTERS ON THE AESTHETIC EDUCATION OF MAN; V.G. Rivas. BEYOND ADAPTATION: STOICISM, TRANSCENDENCE, AND MOVIEGOING IN WALKER PERCY AND STANLEY CAVELL; L.F. Rhu. BETWEEN THE IRONIC AND THE IRENIC: HAPPINESS, CONTINGENCY AND THE POETICS OF RECURRENCE; J. Baldacchino. PHENOMENOLOGICAL TEMPORALITY AND PROUSTIAN NOSTALGIA; R. Kaushik. Part V. ART AND AWARENESS; J. Jandovitz. THE IMAGE OF HISTORY IN THOUGHT; E. Escher. NARRATIVE, CONVENTION, AND REALITY 2; M. Holt. POLITICAL SYMBOLISM IN THE SAINT ANTOINE GATE, 1585-1672; W. Roberts. MUSIC THEORYAND PHENOMENOLOGY OF MUSICAL PERFORMANCE, A CASE STUDY: FIVE NOTES IN JOEL DURAND’S UN FEU DISTINCT; M. Beken

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Book SynopsisNow in paperback and with a new Afterword offering insights into the events of 2020 and early 2021, including the pandemic, global protests, racial justice debates and the US presidential election, this book provides an original and compelling way of understanding the chaotic world of today's politics. In our post-truth world, tapping into people's emotions has proved far more effective than rational argument and, as Seargeant argues, the most powerful tool for manipulating emotions is a gripping narrative. From Trump's America to Brexit Britain, weaving a good story, featuring fearless protagonists, challenging quests against seemingly insurmountable odds, and soundbite after soundbite of memorable dialogue has been at the heart of political success. So does an understanding of the art of storytelling help explain today's successful political movements? Can it translate into a blueprint for victory at the ballot box?The Art of Political Storytelling looks atTrade ReviewInteresting and readable, this survey of the political storyteller's toolbox goes a long way to account for the recent successes of provocative populist leaders around the world and makes an enlightening guide to our current political moment ... 4 stars (of the hardback edition). * The Herald *A brilliant deconstruction of propaganda and how it co-opts dramatic and narrative technique, throwing into doubt truth, fact and identity (of the hardback edition). * Irish Times *Everybody with at least a fleeting interest in politics must read this book (of the hardback edition). * LSE Review of Books *The biggest strength of this book is the various examples analyzed within the overarching topic of storytelling and fake news ... The book also draws upon traditional literary theories to interpret current political trends, which offers a compelling theoretical attempt that deserves critical attention from fellow researchers in critical discourse studies ... An enjoyable text for whoever seeks to explore the troubling subject of post-truth politics (of the hardback edition). * LINGUIST List *In the first place there has to be a monster, a seemingly unbeatable foe that sweeps all before it and brutalises the citizens. And then of course, you need a hero, a leader, a figurehead for a rebel alliance fighting to reclaim paradise for the people. Is this Star Wars or just everyday politics? There is actually no great distinction, although there may be fewer Wookies in science fiction. This is the central and entirely correct contention of Philip Seargeant’s The Art of Political Storytelling, an examination of how politicians win hearts by weaving narratives around themselves (of the hardback edition). * Robert Shrimsley, the Financial Times’ chief UK political commentator *Philip Seargeant's utterly original and fascinating book provides a unique perspective on our current "post-truth" predicament. What to do when you realize that some (or even most) people are persuaded not by arguments but by stories? And what if some of those stories aren't true? The importance of narrative in political discourse is brilliantly illuminated. Read it and lament, read it and understand, or read it to learn how to win an election! (of the hardback edition). * Lee McIntyre, Author of 'Post-Truth' (MIT 2018) and Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University, USA *Enlightening and entertaining, this book reveals how we have become actors in politicians’ stories and how we can take back control of our own destinies (of the hardback edition). * Peter Pomerantsev, Senior Fellow, Institute of Global Affairs, London School of Economics, UK and Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, USA *In the current interregnum, this is an important and timely book significantly contributing to our understanding of how storytelling that has long been mastered by political leaders has led to the social orders we experience, embrace, and reject. This book offers valuable pathways for us to tell our own counter-stories (of the hardback edition). * Christian W. Chun, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA *In this timely and cogent work, Philip Seargeant analyses how politicians construct their narratives and why voters prefer a good tale to verifiable facts. As conspiracy theories thrive and the very meaning of the word truth is called into question, this is an important book for our times (of the hardback edition). * Steve Buckledee, Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics, University of Cagliari, Italy *This is an engaging and timely account of the fundamental role of storytelling in all aspects of political life. Rich with examples, it gives us tools for understanding how stories are crafted, and how they shape our world. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand the current political environment (of the hardback edition). * Piia Varis, Associate Professor, Tilburg University, The Netherlands *Seargeant argues that one really cannot fully understand the recent political successes of the Brexit campaign and politicians such as Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Viktor Orbán, without taking into account how much their ongoing communication resembles the storytelling found in popular culture and in Hollywood films in particular. In some ways, this is a frightening book, but it is one that should be read by anyone interested in how political communication is crafted today (of the hardback edition). * David Block, ICREA Professor in Sociolinguistics, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain *Political storytelling is one of the most persuasive forms of communication with voters. What is most chilling, however, is that it works even if the story isn't true. In this updated edition of his brilliant work The Art of Political Storytelling, Philip Seargeant's insights help us come to terms with the perplexing, frightening, damnable, heartbreaking juggernaut of events that was 2020....and likely beyond (of the New in Paperback edition). * Lee McIntyre, Author of 'Post-Truth' (MIT 2018) and Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University, USA *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Part I: Apocalyptic Politics 1. Setting the Scene 2. Let’s Begin with the Facts 3. Popular Fiction Part II: Shaping the Story 4. Explanatory Stories 5. What Makes a Good Story? 6. Dramatic Structure Part III: Language and Rhetoric 7. Spectacle and Emotion 8. A Post-Truth Lexicon 9. Digital Disinformation Part IV: Fiction and Reality 10. The Fabric of Reality 11. Conspiracy Politics 12. The Lie that Tells the Truth Afterword Index

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Book SynopsisProvides a rhetorical analysis of the smart home.

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Book SynopsisOffers a deeply considered examination of the ways fear figures in First Amendment questions ruled on by the contemporary Supreme Court. Bringing together literature on theories of fear in rhetorical and philosophical traditions, the authors focus on the rulings from the Roberts Court, which form a pivotal era of dramatic precedents.

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Book SynopsisIn this provocative and interdisciplinary work, Michael J. Hyde develops a philosophy of communication ethics in which the practice of rhetoric plays a fundamental role in promoting and maintaining the health of our personal and communal existence. He examines how the force of interruption—the universal human capacity to challenge our complacent understanding of existence—is a catalyst for moral reflection and moral behavior.Hyde begins by reviewing the role of interruption in the history of the West, from the Big Bang to biblical figures to classical Greek and contemporary philosophers and rhetoricians to three modern thinkers: Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, and Emmanuel Levinas. These thinkers demonstrate in various ways that interruption is not simply a heuristic tool, but constitutive of being human. After developing a critical assessment of these thinkers, Hyde offers four case studies in public moral argument that illustrate the applicability of his findings regarding our interruptive nature. These studies feature a patient suffering from heart disease, a disability rights activist defending her personhood, a young woman dying from brain cancer who must justify her decision, against staunch opposition, to opt for medical aid in dying, and the benefits and burdens of what is termed our “posthuman future” with its accelerating achievements in medical science and technology. These improvements are changing the nature of the interruption that we are, yet the wisdom of such progress has yet to be determined. Much more public moral argument is required.Hyde’s philosophy of communication ethics not only calls for the cultivation of wisdom but also promotes the fight for truth, which is essential to the livelihood of democracy.

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Book SynopsisWhat did Occupy Wall Street accomplish? While it began as a startling disruption in politics as usual, in The Democratic Ethos Freya Thimsen argues that the movement's long-term importance rests in how its commitment to radical democratic self-organization has been adopted within more conventional forms of politics. Occupy changed what counts as credible democratic coordination and how democracy is performed, as demonstrated in opposition to corporate political influence, rural antifracking activism, and political campaigns.By comparing instances of progressive politics that demonstrate the democratic ethos developed and promoted by Occupy and those that do not, Thimsen illustrates how radical and conventional rhetorical strategies can be brought together to seek democratic change. Combining insights from rhetorical studies, performance studies, political theory, and sociology, The Democratic Ethos offers a set of conceptual tools for analyzing anticorporate democracy-movement politics in the twenty-first century.

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Book SynopsisAn introduction to genre analysis from the perspective of the 'Sydney School' of functional linguistics.

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Book SynopsisIntroduction to Pragmatics guides students through traditional and new approaches in the field, focusing particularly on phenomena at the elusive semantics/pragmatics boundary to explore the role of context in linguistic communication.Trade Review“Birner has made an impressive attempt at simplifying the field of pragmatics and connecting it with real-life situations, unprecedentedly foregrounding its great potential in coming to terms with social issues. Thus, the value of Introduction to Pragmatics goes beyond the audience-borders set by the author and the publisher. All pragmaticians, applied linguists, stylisticians, sociolinguists and other scholars who are interested in the way language behaves in society should find the book an asset.” (Discourse Studies, 13 May 2015) “Birner’s Introduction to Pragmatics offers graduate students and upper-level undergraduates an accessible introduction that addresses the traditional range of topics within pragmatics through real-life examples.” (The Modern Language Journal, 10 November 2014) “...this book achieves success and relevancy in ways where other texts fall short." (The LINGUIST List, 9 July 2013) Table of ContentsPreface x Acknowledgments xii 1 Defining Pragmatics 1 1.1 Pragmatics and Natural Language 2 1.2 The Boundary Between Semantics and Pragmatics 9 1.3 Summary 34 1.4 Exercises and Discussion Questions 36 2 Gricean Implicature 40 2.1 The Cooperative Principle 41 2.2 Types of Implicature 62 2.3 Testing for Implicature 68 2.4 The Gricean Model of Meaning 73 2.5 Summary 74 2.6 Exercises and Discussion Questions 75 3 Later Approaches to Implicature 77 3.1 Neo-Gricean Theory 77 3.2 Relevance Theory 91 3.3 Comparing Neo-Gricean Theory and Relevance Theory 98 3.4 Summary 107 3.5 Exercises and Discussion Questions 108 4 Reference 110 4.1 Referring Expressions 110 4.2 Deixis 114 4.3 Definiteness and Indefiniteness 121 4.4 Anaphora 130 4.5 Referential and Attributive Uses of Definite Descriptions 138 4.6 Summary 142 4.7 Exercises and Discussion Questions 143 5 Presupposition 146 5.1 Presupposition, Negation, and Entailment 146 5.2 Presupposition Triggers 152 5.3 The Projection Problem 155 5.4 Defeasibility 157 5.5 Presupposition as Common Ground 163 5.6 Accommodation 167 5.7 Summary 172 5.8 Exercises and Discussion Questions 173 6 Speech Acts 175 6.1 Performative Utterances 175 6.2 Felicity Conditions 183 6.3 Locutionary Acts 186 6.4 Direct and Indirect Speech Acts 191 6.5 Face and Politeness 200 6.6 Joint Acts 202 6.7 Summary 203 6.8 Exercises and Discussion Questions 204 7 Information Structure 207 7.1 Topic and Focus 210 7.2 Open Propositions 215 7.3 Discourse-Status and Hearer-Status 217 7.4 Information Structure and Constituent Order 219 7.5 Functional Compositionality 229 7.6 Summary 235 7.7 Exercises and Discussion Questions 236 8 Inferential Relations 241 8.1 Inferential Relations at the Constituent Level 243 8.2 Inferential Relations at the Propositional Level 260 8.3 Summary 268 8.4 Exercises and Discussion Questions 269 9 Dynamic Semantics and the Representation of Discourse 271 9.1 Theoretical Background 272 9.2 Static vs. Dynamic Approaches to Meaning 276 9.3 Discourse Representation Theory 278 9.4 The Scope of DRT and the Domain of Pragmatics 284 9.5 Summary 290 9.6 Exercises and Discussion Questions 291 10 Conclusion 293 10.1 The Semantics/Pragmatics Boundary Revisited 294 10.2 Pragmatics in the Real World 296 10.3 Pragmatics and the Future of Linguistic Theory 302 10.4 Summary 304 10.5 Exercises and Discussion Questions 304 References 306 Sources for Examples 314 Index 318

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Book SynopsisThe 5-Minute Linguist provides a lively, reader-friendly introduction to the subject of language suitable for the general reader and beginning students. The book offers brief essays on more than 60 intriguing questions such as "What's the difference between a language and a dialect?" Can animals understand us?" "What causes foreign accents?" and "How is language used on social media?" These are conveniently organized into 12 topical areas that include What is Linguistics, Language and Thought, Language and Society, and Language and Technology, among others. Each essay is written by a leading authority in the specialization who offers succinct, insightful answers to questions that most of us have wondered about, with follow-up references to more in-depth reading on each question. The third edition adds new topics now at the forefront of linguistics and updates others, serving as an unrivaled introduction to the mysteries and intrigue of language. The third edition of this book was produced under the sponsorship of the Linguistic Society of America.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of FiveBooks' Best Philosophy Books of 2019""Aphorisms come at us in so many forms and from so many periods that one might think an academic study of aphorisms would aim to give them a family tree . . . . But Andrew Hui’s new study, A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter, does something oddly and interestingly different . . . . Once the reader accepts [his] more expansive and sombre definition of the aphorism, much of interest follows."---Adam Gopnik, New Yorker"In A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter, Andrew Hui makes a lot out of a little . . . . If you have a hankering for infinity, eternity, or inexhaustibility, this is a book for you."---Willis Goth Regier, World Literature Today"Lovers of aphorisms will derive huge pleasure from this elegant and informative book." * Paradigm Explorer *"This ambitious book explores some 2500 years of literature in under 250 pages to establish a theory of the aphorism. . . . Just as aphorisms rest on authority, not argument, so too Hui sidelines the systematic in favor of more aphoristic pursuits: to observe, pronounce, and artfully describe."---Stephen Kidd, Bryn Mawr Classical Review"In my view, this book is groundbreaking. There’s an assumption in the way philosophy is often taught—in the West at least—that aphorisms are a quirky, awkward bit of philosophy that we’ll admit is there but we won’t focus on. I think it’s time other philosophers started thinking seriously about how aphorisms work. . . . It’s a really interesting and entertaining book."---Nigel Warburton, Five Books"For anyone concerned with the humanities and their future within and without the academy [A Theory of the Aphorism] should prove compelling."---Lachlan Mackinnon, Times Literary Supplement"In my view, this book is groundbreaking. There should be a lot of other books about aphorisms because it’s such a rich area."---Nigel Warburton, FiveBooks"Like aphorism itself, Hui’s book is not bogged down with systematic argumentation, but rather proceeds in short sections that often end aphoristically. . . . Just as aphorisms rest on authority, not argument, so too Hui sidelines the systematic in favor of more aphoristic pursuits: to observe, pronounce, and artfully describe."---Stephen Kidd, Bryn Mawr Classical Review"This book offers an engaging look at the aphorism, the shortest and perhaps most dismissed of literary forms. . . . A splendid, thought-provoking book." * Choice *"A book through which Hui proposes a new reading of the aphorism and its history up to the present time, including social media platforms such as Twitter."---Petru Moldovan, Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies

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Book SynopsisWhen we look back from the vantage point of the 21st century and ask ourselves what the previous century was all about, what do we see? Our first inclination is to focus on historical events: the 20th century was the age of two devastating world wars, of totalitarian regimes and terrible atrocities like the Holocaust – “the age of extremes,” to use Hobsbawm’s famous phrase. But in this new book, the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk argues that we will never understand the 20th century if we focus on events and ideologies. Rather, in his view, the predominant motif of the 20th century is what Badiou called a passion for the real, which manifests itself as the will to actualize the truth directly in the here and now. Drawing on his Spheres trilogy, Sloterdijk interprets the actualization of the real in the 20th century as a passion for economic and technological “antigravitation”. The rise of consumerism and the easing of the burdens of human life by the constant deployment of new technologies have killed off the kind of radicalism that was rooted in the belief that power would rise from a material base of production. If the 20th century can still inspire us today, it is because the fundamental shift that it brought about opened the way for a critique of extremist reason, a post-Marxist theory of enrichment and a general economy of energy resources based on excess and dissipation. While developing his highly original interpretation of the 20th century, Sloterdijk also addresses a series of related topics including the meaning of the Anthropocene, the domestication of humans and the significance of the sea. The volume also includes major new pieces on Derrida and on Heidegger’s politics. This work, by one of the most original thinkers today will appeal to students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences, as well as anyone interested in philosophy and critical theory.Table of Contents The Anthropocene - A Stage in the Process on the Margins of the Earth's History? From the Domestication of the Human Being to the Civilizing of Cultures: Answering the Question of Whether Humanity is Capable of Taming Itself The Ocean Experiment: From Nautical Globalization to a General Ecology The Synchronized World: Philosophical Aspects of Globalization What Happened in the 20th Century? Toward a Critique of Extremist Reason The Thinker in the Haunted Castle: On Derrida's Interpretation of Dreams Deep Observation: Towards a Philosophy of the Space Station The Permanent Renaissance: The Italian Novella and News of Modernity Heidegger's Politics: Postponing the End of History Odysseus the Sophist: On the Birth of Philosophy from the Spirit of Travel Stress Almost Sacred Text: Essay on the Constitution The Other Logos, or the Reason of Cunning: On the Intellectual History of the Indirect Editorial Note Notes

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Book SynopsisAn easier, yet more complete approach to learning French verbs than 501 French VerbsTable of Contents Preface Introduction Part I. Forms of Verbs 1. Present Tense 2. Imperfect Tense and Present Participle 3. Past Participle 4. Simple Past (Passé Simple) 5. Future and Conditional Tenses 6. Subjunctive and Imperative 7. Compound Verb Forms 8. Orthographic Modifications 9. Summary Part II. Uses of Verbs 10. Indicative 11. Present and Past Subjunctive 12. Simple Past and Imperfect Subjunctive Part III. Annexes A. Model Verbs, with Complete Conjugations B. Alphabetical Listing of 6,200 Verbs by Model Number C. Defective Verbs Selected References

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Book SynopsisMetaphor supposes that an ordinary word could have been used, but instead something unexpected appears. The point of a metaphor is to enrich experience by bringing different associations to mind, by giving something a different life. The prophetic character of metaphor, Denis Donoghue says, changes the world by changing our sense of it.Trade ReviewFor almost half a century Denis Donoghue has written stylish, weighty books, distinguished by the way they interweave an intricate sense of literary pleasure with an interest, no less intricate, in philosophical ideas… Now we have Metaphor, a characteristically intelligent and suggestive account, which reconsiders these grand philosophical tensions on the small stage of a figure of speech… Metaphor becomes an index of spiritual freedom: not a bit of tame likeness-making, like a simile. A metaphor is more like a heroic gesture towards autonomy, a rejection of the world of ‘common usage and the values it enforces.’ Donoghue pursues this theme with all his urbane powers of implication and range, finding in the metaphor a miniaturized instance of the idealist imagination… Donoghue is vivid and clever about a whole range of metaphorical uses in these pages. -- Seamus Perry * Times Literary Supplement *[A] civilized and informative book… When he discusses Yeats, Joyce or Heaney, Donoghue doesn’t just understand their language but feels it too, and the whole book explains through close analysis of poems by Pound, Stevens and Eliot why image and metaphor have come to occupy such a central position in modernist poetry and 20th-century criticism. -- Colin Burrow * London Review of Books *[There is a] difference between metaphor that illuminates and metaphor that obscures. It is one of the merits of Denis Donoghue’s book, with its rich store of examples and its intimacy with the secondary literature, that he is constantly inciting us to wrestle with that distinction. -- Paul Dean * New Criterion *You think you know what a metaphor is, but you don’t, not really. Denis Donoghue’s new book, Metaphor, is here to help, tracing the genealogy of the metaphor—along with its siblings, like the simile—throughout history, offering a more complete understanding of this ubiquitous literary device… Chock-full of entertaining examples and informative lessons on all types of metaphor. * Sewanee Review *Let us be clear: this is one of the more important books written by an Irish author so far this century… [Donoghue’s] magnum opus. -- Mark Patrick Hederman * The Furrow *[A] subtle and engrossing new book… Full of wild and beautiful examples. -- Michael Wood * Irish Times *Compelling… [It] meanders gently from the charmingly personal to the keenly microscopic in its treatment of its (largely literary and philosophical) material… A true readerly pleasure in Metaphor is the intense, tactile connection Donoghue strikes between himself and the text at hand… This is the purpose of Metaphor: to make us see how and why metaphor can revitalize our understanding not just of what we read but of how we read… What [Donoghue] succeeds at doing is to force us to scrutinize with greater care, to convince us to bring a portion of ourselves to what we read, and to get us to think outside the (metaphorical) box to which our everyday associations has confined us. Making metaphor personal is the key to eliciting deeper reading. -- Lianne Habinek * Open Letters Monthly *Wonderfully combines the scholarly and the personal. Recalling his metaphor-rich Catholic childhood and hearing ‘Panis Angelicus,’ [Donoghue] unlocks Aquinas’ word-play to elucidate the view that divinity conceals itself in physical symbols. He forces us to reconsider ordinary language, what makes (or doesn’t) make one thing like another and ultimately what truth and reality actually are. -- Jane O’Grady * The Tablet *In this prodigiously learned meditation, Donoghue takes readers through the history of the rhetorical device and its incarnations in poetry, fiction, philosophy, and everyday life… Rummaging through an exhaustive collection of linguistic authorities from Aristotle and Aquinas to Vico, Paul de Man, and J. L. Austin, Donoghue analyzes conflicting accounts of how metaphor shapes language and our experience of reality… Donoghue strives to show how metaphors ‘offer to change the world by changing one’s sense of it.’ Along the way, he studies verse by Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, and Stevens, among many others, weaving a thick tapestry of examples to show how metaphors are used and abused… The book successfully plunges readers into the complexities of figurative language and its power to revivify experience. * Publishers Weekly *Donoghue’s gentle, appreciative reflection on literary language here comes with the wisdom of accumulated decades of wide reading and robust insight. This is a book all about imaginative life, and it is a celebration of such life par excellence. It is a treat to watch a far-ranging, first-rate mind range over poetry and prose of centuries with so much zest for more life. -- Leslie Brisman, author of Romantic OriginsA wide-ranging, deeply learned account of the ‘daring vivacities’ language can achieve from the man who wrote the book on eloquence. -- Denise Gigante, author of Life: Organic Form and Romanticism

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Book SynopsisBarbara J. Shapiro traces the surprising genesis of the "fact," a modern concept that, she convincingly demonstrates, originated not in natural science but in legal discourse. She follows the concept's evolution and diffusion across a variety of...Trade ReviewShapiro has written an excellent work in intellectual and cultural history. * Virginia Quarterly Review *The book is filled with quotes and references to a very wide range of primary as well as secondary sources. It will be of much heuristic value in studying the changing meanings of 'fact' in this period, quite apart from Shapiro's strong argument concerning the special role of the law. -- Peter Dear, Cornell University * Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences *This nutshell presentation does far from justice to the nuances of the basic argument of the book, still less to the striking nature of the supporting detail... It should be given a hearty welcome as a trenchant and well illustrated contribution to an ongoing debate. -- Paul Dukes * Journal of European Studies *

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Book SynopsisWhat is Meaning? Fundamentals of Formal Semantics is a concise introduction to the field of semantics as it is actually practiced. Through simple examples, pictures, and metaphors, Paul Portner presents the field's key ideas about how language works. Explains the fundamental ideas and some of the most significant results of modern semantic theory Combines foundational discussion with simplified analyses of complex phenomena to provide readers with a sense of the fascination to be found in the details of the human language Includes exercises and thought-provoking questions to facilitate learning Trade Review“An excellent book for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. Portner’s approachable, yet serious, presentation gives the reader a firm understanding of the breadth and depth of the science of natural language meaning.” Kai von Fintel, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyTable of ContentsAcknowledgments x 1 The Fundamental Question 1 1.1 What is a Meaning? 3 1.2 Meanings are Out in the World 11 1.3 We should Think of the Meaning of Sentences in Terms of Truth-Conditions 12 2 Putting a Meaning Together from Pieces 28 2.1 Names Refer 29 2.2 Incomplete Propositions 30 2.3 Prediction is Saturation 31 2.4 Compositionality 33 2.5 Syntax and Semantics 34 3 More about Predicates 40 3.1 Other Types of Predicates: Adjectives, Predicate Nominals 40 3.2 Transitive Verbs 44 3.3 Relative Clauses 45 3.4 Topicalization 48 3.5 Sub-atomic Semantics 49 3.6 Modeling Properties with Sets and Functions 54 4 Modifiers 61 4.1 Adjective + N Combination 61 4.2 More Issues with Adjectives 65 4.3 Relative Clauses as Modifier 68 4.4 Adverbs 69 4.5 The Form of Meanings and their World-describing Content 74 5 Complexities of Referring Expressions 78 5.1 Definite NPs 78 5.2 Some Subtleties 80 5.3 A Bit about Indefinite NPs 83 5.4 Theories of Reference 84 5.5 Plurals and Mass Terms 95 5.6 Kinds 99 5.7 Pronouns and Anaphora 102 6 Quantifiers 112 6.1 Generalized Quantifiers: Predicate of Predicates, or Sets of Sets 113 6.2 NP Conjunction 120 6.3 Negative Polarity Items 122 6.4 Quantifiers in Object Position 127 7 Extensional vs. Intensional Contexts 132 8 Tense, Aspect, and Modality 137 8.1 Tense 138 8.2 Aspect 146 8.3 Modality 154 9 Propositional Attitudes 161 9.1 A Possible Worlds Semantics for Belief and Desire 162 9.2 Logical Consequences of the Modal Analysis of Propositional Attitude Verbs 164 9.3 Two foundational Problems: Coreferential Terms and Logical Truths 166 9.4 Structure and Meaning 170 9.5 Or, Have We Reached the Limits of Semantics? 174 10 The Pragmatics of What’s Given 176 10.1 Indexicality and Deixis 177 10.2 Presupposition 178 10.3 Speech Acts 190 10.4 Focus and Topic 195 11 The Pragmatics of Inference 199 11.1 Properties Implicature 203 12 Formal Semantics Today 206 12.1 Diversity within Formal Semantics 206 12.2 Relationships with Other Varieties of Semantics 213 12.3 Relationships with Other Fields 214 Appendix: Answers to Selected Exercises 218 References 223 Index 230

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Book SynopsisYouth spoken word poetry groups are on the rise in the United States, offering safe spaces for young people to write and perform. These diverse groups encourage members to share their lived experiences, decry injustices, and imagine a better future. At a time when students may find writing in school alienating and formulaic, composing in these poetry groups can be refreshingly relevant and exciting.Listen to the Poet investigates two Arizona spoken word poetry groups - a community group and a high school club - that are both part of the same youth organization. Exploring the writing lives and poetry of several members, Wendy R. Williams takes readers inside a writing workshop and poetry slam and reveals that schools have much to learn about writing, performance, community, and authorship from groups like these and from youth writers themselves.

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Book SynopsisThe quintessential A to Z guide to British English—perfect for every egghead and bluestocking looking to conquer the language barrier Oscar Wilde once said the Brits have everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language. Any visitor to Old Blighty can sympathize with Mr. Wilde. After all, even fluent English speakers can be at sixes and sevens when told to pick up the dog and bone or head to the loo, so they can spend a penny. Wherever did these peculiar expressions come from? British author Christopher J. Moore made a name for himself on this side of the pond with the sleeper success of his previous book, In Other Words. Now, Moore draws on history, literature, pop culture, and his own heritage to explore the phrases that most embody the British character. He traces the linguistic influence of writers from Chaucer to Shakespeare and Dickens to Wodehouse, and unravels the complexity Brits manage to imbue in seemingly innocuous phrases like All right. Along the way, Moore reveals the uniquely British origins of some of the English language’s more curious sayings. For example: Who is Bob and how did he become your uncle? Why do we refer to powerless politicians as “lame ducks”? How did “posh” become such a stylish word?Part language guide, part cultural study, How to Speak Brit is the perfect addition to every Anglophile’s library and an entertaining primer that will charm the linguistic-minded legions.

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