Constructions of Intersubjectivity: Discourse, Syntax, and Cognition
Author(s): Arie Verhagen (Author)
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication Date: 23 Aug. 2007
Edition: Illustrated
Language: English
Print length: 264 pages
ISBN-10: 0199226709
ISBN-13: 9780199226702
Book Description
Constructions of Intersubjectivity shows that the meaning of grammatical constructions often has more to do with the human cognitive capacity for taking other peoples’ points of view than with describing the world. Treating pragmatics, semantics, and syntax in parallel and integrating insights from linguistics, psychology, and animal communication, Arie Verhagen develops a new understanding of linguistic communication. In doing so he shows the continuity between language and animal communication and reveals the nature of human linguistic specialization.
Editorial Reviews
Review
An important contribution to the study of language. It proposes a clear and convincing analysis of a number of controversial phenomena in syntax, semantics, and the lexicon, while opening new perspectives in the study of language as a communicative tool ― Linguistics
Verhagens book is a welcome contribution to the study of intersubjective aspects of linguistic meaning. Through a careful investigation of negation, complementation, and discourse connections, the author clearly demonstrates that subjectivity, discourse management, and argumentative orientation are pervasive and fundamentally important, even in what are considered core areas of grammar. Linguists of all persuasions can profit from this volume. ―
Ronald W. Langacker, University of California, San Diego
An important book on a fascinating topic in the field of pragmatics and cognition ―
Pragmatics and Cognition
Book Description
Integrates insights from linguistics, discourse studies, biology, psychology, and evolution
About the Author
Arie Verhagen has been the chair of Dutch Linguistics at the University of Leiden since 1998. He received his PhD in 1986 at the Free University in Amsterdam and has taught at the Free University, Utrecht University, and the University of Leiden. His books include Linguistic Theory and the Function of Word Order in Dutch (1986) and Usage-Based Approaches to Dutch (co-edited with Jeroen van de Weijer, 2003). He was editor-in-chief of the journal Cognitive Linguistics from 1996 until 2004. His research focuses on relations between language use and language structure, synchronically and diachronically. Current topics, in addition to those addressed in this book, include causative constructions and other expressions of causation, and the organization of constructions into grammars.
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