Ethnosyntax: Explorations in Grammar and Culture

by N. J. Enfield

Overview

Meanings of cultural importance are found not only in words but also in the very grammar of a language. This exciting collection presents eleven original studies of the relationship between grammar, culture, and cognition, with data from languages and cultures from around the world. Contributors discuss a wide variety of grammatical phenomena. This book shows that the study of culture can help to understand how and why languages differ in the ways they do.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199249060
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/05/2002
Series:	Oxford Linguistics
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

N. J. Enfield is a member of the Language and Cognition Group at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen. His work in semantic and grammatical description, contact and areal linguistics, gesture, and linguistic anthropology is based on past and current fieldwork in mainland Southeast Asia.

Table of Contents

Part I: Ethnosyntax: Theory and Scope1. Ethnosyntax: Introduction, N. J. Enfield2. Syntactic Enquiry as a Cultural Activity, Anthony V. N. Diller and Wilaiwan Khanittanan3. Ethnosyntax, Ethnopragmatics, Sign-Functions, and Culture, Cliff Goddard4. Culture, Cognition, and the Grammar of 'Give' Clauses, John NewmanPart II: Culture, Semantics, and Grammar5. Masculine and Feminine in the Northern Iroquoian Languages, Wallace Chafe6. Using He and She for Inanimate Referents in English: Questions of Grammar and World View, Andrew Pawley7. A Study in Unified Diversity: English and Mixtec Locatives, Ronald W. Langacker8. English Causative Constructions in an Ethnosyntactic Perspective: Focusing on 'LET', Anna WierzbickaPart III: Culture, Pragmatics, and Grammaticalisation9. Changes within Pennsylvania German Grammar as Enactments of Anabaptist World View, Kate Burridge10. Cultural Logic and Syntactic Productivity: Associated Posture Constructions in Lao, N. J. Enfield11. Aspects of Ku Waru Ethnosyntax and Social Life, Alan Rumsey12. From Common Ground to Syntactic Construction: Associated Path in Warlpiri, Jane Simpson