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Sense and Sensitivity: How Focus Determines Meaning
David I. Beaver
€ 59.72
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Description for Sense and Sensitivity: How Focus Determines Meaning
Paperback. Sense and Sensitivity explores the semantic and pragmatic effects of focus in natural language discourse. The book concentrates on focus sensitivity, the remarkable dependency some words have on the effects of focus. An example is "only": compare "She only LIKES me" (i.e. nothing deeper) to "She only likes ME" (i.e. nobody else). Series: Explorations in Semantics. Num Pages: 328 pages, black & white tables, figures, graphs. BIC Classification: CFG. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 242 x 169 x 17. Weight in Grams: 550.
Sense and Sensitivity advances a novel research proposal in the nascent field of formal pragmatics, exploring in detail the semantics and pragmatics of focus in natural language discourse. The authors develop a new account of focus sensitivity, and show that what has hitherto been regarded as a uniform phenomenon in fact results from three different mechanisms. The book
Sense and Sensitivity advances a novel research proposal in the nascent field of formal pragmatics, exploring in detail the semantics and pragmatics of focus in natural language discourse. The authors develop a new account of focus sensitivity, and show that what has hitherto been regarded as a uniform phenomenon in fact results from three different mechanisms. The book
- Makes a major contribution to ongoing research in the area of focus sensitivity – a field exploring interactions between sound and meaning, specifically the dependency some words have on the effects of focus, such as "she only LIKES me" (i.e. nothing ... Read more
- Discusses the features of the QFC theory (Quasi association, Free association, and Conventional association), a new account of focus implying a tripartite typology of focus-sensitive expressions
- Presents novel cross-linguistic data on focus and focus sensitivity that will be relevant across a range of linguistic sub-fields: semantics and pragmatics, syntax, and intonational phonology
- Concludes with a case study of exclusives (like “only”), arguing that the entire existing literature has missed crucial generalizations, and for the first time explaining the focus sensitivity of these expressions in terms of their meaning and discourse function
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2008
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons Ltd United Kingdom
Number of pages
328
Condition
New
Series
Explorations in Semantics
Number of Pages
328
Place of Publication
Hoboken, United Kingdom
ISBN
9781405112642
SKU
V9781405112642
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About David I. Beaver
David I. Beaver is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Presupposition and Assertion in Dynamic Semantics (2001); is co-editor of several books, including The Construction of Meaning (2002); has authored numerous articles for prestigious journals including Linguistics and Philosophy, and Language; is on the editorial team or board ... Read more
Reviews for Sense and Sensitivity: How Focus Determines Meaning
"Move over, Austen
and Austin. Prodigiously comprehensive and engagingly presented, Beaver and Clark's rich and subtle study of focus is essential reading on intonational meaning, scalar particles, implicature, presupposition, polarity licensing, and alternative semantics. This is sensitivity training of the highest order." Laurence Horn, Yale University "Sense and Sensitivity merits a close reading by anyone interested in contemporary pragmatic theory. It ... Read more
and Austin. Prodigiously comprehensive and engagingly presented, Beaver and Clark's rich and subtle study of focus is essential reading on intonational meaning, scalar particles, implicature, presupposition, polarity licensing, and alternative semantics. This is sensitivity training of the highest order." Laurence Horn, Yale University "Sense and Sensitivity merits a close reading by anyone interested in contemporary pragmatic theory. It ... Read more