Spontaneous Spoken Language Syntax and Discourse

by Miller, Jim; Weinert, Regina

• ISBN13: 9780199561254
• ISBN10: 0199561257
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Jim Miller and Regina Weinert investigate syntactic structure and the organization of discourse in spontaneous spoken language. Using data from English, German, and Russian, they develop a systematic analysis of spoken English and highlight properties that hold across languages. The authors argue that the differences in syntax and the construction of discourse between spontaneous speech and written language bear on various areas of linguistic theory, apart from having obvious implications for syntactic analysis. In particular, they bear on typology, Chomskyan theories offirst language acquisition, and the perennial problem of language in education. In current typological practice written and spontaneous spoken texts are often compared; the authors show convincingly that typological research should compare like with like. The consequences for Chomskyan, and indeedall, theories of first language acquisition flow from the central fact that children first learn spoken language before they are taught written language.

Author Biography

Jim Miller is Professor of Cognitive Linguistics, the University of Auckland.
Regina Weinert is a Lecturer in Germanic Linguistics, the University of Sheffield

Table of Contents

Introduction

Sentences and Clauses

Clauses: Type, Combination, and Integration

Noun Phrases: Complexity and COnfiguration

Focus Concentration

Focus Constructions: Clefts and like

Historical Linguistics and Typology

Written Language, First Languaeg Acquisition, and Education

Epilogue

References

Index

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