Coordination Relations in the Languages of Europe and Beyond / / Caterina Mauri.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DGBA Backlist Complete English Language 2000-2014 PART1
• VerfasserIn: Mauri, Caterina,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter Mouton, , [2008]; ©2008
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Language: English
• Series: Empirical Approaches to Language Typology [EALT] , 42
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (354 p.)

This book examines the coding of the three coordination relations of combination, contrast and alternative between states of affairs on the basis of a 74 language sample, with special focus on the languages spoken in Europe. It constitutes the first systematic inquiry so far conducted on the cross-linguistic coding of coordination, as defined in cognitive and pragmatic terms. This research shows that the 'and-but-or' coding system which is typical of Central-Western Europe appears to be extremely rare outside Europe, where a great variation in the coding of coordination is attested. This cross-linguistic variation, however, is not random, but is crucially constrained by the interaction of economic principles with the semantic properties of the individual relations expressed. A fine-grained functional systematization of coordination is proposed and described by means of implicational patterns and semantic maps. This work brings together a broad cross-linguistic perspective and a detailed semantic analysis, largely based on new and comparable data collected by means of questionnaires, all accessible in the appendix of the book. It represents the first systematic attempt towards a unified typology of coordination relations.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- List of abbreviations -- Chapter 1. Theoretical foundations: the notion of -- coordination -- Chapter 2. Parameters of analysis -- Chapter 3. Combination relations -- Chapter 4. Contrast relations -- Chapter 5. Alternative relations -- Chapter 6. Combination, contrast and alternative -- relations in comparison -- Chapter 7. A focus on Europe -- Chapter 8. Conclusion and prospects -- Backmatter