Where Have All The Adjectives Gone?: And Other Essays In Semantics And Syntax
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First ed.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
What does it mean for a language to have adjectives — and what happens when it doesn't? In Where Have All the Adjectives Gone? and Other Essays in Semantics and Syntax, renowned Australian linguist R. M. W. Dixon presents a provocative and rigorous collection of essays that interrogate the fundamental structures of human language. The title essay, a landmark contribution to linguistic typology, argues that adjectives do not constitute a universal grammatical category, challenging long-held assumptions about the building blocks of grammar. Dixon draws on an extraordinary breadth of cross-linguistic data — from English to obscure Amazonian and Australian Aboriginal languages — to construct a compelling, evidence-driven case about how meaning and structure interact across the world's languages. Published as part of the prestigious Janua Linguarum series under Mouton Publishers, this collection stands as a testament to Dixon's meticulous fieldwork and his gift for transforming dense syntactic and semantic analysis into intellectually invigorating argument. His prose is precise yet accessible, combining the authority of a seasoned fieldworker with the analytical sharpness of a theoretical linguist. Each essay builds upon the last to form a cohesive portrait of language as a dynamic, culturally embedded system — leaving the reader to question just how many other grammatical universals may be waiting to dissolve under scrutiny.
Author: R. M. W. Dixon
Format: Hardback
Published: 1982, Mouton Publishers
Genre: Essays
Edition: First ed.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
What does it mean for a language to have adjectives — and what happens when it doesn't? In Where Have All the Adjectives Gone? and Other Essays in Semantics and Syntax, renowned Australian linguist R. M. W. Dixon presents a provocative and rigorous collection of essays that interrogate the fundamental structures of human language. The title essay, a landmark contribution to linguistic typology, argues that adjectives do not constitute a universal grammatical category, challenging long-held assumptions about the building blocks of grammar. Dixon draws on an extraordinary breadth of cross-linguistic data — from English to obscure Amazonian and Australian Aboriginal languages — to construct a compelling, evidence-driven case about how meaning and structure interact across the world's languages. Published as part of the prestigious Janua Linguarum series under Mouton Publishers, this collection stands as a testament to Dixon's meticulous fieldwork and his gift for transforming dense syntactic and semantic analysis into intellectually invigorating argument. His prose is precise yet accessible, combining the authority of a seasoned fieldworker with the analytical sharpness of a theoretical linguist. Each essay builds upon the last to form a cohesive portrait of language as a dynamic, culturally embedded system — leaving the reader to question just how many other grammatical universals may be waiting to dissolve under scrutiny.