Pragmatic Syntax

Jieun Kiaer puts forward an argument in this book that the grammar of a language directly underpins the processing of the language, in real time. This is a view that runs against the orthodoxy of linguistic theorizing for the last 50 years, which has insisted that languages have to be characterized in terms that make little or no reference to the dynamics of language use. This orthodox view fails to fit languages in which the verb has to be at the end of the clause - which encompasses more than half of the world's languages. Thus, as this book shows, these languages remain very problematic for conventional theories. Using a mixture of corpus methods, sentence structure analysis, prosody and psycholinguistic theory, Kiaer redresses this imbalance. The data features both Korean and English example and it functions as one of the very first general introductions to Dynamic Syntax available.

Jieun Kiaer

List of Figures List of Tables Preface Abbreviations 1. Perspective Shift 2. Economically-Motivated Syntax 3. Expressively-Motivated Syntax 4. Challenges of Incrementality in Verb-Final Languages 5. Formal Tools: Modeling Pragmatic Motivation in Syntax 6. Modeling Nominal Particles in Korean 7. Modeling Verbal Particles in Korean 8. Particle Doubling: Incrementality at Work 9. The Syntax of Spoken Dialogue 10. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index