Cause, Condition, Concession, Contrast - Cognitive and Discourse Perspectives
In this collection of original and innovative papers, many authored by internationally known specialists, new light is thrown on the nature and the expression of the four probably most widely researched coherence relations. Some contributions deal primarily with cognitive and semantic aspects of the categories in question or their linguistic exponents, others more with the deployment of causal, conditional, contrast and concessive markers in written and spoken discourse. This dual perspective also helps illuminate the interface of cognition and language use.
Varieties of English in Writing: The Written Word as Linguistic Evidence
This volume is concerned with assessing fictional and non-fictional written texts as linguistic evidence for earlier forms of varieties of English. These range from Scotland to New Zealand, from Canada to South Africa, covering all the major forms of the English language around the world. Central to the volume is the question of how genuine written representations are. Here the emphasis is on the techniques and methodology which can be employed when analysing documents.
What did people in England in the Middle Ages think about language? What was their view of English, French, and Latin, and how did this influence the way they communicated? This book uses these questions as a basis for a ground-breaking investigation into the use and status of the English language in medieval England.
Jamaica Talk - Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica
First published in 1961, Jamaica Talk is a thorough study of the English spoken in Jamaica and, although intended for the general educated reader rather than the linguistic specialist, has a foundation of sound scholarship, which makes it an authoritative classic. The late Professor Cassidy was born and reared in Jamaica and collected most of the material for his book when he was attached to the University College of the West Indies as Fulbright research fellow. There are chapters on the composition of "Jamaica talk", on pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
Techniques of Description - Spoken and Written Discourse
Written as a tribute to Malcolm Coulthard, a leading figure in studies of discourse, Techniques of Description is a collection of specially commissioned, state-of-the-art essays by leading international linguists. All the papers share certain assumptions about language study: that descriptions should be data-based, data-tested, and replicable. The collection contains original and important research on descriptions, with intriguing applications to forensic, gender and literary studies. It will be invaluable for scholars of English language and discourse studies.
