The multifunctionality of pragmatic markers makes it difficult to describe their meaning and functional potential. For example, we know very little about pragmatic markers and prosody, their sociolinguistic use (how they are related to the speaker's social class, age, or gender) or their distribution across text types (informal conversation, discussion, and broadcast program). This book surveys pragmatic markers in a corpus of spoken English, focusing on the functions performed by the markers in different types of text.
English sentence prosody provides cues to both focus structure and speaker attitude. Taking the phonological model of intonation developed by Pierrehumbert (1880 et seq.) as point of departure, this work illuminates the communicative function of English pitch contours by (1) giving a detailed survey of phrase-final contours found in statements and questions, and (2) investigating what attitudinal features determine choice of phrasal tones in these utterance types. This comprehensive study will be of interest to linguists in a number of fields, ranging from prosody to semantics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis.
This book discusses the historical record of the idea that language is associated with national identity, demonstrating that different applications of this idea have consistently produced certain types of results.
Peterson's Master the SSAT® & ISEE® is the guide for preparing students and their parents for the SSAT® and the ISEE®. Complete with the most up-to-date information on the upper-level exams, the book is vitally important to anyone preparing for private secondary school admissions testing. Students have access to test-taking strategies for each of the question types, along with exam day specific advice. Four practice tests, plus a diagnostic test, provide students with a realistic idea of what to expect when the test date arrives.