
Motivation in Language
Studies in honor of Guenter Radden
John Benjamins Publishing Co
Published on 17. July 2003
Book
Hardback
403 pages
978-1-58811-426-6 (ISBN)
Description
This volume contributes to the now one-century old question, 'Is the link between forms and meanings in language essentially arbitrary, as Saussure put it, or is it on the contrary also considerably motivated?' The greater part of the papers (Sections 1-3) analyze linguistic phenomena in which not arbitrary, but cognitively motivated links between form and meaning play a role. As such, the contributions in Section 1 examine selected aspects of motivation in the continuum between lexicon and grammar; the contributions in Section 2 study the factors underlying the range of (semantic) variants that attach to a particular lexical item; and papers in Section 3 look at motivating factors in linguistic items situated in and conceptualizing the socio-cultural domain. A smaller set of papers in Section 4 point to the role which learner motivation and attitudinal motivation may play in applied linguistics domains.
Reviews / Votes
[...] there is no doubt that the volume under review constitutes a major addition to the study of non-arbitrary aspects of linguistic phenomena and that it will be of interest not only for cognitive linguists but also for a wider audience of functional and typological linguists. It is well worth reading, and re-reading, because it offers a unique insight into the multifacted nature of the phenomenon of motivation. -- Mario Brdar, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University, Croatia, in Jezikoslovye Vol. 8:2 (2007)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 245 mm
Width: 164 mm
Weight
675 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-58811-426-6 (9781588114266)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Editor
University of Leuven
University of Hamburg
University of Duisburg-Essen
University of Hamburg