A New Approach to English Grammar, on Semantic Principles
Robert M. W. Dixon(Author)
Clarendon Press
Published on 1. October 1992
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-0-19-824057-0 (ISBN)
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Description
Linguists often portray grammar as a kind of self-sufficient algebra. R. M. W. Dixon offers a new approach, starting from the premiss that a speaker codes a 'meaning' into grammatical forms in order to communicate them to a hearer, who recovers the 'meaning'. He investigates the interrelation of grammar and meaning, and uncovers a rationale for the varying grammatical properties of different words - why, for instance, we can say I wish to go and I wish that he would go, and then I want to go but not I want that he should go. In the first part of the book, there is a review of some of the main points of English syntax, followed by a discussion of English verbs in terms of 'semantic types'. About thirty of these types are examined, including verbs of Motion, of Giving, of Thinking, of Speaking, of Liking, and of Typing.
In the last part of the book, the author looks in detail at five grammatical topics: complement clauses, which can fill subject or object slot in a main clause; the question of transitivity and causatives; passives of all kinds; promotion of a non-subject to subject slot, as in Dictionaries sell well; and the relation between constructions such as They walked and They had a walk, She punched him and She gave him a punch, and He looked and He took a look.
In the last part of the book, the author looks in detail at five grammatical topics: complement clauses, which can fill subject or object slot in a main clause; the question of transitivity and causatives; passives of all kinds; promotion of a non-subject to subject slot, as in Dictionaries sell well; and the relation between constructions such as They walked and They had a walk, She punched him and She gave him a punch, and He looked and He took a look.
Reviews / Votes
an ambitious and extensive account of English grammar ... Books which take a semantic approach to grammar or syntactic approach to semantics are increasingly common ... but I have no hesitation in saying that I find Dixon's book by far the most informative, the one most likely to startle readers repeatedly by telling them what they knew all along but hadn"t realized they knew. Georgetown Journal of Languages and Linguistics will certainly repay repeated reading ... deserves the attention of any serious grammarian of English Times Literary SupplementMore details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Illustrations
bibliography
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 138 mm
Weight
580 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-824057-0 (9780198240570)
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Schweitzer Classification
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R. M. W. Dixon
A Semantic Approach to English Grammar
Book
06/2005
2nd Edition
Oxford University Press
€74.40
Shipment within 15-20 days
Content
A: INTRODUCTION: ORIENTATION; 1. Grammatical sketch; B: THE SEMANTIC TYPES: NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND VERB TYPES; 1. Primary-A type verbs; 2. Primary-B type verbs; 3. Secondary verb types; C: SOME GRAMMATICAL TOPICS: COMPLEMENT CLAUSES; 1. Transitivity and causatives; 2. Passives; 3. Promotion to subject; 4. GIVE A VERB, HAVE A VERB, and TAKE A VERB constructions; Appendix: List of adjective and verb types, with sample members; References; Index