Invariance, markedness and distinctive feature analysis : a contrastive study of sign systems in English and Hebrew
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Invariance, markedness and distinctive feature analysis : a contrastive study of sign systems in English and Hebrew
（Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science, ser. 4 . Current issues in linguistic theory ; v. 111）
J. Benjamins, c1994
- : us
- : eur
Available at 37 libraries
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [375]-392) and name and subject indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This volume provides a new kind of contrastive analysis of two unrelated languages - English and Hebrew - based on the semiotic concepts of invariance, markedness and distinctive feature theory. It concentrates on linguistic forms and constructions which are remarkably different in each language despite the fact that they share the same familiar classifications and labels.
Tobin demonstrates how and why traditional and modern syntactic categories such as grammatical number; verb tense, aspect, mood and voice; conditionals and interrogatives; etc., are not equivalent across languages. It is argued that these so-called universal concepts function differently in each language system because they belong to distinct language-specific semantic domains which are marked by different sets of semantic features.
The data used in this volume have been taken from a wide range of both spoken and written discourse and texts reflecting people's actual use of language presented in their relevant linguistic and situational contexts.
Table of Contents
- 1. List of figures
- 2. List of tables
- 3. Preface
- 4. Part I: Theoretical and Methodological Background
- 5. 1. The sign-oriented approach
- 6. 2. The sign-oriented model
- 7. Part II: Semantic Integrality
- 8. 3. Semantic Integrality
- 9. 4. Possessive constructions in English and Hebrew
- 10. 5. Contractions in English
- 11. Part III: Process and Result in Language
- 12. 6. Troublesome lexical pairs in English
- 13. 7. Troublesome lexical pairs in Hebrew
- 14. 8. The Hebrew root and conjugation (binyan) systems
- 15. Part IV: Specification in Language
- 16. 9. Here, now and where in English and Hebrew
- 17. 10. Interrogatives in English and Hebrew
- 18. Notes
- 19. List of references
- 20. Name Index
- 21. Subject Index
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