The discourse function of inversion in English

Author(s)

• Birner, Betty J.

Bibliographic Information

The discourse function of inversion in English

Betty J. Birner

（A Garland series）（Outstanding dissertations in linguistics）

Garland, 1996

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-181) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

First published in 1997. This dissertation presents a discourse-functional account of English inversion, based on an empirical study of natural language data. The central finding is that inversion is subject to a pragmatic constraint on the information status of its constituents; specifically, the information represented by the preposed constituent must be at least as familiar within the discourse as is that represented by the postposed constituent.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Definition and Preliminary Taxonomy
• Chapter 3 Previous Analyses
• Chapter 4 The Function of Inversion
• Chapter 5 Verbs and Related Issues
• Chapter 6 Summary and Conclusions

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA29077113
• ISBN:
  • 0815325568
• LCCN: 96036264
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: New York
• Pages/Volumes: xvi, 187 p.
• Size: 23 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : PE1390
  • DC20 : 401/.41
  • NDC8 : 835.1
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : English language -- Word order
  • LCSH : English language -- Discourse analysis
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA00483087
  • BA00402438