Subject: new books in theoretical & descriptive linguistics

dialogue and critical discourse : language , culture , critical theory michael macovski , fordham university this interdisciplinary volume of collected , mostly unpublished essays demonstrates how mikhail bakhtin 's theory of dialogic meaning - - and its subsequent elaborations - - have influenced a wide range of critical discourses . with essays by michael holquist , jerome j . mcgann , john searle , deborah tannen , gary saul morson , caryl emerson , shirley brice heath , don h . bialostosky , paul friedrich , timothy austin , john farrell , rachel may , and michael macovski , the collection explores dialogue not only as an exchange among intratextual voices , but as an extratextual interplay of historical influences , oral forms , and cultural heuristics as well . such approaches extend the implications of dialogue beyond the boundaries of literary theory , to anthropology , philosophy , linguistics , and cultural studies . the essays address such issues as the establishment and exercise of political power , the relation between conversational and literary discourse , the historical development of the essay , and the idea of literature as social action . taken together , the essays argue for a redefinition of literary meaning - - one that is communal , interactive , and vocatively created . they demonstrate that literary meaning is not rendered by a single narrator , nor even by a solitary author - - but is incrementally exchanged and constructed . august 1997 288 pp . ; 1 linecuts 0-19 - 507063 - 1 $ 55 . 00 oxford university press projections and interface conditions : essays on modularity edited by anna - maria di sciullo , university of quebec at montreal this collection of previously unpublished papers explores the implications of chomsky 's " minimalist " framework for the modularity of grammar , which simplifies the " modular " approach he took in his government and binding theory of grammar . according to this theory autonomous grammatical components ( phonological , syntactic , morphological , and semantic ) coexist and interact like building blocks , using a given set of principles at given levels of representation . chomsky 's assertions have sparked a great deal of theoretical debate , especially with regard to the nature and interaction of each of the building blocks . the contributors to this volume join the debate in a series of case studies that compare modularity in english , french , and italian , among other languages . in the process they address such issues as the autonomy and applications of modules and their distribution in theory , as well as the role of functional projects in their derivations . projections and interface conditions will interest researchers in any of the above mentioned languages , as well as the large number of linguists working in the chomskyan tradition . june 1997 272 pp . ; 84 linecuts 0-19 - 510414 - 5 $ 60 . 00 oxford university press semiotic grammar william b . mcgregor , university of melbourne mcgregor proposes and develops a new theory of grammar based on the notion of the linguistic sign . in interpreting language and its structure as a semiotic system consisting of signs , he provides a range of new analyses of well established syntactic and morphological relations , categories , and roles . this book constitutes an important and valuable contribution to linguistic theory , drawing on the author 's extensive knowledge of australian aboriginal languages , as well as discussing data from more familiar languages , such as english . december 1997 448 pp . ; 5 b / w figures 0-19 - 823688 - 3 $ 100 . 00 oxford university press indefinite pronouns martin haspelmath , free university of berlin ( oxford studies in typology and linguistic theory ) oxford studies in typology and linguistic theory offers a forum for promoting research and analysis that is both typologically and theoretically informed . each book in the series will focus on a particular topic , providing an overview of the available cross-linguistic data and , at the same time , engaging such key theoretical issues as the boundaries or limitations of different approaches in dealing with typological data . this book is the first comprehensive and encyclopaedic investigation of indefinite pronouns ( expressions like someone , anything , nowhere ) in the languages of the world . it shows that the range of variation in the functional and formal properties of indefinite pronouns is subject to a set of universal implicational constraints , and proposes explanations for these universals . february 1997 384 pp . ; 25 b / w figures , 1 map 0-19 - 823560 - 7 $ 72 . 00 oxford university press intransitive predication leon stassen , university of nijmegen , the netherlands ( oxford studies in typology and linguistic theory ) stassen makes a major contribution to the study of language typology with intransitive predication . basing his analysis on a sample of 410 languages , he presents a universally applicable model for defining the domain of intransitive predication in natural languages . intransitive predicates are defined in terms of four domains : events ( sarah is walking ) , classes ( sarah is a secretary ) , properties ( sarah is tall ) , and locations ( sarah is in the garden ) . december 1997 800 pp . 0-19 - 823693 - x $ 145 . 00 oxford university press for more information about linguistics titles from oxford university press : e-mail : linguistics @ oup-usa . org or visit the oxford university press usa web site : http : / / www . oup-usa . org oxford university press usa
