Reflexivity and Intensification in English: A Study of Texts and Contexts - Couverture souple

Lange, Claudia

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 3631543573 ISBN 13 : 9783631543573

Editeur : Peter Lang AG, 2006

Synopsis

Present-Day English is unique among the Germanic languages in employing the same forms (himself, herself etc.) both as reflexive pronoun and intensifier. While a lot of attention has been directed at the grammaticalization of the compound reflexive, the emergence of the compound intensifier has remained largely mysterious. This study is a detailed investigation of the domains of reflexivity and intensification throughout the history of English. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the possible source contexts for SELF-forms in Old and Middle English. Backed up with a wide range of data from early Middle English, the compound intensifier is traced to discourse-pragmatic motivations : expressive strategies linked to specific discourse traditions become rapidly grammaticalized once the former Old English standard gave way to large-scale variation in Middle English.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

The Author : Claudia Lange studied Linguistics at the Freie Universität Berlin and at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is currently working as a lecturer in Linguistics at the Technische Universität Dresden.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Peter Lang AG
• Date d'édition: 2006
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 3631543573
• ISBN 13: 9783631543573
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 220
• Coordonnées du fabricant: r.boehm-korff@peterlang.com; r.boehm-korff@peterlang.com; ; Gontardstraße 11; Berlin; 10178; Allemagne