The Dynamics of Language Use: Functional and contrastive perspectives(140 Pragmatics & Beyond New Series)

This book brings together a collection of articles characterized by two main themes: the contrastive study of parallel phenomena in two or more languages, and an essentially functional approach in which language is regarded, first and foremost, as a rich and complex communication system, inextricably embedded in sociocultural and psychological contexts of use. The majority of the studies reported is empirical in nature, many making use of corpora or other textual materials in the language(s) under investigation. The book begins with an introductory section in which the editors provide surveys of the state of the art in both functional and contrastive linguistics. The other five sections of the volume are devoted to (i) a cognitive perspective on form and function, (ii) information structure, (iii) collocations and formulaic language, (iv) language learning, and (v) discourse and culture.

Table of Contents:
1. Foreword; 2. Contributors; 3. Introduction; 4. Functional approaches to language (by Butler, Christopher S.); 5. On contrastive linguistics: Trends, challenges and problems (by Gomez Gonzalez, Maria de los Angeles); 6. The present book (by Butler, Christopher S.); 7. Form and function in a cognitive perspective; 8. The relation of grammar to thought (by Chafe, Wallace); 9. Communicative constructions in English and Spanish (by Martinez-Vazquez, Montserrat); 10. Information Structure; 11. Incremental Functional Grammar and the language of football commentary (by Mackenzie, J. Lachlan); 12. The role of Theme and Rheme in contrasting methods of organization in texts (by Cummings, Michael J.); 13. On clefting in English and Spanish (by Gomez Gonzalez, Maria de los Angeles); 14. Anaphoric terms and focus of attention in English and Spanish (by Taboada, Maite); 15. Collocations and formulaic language; 16. Formulaic language: An overview with particular reference to the cross-linguistic perspective (by Butler, Christopher S.); 17. A contrastive analysis of entrenchment and collocational force in variable-sized lexical units (by Komlosi, Laszlo Imre); 18. Language learning; 19. Designing vocabulary tests for English, Spanish and other languages (by Meara, Paul); 20. Timing in English and Spanish: An empirical study of the learning of Spanish timing by Anglophone learners (by Diez, Francisco Gutierrez); 21. Spanish and English intonation patterns: A perceptual approach to attitudinal meaning (by Monroy, Rafael); 22. Discourse and culture; 23. Emotivity in narrative discourse: Cross-cultural and cross-gender perspectives (by Takashi, Kyoko); 24. Cardinal Transitivity in foregrounded discourse: A contrastive study in English and Spanish (by Guerrero Medina, Pilar); 25. English consciousness in 19th century Spain (by Caller, Paloma Tejada); 26. Language index; 27. Scholars index; 28. Subject index

Review :
Judging from the varied and stimulating content of this anthology, the Third International Contrastive Linguistics Conference (held in September 2003 at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain) must have been an exciting experience for theorists and teachers in the field of SLA. This volume-a collection of selected papers from the conference-pays eloquent testimony to the success of the academic gathering.