Function and Class in Linguistic Description

Download or read book Function and Class in Linguistic Description written by Mário Alberto Perini and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-22 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with the traditional problem of the classification of linguistic units, with a primary focus on word classes. The approach is descriptive rather than theoretical, and is based on the use of distinctive features analogous to the ones used in phonology, which entails a radical reworking of the traditional classification. The first part presents some basic notions such as the use of distinctive features and the role of word classes in grammar; classification by prototypes; and the use of world knowledge as a resource to assign thematic relations to constituents in the sentence. In the second part, some descriptive problems are examined, namely the classification of verbs according to valency; connectives, adverbs, and the internal constituents of the NP; and the classification of units larger than words. This book will be of use as a guide for linguists working on the description of natural languages, as well as a resource for students on courses in linguistic theory and description.