Deponency and Morphological Mismatches

Oxford University Press, 2008

Andrew Hippisley
Mathhew Baerman
Greville G. Corbett
Dunstan Brown

Deponency is a mismatch between form and function in language that was first described for Latin, where there is a group of verbs (the deponents) which are morphologically passive but syntactically active. This is evidence of a larger problem involving the interface between syntax and morphology: inflectional morphology is supposed to specify syntactic function, but sometimes it sends out the wrong signal. Although the problem is as old as the Western linguistic tradition, no generally accepted account of it has yet been given, and it is safe to say that all current theories of language have been constructed as if deponency did not exist.

Language choice in a nation under transition: English language spread in Cambodia

New York: Springer ("Language Policy" series, No. 5), 2006.

Thomas Clayton

Language Choice in a Nation under Transition charts the spread of English into Cambodia and the French efforts to contest this spread in favor of their own language through an analysis of the country's recent history. This book proposes a synthesis of the national-functional and international-critical perspectives. This synthesis emerges from the Cambodian experience and thus adheres to Joshua Fishman's admonition that theory reflect the "sharp bite of local detail and unique historical experience."

Rethinking Hegemony

Melbourne: James Nicholas Publishers, 2006.

Thomas Clayton

In Rethinking Hegemony, edited by Thomas Clayton, a group of prominent educationists explore the complex and powerful process of hegemony, or ideological domination, as it operates in schools and other educational settings. In this collection of national and international empirical studies the authors grapple with the central process of hegemony? that of social maintenance or transformation by means of prominent social ideas which shape our understanding of what constitutes just, proper, and legitimate ways of thinking and acting. While the authors agree that these ideas are continually renewed, recreated and defended by dominant groups in society, they also consider the way other groups respond to this process in what often becomes a struggle for hegemony or ideological ascendancy.

Education and the politics of language: Hegemony and pragmatism in Cambodia, 1979-1989

Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, Comparative Education Research Centre ("Studies in Comparative Education" No. 8), 2006.

Thomas Clayton

During the decade from 1979-1989, key elements of Cambodia's governance were controlled by the authorities in neighboring Vietnam. The type of linguistic and cultural dominance brought by this control was substantially different from that in most other parts of the world. Clayton's analysis of hegemony and pragmatism speaks to a broad audience in the fields of language policy studies and comparative education, as well as to scholars concerned specifically with Cambodia.

Inflectional Morphology: A Theory of Paradigm Structure

Cambridge University Press, ("Cambridge Studies in Linguistics" No. 93), 2001.

Gregory T. Stump

A new contribution to linguistic theory, this book presents a formal framework for the analysis of word structure in human language. It sets forth the network of hypotheses constituting Paradigm Function Morphology, a theory of inflectional form whose central insight is that paradigms play an essential role in the definition of a language's system of word structure. The theory comprises several unprecedented claims, chief among which is the claim that a language's realization rules serve as clauses in the definition of a paradigm function.

The Semantic Variability of Absolute Constructions

D. Reidel Publishing Co., "Texts and Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy" No. 25), 1985.

Gregory T. Stump

This book investigates the reasons for the variability of absolute constructions, arguing that the logical relation between an absolute construction and the clause which it modifies may depend on a variety of factors--that this relation is, in some cases, determined by the semantic properties of an overt operator appearing in the modified clause, but must, in other cases, simply be inferred. Stump presents a detailed account of the function of absolute constructions in the modal, temporal, and aspectual subsystems of English grammar.

Spatial Prepositions: A Case Study from French

University of Chicago Press, 1991.
A translation of L'Espace en Français, by Claude Vandeloise, 1986.

Anna K. Bosch, Trans.

This study of the meaning and use of the major spatial prepositions in French provides valuable insight into the way in which the human mind organizes spatial relationships. Vandeloise offers numerous examples supporting the view that language is adapted to a conceptualization of physical space that is subjective rather then objective. Thus, while many of the examples apply in English as well as in French, there are some noteworthy differences--in French one sits on a chair, but in a couch. Vandeloise convincingly argues that it is precisely this subjective element which makes a standard geometrical account unfeasible.