English Inversion: A Ground-Before-Figure Construction

by Rong Chen

The book provides an account of English inversion, a construction that displays perplexing idiosyncrasies at the level of semantics, phonology, syntax, and pragmatics. Basing his central argument on the claim that inversion is a linguistic representation of a Ground-before-Figure model, the author develops an elegant solution to a hitherto unsolved multidimensional linguistic puzzle and, in the process, supports the theoretical position that a...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3110178109
• ISBN13: 9783110178104
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: de Gruyter Mouton
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 22 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary