Deixis, grammar, and culture
By: Revere D. Perkins.
Series: Typological studies in language,; v. 24
Publisher: J. Benjamins Pub. co.
Published: 1992
Place of publication: Amsterdam; Philadelphia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 245
Subjects: Language and culture; Grammar, Comparative and general -- Deixis; Linguistic change
Description: Many linguists have believed that there is no connection between culture and language structures. This study reviews some of the literature supporting vocabulary connections, hypotheses for other connections, and critical views of this type of hypothesis. Precisely such a connection is developed employing a functional view of language and grammaticization principles. Using a world-wide probability sample of forty-nine languages, an association between culture and the grammatical coding of deictics is tested and statistically found to be corroborated to a very significant extent. Suggestions are included on how some of the concepts used and developed in this study might be extended.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [229]-235) and index.