Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Prelim pages i
2. Table of contents v
3. Preface ix
4. Introduction 1
5. 1. The question of invariance
6. The concept of structure in contemporary linguistics 11
7. Grasping the Nettle 33
8. Invariant meaning 61
9. 2. Invariance and grammatical categories
10. Toward a universal calculus of inflectional categories 85
11. Towards a typology of verbal categories 111
12. Two types of markedness and their implications for the conceptualization of grammatical invariance 133
13. The role of animacy in language change 153
14. Invariance and mutation in Acatec Mayan 167
15. Variation, invariance, hierarchy, and integration as grammatical parameters 185
16. Invariance and markedness in grammatical categories 221
17. 3. Grammar and discourse
18. Tense-aspect and hierarchy of meanings 241
19. On the concept of time 261
20. On the projection of equivalence relations into syntagms 287
21. Invariance in grammar, variation in discourse 313
22. 4. Grammar an pragmatics
23. Deixis and shifters after Jakobson 321
24. Praguean structure and autopoiesis 341
25. Shifters and non-verbal categories of Russian 363
26. English speech act verbs 387
27. Grammar and pragmatics 407
28. 5. Typology and universals
29. Two approaches to language universals 417
30. Invariance and variation 437
31. Classical and modern universals research 451
32. Language typology and diachronic linguistics 465
33. Language universals in relation to acquisition and change 473
34. Paralinguistic universals and preconceptual thinking in language 495