The relevance of relevance in linguistic analysis
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Bob de Jonge
Abstract
The Spanish simple past tenses (imperfecto and indefinido) are studied in a literary text, supporting the claim that a discourse-related hypothesis about the meaning of these forms allows for a correct structural analysis and, moreover, enables a revealing literary analysis. That is, the meaning hypothesis not only accounts for the overall distribution of these forms in texts but also allows literary analysts to gather independent evidence for the hypothesis as well as illuminating the interpretations of messages on a literary level. The meaning hypothesis presented in this paper is based on De Jonge (2000a), which proposes that the indefinido is used for eventualities under focus and the imperfecto is used for supportive eventualities. The corpus used for the study was drawn from two short stories by Gabriel García Márquez.
Abstract
The Spanish simple past tenses (imperfecto and indefinido) are studied in a literary text, supporting the claim that a discourse-related hypothesis about the meaning of these forms allows for a correct structural analysis and, moreover, enables a revealing literary analysis. That is, the meaning hypothesis not only accounts for the overall distribution of these forms in texts but also allows literary analysts to gather independent evidence for the hypothesis as well as illuminating the interpretations of messages on a literary level. The meaning hypothesis presented in this paper is based on De Jonge (2000a), which proposes that the indefinido is used for eventualities under focus and the imperfecto is used for supportive eventualities. The corpus used for the study was drawn from two short stories by Gabriel García Márquez.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Using big data to support meaning hypotheses for some and any 33
- The object of explanation for linguistics 73
- The relevance of relevance in linguistic analysis 105
- La estabilización del tema discursivo 123
- Aproximación al significado de la forma española QUE dentro de la Escuela de Columbia 161
- El “juego” intraparadigmático 199
- Re-visitando significados 217
- Being polite in Argentina 233
- A comparative study of the restrictive markings of mandarin Jiù , Cái , and Zhǐ 259
- Evolutionary phonology as human behavior 281
- Name Index 301
- Subject Index 305
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Using big data to support meaning hypotheses for some and any 33
- The object of explanation for linguistics 73
- The relevance of relevance in linguistic analysis 105
- La estabilización del tema discursivo 123
- Aproximación al significado de la forma española QUE dentro de la Escuela de Columbia 161
- El “juego” intraparadigmático 199
- Re-visitando significados 217
- Being polite in Argentina 233
- A comparative study of the restrictive markings of mandarin Jiù , Cái , and Zhǐ 259
- Evolutionary phonology as human behavior 281
- Name Index 301
- Subject Index 305
