Intended for people with little or no training in linguistics, this book initially deals with such basic concepts as the definition of linguistics, the nature of language, and the linguistic variations within a society. The discussion then moves to a more detailed, non-historical analysis of language structure, focusing on lexical items,…

An account of the phenomena that transformational syntax handled by means of "raising" is formulated in the context of cognitive grammar. Raising is analyzed as a special case of the metonymy that relational expressions exhibit in regard to their choice of overtly coded arguments. The transparency of these constructions is explained. (83…

Across languages, clauses expressing possession, location, and existence exhibit many similarities. To capture their evident affinity, it is often claimed that possessives derive--synclironically or diaclironically--from expressions of location/existence. This localist account obscures a basic contrast between two broad classes of possessive…