Cause, Condition, Concession, Contrast: Cognitive and Discourse Perspectives (Topics in English Linguistics, No 33) (Topics in English Linguistics)

In this collection of original and innovative papers, new light is thrown on the nature and the expression of the four probably most-researched coherence relations. English, today's most important international language, is probably the best-described and most widely studied language in linguistic research. This is because there is an immense body of descriptive and theoretical publications and especially because of the existence of large computer corpora for Present-Day English, as well as for older periods of the language and for regional and social varieties. The strength of current English linguistics therefore is its orientation to solid descriptive empirical research. The future of English linguistics as envisaged by the editors of Topics TOPICS IN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS lies not in ever more detailed studies on ever more phenomena, but in empirical studies which integrate work in English linguistics into general and theoretical linguistics on the one hand, and comparative linguistics on the other. Relevant studies may, for example, make English the test case of major claims and hypotheses in these branches of linguistics or raise questions of more general concern to be tested in cross-linguistic work. There is also a need for survey studies bringing together our knowledge of synchronic, especially regional and social, and historical variation within the English language and putting their results in perspective against claims and findings in theoretical and cross-linguistic research. The editors welcome any high-quality manuscript in which the English language takes center stage, regardless of the topic area, the theoretical background and the methodological approach chosen. The prime condition all submitted manuscripts should meet is that they offer interesting new data and analyses, and above all fresh approaches that contribute to the overall aim of the TiEL series, which is to further outstanding research in English linguistics Frontmatter ......Page 2 Contents......Page 6 Introduction......Page 8 I. Cause ......Page 16 On the processing of causal relations......Page 42 Domains of use or subjectivity? The distribution of three Dutch causal connectives explained......Page 64 Causal relations in spoken discourse: Asyndetic constructions as a means for giving reasons......Page 90 Constructions with if, since, and because: Causality, epistemic stance, and clause order......Page 118 On affirmative and negative complex conditional connectives......Page 150 Pre- and post-positioning of wenn-clauses in spoken and written German......Page 180 Counterfactual reasoning and desirability......Page 212 Adversative connectors on distinct levels of discourse: A re-examination of Eve Sweetser's three-level approach......Page 242 Viewpoints and polysemy: Linking adversative and causal meanings of discourse markers......Page 264 The treatment of contrasts in interaction......Page 290 Concessives on different semantic levels: A typological perspective......Page 320 Causal and concessive clauses: Formal and semantic relations......Page 348 Concession implies causality, though in some other space......Page 368 Concessive patterns in conversation......Page 388 “that's true, although not really, but still": Expressing concession in spoken English......Page 418 From concessive connector to discourse marker: The use of obwohl in everyday German interaction......Page 446 Index ......Page 476 Authors' addresses ......Page 480 Introduction / Elizabeth Couper-kuhlen And Bernd Kortmann -- I. Cause. The Relevance Of Causality / Paul Georg Meyer. On The Processing Of Causal Relations / Leo G.m. Noordman And Femke De Blijzer. Domains Of Use Or Subjectivity? The Distribution Of Three Dutch Causal Connectives Explained / Henk Pander Maat And Ted Sanders. Causal Relations In Spoken Discourse: Asyndetic Constructions As A Means For Giving Reasons / Christine Gohl -- Ii. Condition. Constructions With If, Since, And Because: Causality, Epistemic Stance, And Clause Order / Barbara Dancygier And Eve Sweetser. On Affirmative And Negative Complex Conditional Connectives / Estrella Montolio. Pre- And Post-positioning Of Wenn-clauses In Spoken And Written German / Peter Auer. Edited By Elizabeth Couper-kuhlen, Bernd Kortmann. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The future of English linguistics as envisaged by the editors of Topics in English Linguistics lies in empirical studies, which integrate work in English linguistics into general and theoretical linguistics on the one hand, and comparative linguistics on the other. The TiEL series features volumes that present interesting new data and analyses, and above all fresh approaches that contribute to the overall aim of the series, which is to further outstanding research in English linguistics. For further publications in English linguistics see also our Dialects of English book series. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Natalie Fecher. The book elaborates one of Roman Jakobson's many brilliant ideas, i.e. his insight that the two cognitive strategies of the metaphoric and the metonymic are the end-points on a continuum of conceptualization processes. This elaboration is achieved on the background of Lakoff and Johnson's two domain approach, i.e. the mapping of a source onto a target domain of conceptualization. Further approaches dwell on different stretches of this metaphor-metonymy continuum. Still other papers probe into the specialized conceptual division of labor associated with both modes of thought. Two new breakthroug

The future of English linguistics as envisaged by the editors of Topics in English Linguistics lies in empirical studies which integrate work in English linguistics into general and theoretical linguistics on the one hand, and comparative linguistics on the other. The TiEL series features volumes that present interesting new data and analyses, and above all fresh approaches that contribute to the overall aim of the series, which is to further outstanding research in English linguistics.

This article discusses interrelations between relevance and causality from different angles: first, it is shown that the very notion of causality is subject to a relevance constraint.