Meaning-Centered GrammarAn Introductory Text
Craig Hancock
Series: Equinox Textbooks and Surveys in Linguistics Paperback Price £15.99/$26.95 |     |
Description
Rather than narrowly dividing language between correct and incorrect, this book promotes a respect for the power and usefulness of language in all its forms. It draws from a number of linguistic grammars, traditional grammar, and contemporary composition theory, yet achieves a unified synthesis by seeing each of these as ways to understand the language itself and its natural, inherent, meaning-making grammatical system. The book draws heavily on real world writing, including authors like Annie Dillard, Richard Rodriguez, John McPhee, Alice Walker, Tim O’Brien, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cornel West. Though the book is primarily a linguistically based exploration, the final two chapters move into the practical world of real world application in writing (including punctuation) and reading (grammatical analysis.) It does not stop at the isolated sentence, but considers ways in which grammar works in longer passages and in harmony with rhetorical purposes. Its direct focus is on developing an understanding of language and not on directly changing language behavior. It should be of great interest to writing teachers or grammar teachers looking for alternatives to narrow prescriptive approaches or the disinterested descriptions of much contemporary linguistics.
Rather than narrowly dividing language between correct and incorrect, this book promotes a respect for the power and usefulness of language in all its forms. It draws from a number of linguistic grammars, traditional grammar, and contemporary composition theory, yet achieves a unified synthesis by seeing each of these as ways to understand the language itself and its natural, inherent, meaning-making grammatical system. The book draws heavily on real world writing, including authors like Annie Dillard, Richard Rodriguez, John McPhee, Alice Walker, Tim O’Brien, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cornel West. Though the book is primarily a linguistically based exploration, the final two chapters move into the practical world of real world application in writing (including punctuation) and reading (grammatical analysis.) It does not stop at the isolated sentence, but considers ways in which grammar works in longer passages and in harmony with rhetorical purposes. Its direct focus is on developing an understanding of language and not on directly changing language behavior. It should be of great interest to writing teachers or grammar teachers looking for alternatives to narrow prescriptive approaches or the disinterested descriptions of much contemporary linguistics.
Contents
Chapter One: Rethinking Grammar
Chapter two: Basic Principles of Grammar
Chapter three: Elements of the Simple Clause
Chapter four: Context Based Meaning in a Sentence
Chapter five: A Closer Look at Verb Phrases
Chapter six: Transitivity: Clause as Representation
Chapter seven: Verbs as Adjectives, Nouns, and as Heads of Non-Finite subordinate clauses
Chapter eight: Coordination and Compounding: Appositional Phrases
Chapter nine: Finite Subordinate Clauses
Chapter ten: Grammar and Writing: Punctuation
Chapter eleven: Grammar and Meaning in Longer Texts
Glossary
Reviews
'Hancock’s Meaning-Centered Grammar makes an excellent introduction to traditional grammar viewed within a functional perspective. It possesses a warmth of style unusual for a textbook in this field.'
Michael Cummings, Professor, Department of English, York University, Toronto
'In this book, Hancock has attempted the difficult task of blending insights from rhetoric and the teaching of writing with terms and descriptions from the two linguistic traditions of traditional grammar and systemic functional grammar, the latter in the form set out in Halliday (1994).'
Edward McDonald, University of Auckland
Specifications
| ISBN-10 (Hardback) | 1904768105 (OP) |
| ISBN-13 (Hardback) | 9781904768104 (OP) |
| ISBN-10 (Paperback) | 1904768113 |
| ISBN-13 (Paperback) | 9781904768111 |
| Price (Paperback) | £15.99/$26.95 |
| Publication Date | November 2005 |
| Pages | 224 |
| Size | 244 x 169mm |
| Illustrations | 60 black and white line drawings |
| Readership | Undergraduates |
| Availability | HB edition is OUT OF PRINT |
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