Thomas Herbst

The present book provides an introduction to the linguistic model of Construction Grammar, offering a full analysis of the grammar of the English language. It covers all levels of morpho-syntactic form-meaning units: including sentence types, tense and aspect, argument structure, phrases, idioms, word and morphological constructions. In line with its usage-based approach, all constructions are discussed using authentic corpus examples. In order to illustrate how constructions can be learnt, the book draws on authentic data from child language. Furthermore, corpus analysis is used to show which lexical items typically occur in the slots of constructions and make up their ‘collo-profile’. A key feature of the book is that it develops a systematic method for showing how constructions combine to form actual utterances. For this purpose, so-called ‘construction grids’ are developed which contain all the constructions that make up even the most complex sentences and show points of overlap between them.

Connect, Orientate, Reflect und Energize - dieses Buch bietet Ihnen ein universelles Konzept für Zufriedenheit, Glück, Gesundheit und persönlichen Reichtum. Im Fokus stehen Ihre Gedanken und Empfindungen: diese strahlen von innen nach außen, bestimmen Ihre persönliche Stimmungslage und Ihr reales Handeln, färben ab auf Ihre Umgebung und beeinflussen sogar Ihr physisches Erscheinungsbild. Eine gute Steuerung Ihres eigenen Denkens resultiert in einer authentischen und kraftvollen Verbindung zu Ihren Mitmenschen und führt Sie privat und beruflich in alle Richtungen und auf alle Lebenswege, die in Ihrem tiefsten Innern bereits angelegt sind. Thomas Herbst vermittelt überzeugend, wie Sie Ihre Empfindungswelt bewusst und selbstverantwortlich auf gute Weise lenken lernen: Verändern Sie Ihre Denkmuster, gewinnen Sie Ihre Lebensenergie zurück und richten Sie diese konsequent auf Ihr Lebensglück. Sie werden Ihre Umgebung im besten Sinne damit anstecken.

The book introduces the reader to the central areas of English linguistics. The main sections are: the English language and linguistics - sounds - meaning-carrying units - sentences: models of grammar - meaning - utterances - variation. Notably, the book is written from a foreign student's perspective of the English language, i.e. aspects relevant to foreign language teaching receive particular attention. A great deal of emphasis is put on the insights to be gained from the analysis of corpora, especially with respect to the idiomatic character of language (idiom principle, valency approach). In addition, the text offers basic facts about the history of the language and elaborates on the differences between British and American English. The author demonstrates that a linguistic fact can usually be described in more than one way. To this end, each section contains a chapter written for beginners providing a broad outline and introducing the basic terminology. The remaining chapters in each section highlight linguistic facts in more detail and give an idea of how particular theories account for them. The book can be used both from the first semester onwards and as perfect study aid for final B. A.-examinations.

Over the past few decades, the book series Linguistische Arbeiten [Linguistic Studies], comprising over 500 volumes, has made a significant contribution to the development of linguistic theory both in Germany and internationally. The series will continue to deliver new impulses for research and maintain the central insight of linguistics that progress can only be made in acquiring new knowledge about human languages both synchronically and diachronically by closely combining empirical and theoretical analyses. To this end, we invite submission of high-quality linguistic studies from all the central areas of general linguistics and the linguistics of individual languages which address topical questions, discuss new data and advance the development of linguistic theory.