Editorial: Recent advances in Germanic syntax across syntactic domains

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Exclamation, intensity, and emotive assertion

In this paper, we present a novel analysis of exclamations as assertions equivalent to particular uses of declarative sentences with emotive verbs. Focusing on wh-exclamatives and declarative exclamations, we offer a wide range of arguments for why they are both assertive. We further argue that like emotive verbs, exclamations convey a presupposition not of factivity but of subjective veridicality anchored to the speaker, and assert the emotion (of surprise, amazement, or a negative emotion). Our analysis proposes a syntax-semantics for exclamations without a speech act operator, and exclamativity surfaces as an attitude rather than a speech act. This seems to be well motivated by the Greek, German as well as English facts we examine in the paper. Illocutionary operator approaches cannot capture the facts discussed here, and they also fail to determine precisely what the exclamative force might be

David Adger: Language unlimited : The science behind our most creative power

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How bizarre! A non-syntactic constraint on idiom syntax

This paper demonstrates that syntax-external factors at the level of pragmatics are responsible for certain constraints on word order variation in phrasal idioms. I propose a new constraint in this context by referring to the fact that idioms can be distinguished by the criterion of having either a plausible or a ‘bizarre’ literal reading. Since this constraint on topicalization of subparts of idiomatic strings cannot be accounted for in syntactic terms, this paper contributes to an understanding of how to approach marked word order options from a pragmatic perspective in general.publishe

How cool is that! : Ein neuer Sprechakt aus Sicht der Grammatik/Pragmatik-Schnittstelle

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Pädagogische Linguistik - jetzt!

This article provides an overview of recent work in linguistics that has its origin and motivation in formal linguistics and theoretical acquisition research, and on this basis indicates potential connections and contributions to language pedagogy. The article suggests the term Pedagogical Linguistics to not only refer to work that tries to translate linguistic findings for a pedagogic audience, but to also convey the idea that linguistics itself is fundamentally pedagogical.publishe