Igor Mel’čuk is the author of 44 books and 270 papers on linguistics, including Dependency Syntax (1988), Cours de morphologie ge’ne’rale (5 volumes; 1992–2000), Aspects of the Theory of Morphology (2006), Introduction a la linguistique (3 volumes, coauthored with J. Milic’evic’; 2014), and Semantics (3 volumes; 2012–2104). He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the Besançon University (France), member of the Royal Society of Canada, and corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of two Killam Research Scholarships (1988 and 1989), a John Guggenheim Fellowship (1990), and the Alexander-von-Humboldt Research Award (1991). Mel’čuk was nominated to College de France in 1997 and to Chaire internationale Blaise Pascal (Ecole Normale Supe’rieure, France) in 2002. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Montreal.

• AcknowledgmentsThe Author's ForewordChapter 1. The Problem Stated1.1 What is natural language and how to describe it?1.2 Illustrations of some basic notions1.3 The structure of this book1.4 Limitations acceptedChapter 2. Functional Modeling in Linguistics2.1 A model as a means of study and description2.2 Functional models2.3 The Meaning-Text model: a global functional linguistic model2.3.1 Introductory remarks2.3.2 Three postulates of the Meaning-Text theory2.3.3 Main formal properties of a Meaning-Text model2.3.4 Two central notions of the Meaning-Text approach: linguistic meaning and paraphrasing2.3.5 General characterization of the Meaning-Text approachChapter 3. An Outline of a Particular Meaning-Text Model3.1 Deep and surface sublevels of linguistic representations3.2 Linguistic representations in a Meaning-Text model3.2.1 Introductory remarks3.2.2 The semantic structure of a sentence3.2.3 The deep-syntactic structure of a sentence3.2.4 The surface-syntactic structure of a sentence3.2.5 The deep-morphological structure of a sentence3.2.6 The surface-morphological structure of a sentence3.2.7 Prelinguistic representation of the world: conceptual representation3.3 The modules of the Meaning-Text model3.3.1 Introductory remarks3.3.2 Semantic module3.3.2.1 Semantic paraphrasing: rules of the form "SemRi ≡ SemRj"3.3.2.2 Semantic transition: rules of the form "SemRi ⇔ DSyntRk"3.3.2.3 Deep-syntactic paraphrasing: rules of the form "DSyntRk1 ≡ DSyntRk2"3.3.3 Deep-syntactic module3.3.4 Surface-syntactic module3.3.5 Deep-morphological module3.3.6 Surface-morphological moduleChapter 4. Modeling Two Central Linguistic Phenomena: Lexical Selection and Lexical Cooccurrence4.1 Modeling lexical selection (paradigmatics): semantic decompositions4.2 Modeling lexical cooccurrence (syntagmatics): lexical functions4.3 Correlations between paradigmatic and syntagmatic aspects of lexeme behaviorChapter 5. Meaning-Text Linguistics5.1 Meaning-Text linguistics and the direction of linguistic description: from meaning to text5.1.1 Example 1: Spanish "semivowels"5.1.2 Example 2: Russian binominative sentences5.2 Meaning-Text linguistics and a linguistic conceptual apparatus5.2.1 Introductory remarks5.2.2 Linguistic sign5.2.3 Word5.2.4 Cases, ergative construction, voices5.3 Meaning-Text linguistics and the description of linguistic meaning5.4 Meaning-Text linguistics and the lexicon: the Explanatory Combinatorial Dictionary [= ECD]5.4.1 Introductory remarks5.4.2 The three main properties of an ECD5.4.3 A lexical entry in an ECD: three major zones5.4.3.1 The semantic zone in an ECD lexical entry5.4.3.2 The syntactic cooccurrence zone in an ECD lexical entry5.4.3.3 The semantic derivation and lexical cooccurrence zone in an ECD lexical entry5.4.4 Two sample lexical entries of a Russian ECD5.5 Meaning-Text linguistics and dependencies in natural language5.5.1 Three types of linguistic dependency5.5.2 Criteria for syntactic dependencySumming UpAppendicesAppendix I : Phonetic TableAppendix II: Surface-Syntactic Relations of EnglishAppendix III: Possible Combinations of the Three Types of Linguistic Dependency between Two Lexemes in a ClauseNotesReferencesAbbreviations and NotationsSubject and Name Index with a GlossaryIndex of Languages

This book should be required reading for every linguist, and if you 'merely' teach a language, you should read it, too. It presents an extraordinary model of how language works, and if you don't know how language works, how on earth can you be a language teacher?" "Igor Mel'čuk, the former wunderkind of Soviet linguistics, has been working on the formal description of sentence structure for decades, bringing his Meaning-Text model to still greater perfection. As a result, this monograph offers an impressive multi-layered grammar encompassing separate semantic, syntactic, morphological and phonological representations of any sentence to be examined, together with an integrated dictionary that is still unsurpassed in its systematic, all-embracing account of semantic, combinatorial and other properties of vocabulary items. The entire apparatus is based on rigorous formal definitions of all concepts involved. Moreover, unlike in comparable studies, all rules and properties are illustrated by a wealth of diverse typological data. All in all, the present monograph represents the best traditions of mathematical linguistics and may be considered a masterpiece of theoretical precision and methodological rigor, buttressed by a rich empirical underpinning." "With Language: From Meaning to Text, Igor Mel'čuk offers a healthy concentration of text linguistics that covers core aspects of the study of natural languages, such as linguistic dependencies, semantics-syntax interface, lexical functions for paradigmatic and syntagmatic lexical relations, and the structure of explanatory combinatorial dictionaries. Theoretical considerations are systematically put to the test with a description of linguistic phenomena from a variety of typologically distinct languages. This gem of a book is the perfect entry into text linguistics for the curious mind who expects linguistic theories not to raise problems so much as to provide solutions.

Igor Mel’čuk is the author of 44 books and 270 papers on linguistics, including Dependency Syntax (1988), Cours de morphologie ge’ne’rale (5 volumes; 1992–2000), Aspects of the Theory of Morphology (2006), Introduction a la linguistique (3 volumes, coauthored with J. Milic’evic’; 2014), and Semantics (3 volumes; 2012–2104). He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the Besançon University (France), member of the Royal Society of Canada, and corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of two Killam Research Scholarships (1988 and 1989), a John Guggenheim Fellowship (1990), and the Alexander-von-Humboldt Research Award (1991). Mel’čuk was nominated to College de France in 1997 and to Chaire internationale Blaise Pascal (Ecole Normale Supe’rieure, France) in 2002. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Montreal.

• AcknowledgmentsThe Author's ForewordChapter 1. The Problem Stated1.1 What is natural language and how to describe it?1.2 Illustrations of some basic notions1.3 The structure of this book1.4 Limitations acceptedChapter 2. Functional Modeling in Linguistics2.1 A model as a means of study and description2.2 Functional models2.3 The Meaning-Text model: a global functional linguistic model2.3.1 Introductory remarks2.3.2 Three postulates of the Meaning-Text theory2.3.3 Main formal properties of a Meaning-Text model2.3.4 Two central notions of the Meaning-Text approach: linguistic meaning and paraphrasing2.3.5 General characterization of the Meaning-Text approachChapter 3. An Outline of a Particular Meaning-Text Model3.1 Deep and surface sublevels of linguistic representations3.2 Linguistic representations in a Meaning-Text model3.2.1 Introductory remarks3.2.2 The semantic structure of a sentence3.2.3 The deep-syntactic structure of a sentence3.2.4 The surface-syntactic structure of a sentence3.2.5 The deep-morphological structure of a sentence3.2.6 The surface-morphological structure of a sentence3.2.7 Prelinguistic representation of the world: conceptual representation3.3 The modules of the Meaning-Text model3.3.1 Introductory remarks3.3.2 Semantic module3.3.2.1 Semantic paraphrasing: rules of the form "SemRi ≡ SemRj"3.3.2.2 Semantic transition: rules of the form "SemRi ⇔ DSyntRk"3.3.2.3 Deep-syntactic paraphrasing: rules of the form "DSyntRk1 ≡ DSyntRk2"3.3.3 Deep-syntactic module3.3.4 Surface-syntactic module3.3.5 Deep-morphological module3.3.6 Surface-morphological moduleChapter 4. Modeling Two Central Linguistic Phenomena: Lexical Selection and Lexical Cooccurrence4.1 Modeling lexical selection (paradigmatics): semantic decompositions4.2 Modeling lexical cooccurrence (syntagmatics): lexical functions4.3 Correlations between paradigmatic and syntagmatic aspects of lexeme behaviorChapter 5. Meaning-Text Linguistics5.1 Meaning-Text linguistics and the direction of linguistic description: from meaning to text5.1.1 Example 1: Spanish "semivowels"5.1.2 Example 2: Russian binominative sentences5.2 Meaning-Text linguistics and a linguistic conceptual apparatus5.2.1 Introductory remarks5.2.2 Linguistic sign5.2.3 Word5.2.4 Cases, ergative construction, voices5.3 Meaning-Text linguistics and the description of linguistic meaning5.4 Meaning-Text linguistics and the lexicon: the Explanatory Combinatorial Dictionary [= ECD]5.4.1 Introductory remarks5.4.2 The three main properties of an ECD5.4.3 A lexical entry in an ECD: three major zones5.4.3.1 The semantic zone in an ECD lexical entry5.4.3.2 The syntactic cooccurrence zone in an ECD lexical entry5.4.3.3 The semantic derivation and lexical cooccurrence zone in an ECD lexical entry5.4.4 Two sample lexical entries of a Russian ECD5.5 Meaning-Text linguistics and dependencies in natural language5.5.1 Three types of linguistic dependency5.5.2 Criteria for syntactic dependencySumming UpAppendicesAppendix I : Phonetic TableAppendix II: Surface-Syntactic Relations of EnglishAppendix III: Possible Combinations of the Three Types of Linguistic Dependency between Two Lexemes in a ClauseNotesReferencesAbbreviations and NotationsSubject and Name Index with a GlossaryIndex of Languages

This book should be required reading for every linguist, and if you 'merely' teach a language, you should read it, too. It presents an extraordinary model of how language works, and if you don't know how language works, how on earth can you be a language teacher?" "Igor Mel'čuk, the former wunderkind of Soviet linguistics, has been working on the formal description of sentence structure for decades, bringing his Meaning-Text model to still greater perfection. As a result, this monograph offers an impressive multi-layered grammar encompassing separate semantic, syntactic, morphological and phonological representations of any sentence to be examined, together with an integrated dictionary that is still unsurpassed in its systematic, all-embracing account of semantic, combinatorial and other properties of vocabulary items. The entire apparatus is based on rigorous formal definitions of all concepts involved. Moreover, unlike in comparable studies, all rules and properties are illustrated by a wealth of diverse typological data. All in all, the present monograph represents the best traditions of mathematical linguistics and may be considered a masterpiece of theoretical precision and methodological rigor, buttressed by a rich empirical underpinning." "With Language: From Meaning to Text, Igor Mel'čuk offers a healthy concentration of text linguistics that covers core aspects of the study of natural languages, such as linguistic dependencies, semantics-syntax interface, lexical functions for paradigmatic and syntagmatic lexical relations, and the structure of explanatory combinatorial dictionaries. Theoretical considerations are systematically put to the test with a description of linguistic phenomena from a variety of typologically distinct languages. This gem of a book is the perfect entry into text linguistics for the curious mind who expects linguistic theories not to raise problems so much as to provide solutions.

Igor Mel’čuk is the author of 44 books and 270 papers on linguistics, including Dependency Syntax (1988), Cours de morphologie ge’ne’rale (5 volumes; 1992–2000), Aspects of the Theory of Morphology (2006), Introduction a la linguistique (3 volumes, coauthored with J. Milic’evic’; 2014), and Semantics (3 volumes; 2012–2104). He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the Besançon University (France), member of the Royal Society of Canada, and corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of two Killam Research Scholarships (1988 and 1989), a John Guggenheim Fellowship (1990), and the Alexander-von-Humboldt Research Award (1991). Mel’čuk was nominated to College de France in 1997 and to Chaire internationale Blaise Pascal (Ecole Normale Supe’rieure, France) in 2002. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Montreal.

• AcknowledgmentsThe Author's ForewordChapter 1. The Problem Stated1.1 What is natural language and how to describe it?1.2 Illustrations of some basic notions1.3 The structure of this book1.4 Limitations acceptedChapter 2. Functional Modeling in Linguistics2.1 A model as a means of study and description2.2 Functional models2.3 The Meaning-Text model: a global functional linguistic model2.3.1 Introductory remarks2.3.2 Three postulates of the Meaning-Text theory2.3.3 Main formal properties of a Meaning-Text model2.3.4 Two central notions of the Meaning-Text approach: linguistic meaning and paraphrasing2.3.5 General characterization of the Meaning-Text approachChapter 3. An Outline of a Particular Meaning-Text Model3.1 Deep and surface sublevels of linguistic representations3.2 Linguistic representations in a Meaning-Text model3.2.1 Introductory remarks3.2.2 The semantic structure of a sentence3.2.3 The deep-syntactic structure of a sentence3.2.4 The surface-syntactic structure of a sentence3.2.5 The deep-morphological structure of a sentence3.2.6 The surface-morphological structure of a sentence3.2.7 Prelinguistic representation of the world: conceptual representation3.3 The modules of the Meaning-Text model3.3.1 Introductory remarks3.3.2 Semantic module3.3.2.1 Semantic paraphrasing: rules of the form "SemRi ≡ SemRj"3.3.2.2 Semantic transition: rules of the form "SemRi ⇔ DSyntRk"3.3.2.3 Deep-syntactic paraphrasing: rules of the form "DSyntRk1 ≡ DSyntRk2"3.3.3 Deep-syntactic module3.3.4 Surface-syntactic module3.3.5 Deep-morphological module3.3.6 Surface-morphological moduleChapter 4. Modeling Two Central Linguistic Phenomena: Lexical Selection and Lexical Cooccurrence4.1 Modeling lexical selection (paradigmatics): semantic decompositions4.2 Modeling lexical cooccurrence (syntagmatics): lexical functions4.3 Correlations between paradigmatic and syntagmatic aspects of lexeme behaviorChapter 5. Meaning-Text Linguistics5.1 Meaning-Text linguistics and the direction of linguistic description: from meaning to text5.1.1 Example 1: Spanish "semivowels"5.1.2 Example 2: Russian binominative sentences5.2 Meaning-Text linguistics and a linguistic conceptual apparatus5.2.1 Introductory remarks5.2.2 Linguistic sign5.2.3 Word5.2.4 Cases, ergative construction, voices5.3 Meaning-Text linguistics and the description of linguistic meaning5.4 Meaning-Text linguistics and the lexicon: the Explanatory Combinatorial Dictionary [= ECD]5.4.1 Introductory remarks5.4.2 The three main properties of an ECD5.4.3 A lexical entry in an ECD: three major zones5.4.3.1 The semantic zone in an ECD lexical entry5.4.3.2 The syntactic cooccurrence zone in an ECD lexical entry5.4.3.3 The semantic derivation and lexical cooccurrence zone in an ECD lexical entry5.4.4 Two sample lexical entries of a Russian ECD5.5 Meaning-Text linguistics and dependencies in natural language5.5.1 Three types of linguistic dependency5.5.2 Criteria for syntactic dependencySumming UpAppendicesAppendix I : Phonetic TableAppendix II: Surface-Syntactic Relations of EnglishAppendix III: Possible Combinations of the Three Types of Linguistic Dependency between Two Lexemes in a ClauseNotesReferencesAbbreviations and NotationsSubject and Name Index with a GlossaryIndex of Languages

This book should be required reading for every linguist, and if you 'merely' teach a language, you should read it, too. It presents an extraordinary model of how language works, and if you don't know how language works, how on earth can you be a language teacher?" "Igor Mel'čuk, the former wunderkind of Soviet linguistics, has been working on the formal description of sentence structure for decades, bringing his Meaning-Text model to still greater perfection. As a result, this monograph offers an impressive multi-layered grammar encompassing separate semantic, syntactic, morphological and phonological representations of any sentence to be examined, together with an integrated dictionary that is still unsurpassed in its systematic, all-embracing account of semantic, combinatorial and other properties of vocabulary items. The entire apparatus is based on rigorous formal definitions of all concepts involved. Moreover, unlike in comparable studies, all rules and properties are illustrated by a wealth of diverse typological data. All in all, the present monograph represents the best traditions of mathematical linguistics and may be considered a masterpiece of theoretical precision and methodological rigor, buttressed by a rich empirical underpinning." "With Language: From Meaning to Text, Igor Mel'čuk offers a healthy concentration of text linguistics that covers core aspects of the study of natural languages, such as linguistic dependencies, semantics-syntax interface, lexical functions for paradigmatic and syntagmatic lexical relations, and the structure of explanatory combinatorial dictionaries. Theoretical considerations are systematically put to the test with a description of linguistic phenomena from a variety of typologically distinct languages. This gem of a book is the perfect entry into text linguistics for the curious mind who expects linguistic theories not to raise problems so much as to provide solutions.