Klaus P. Schneider Bücher

Discourse is language as it occurs, in any form or context, beyond the speech act. It may be written or spoken, monological or dialogical, but there is always a communicative aim or purpose. This book provides systematic orientation in the vast field of studying discourse from a pragmatic perspective.

This handbook provides a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of a wide range of developmental and clinical issues in pragmatics. Principally, the contributions to this volume deal with pragmatic competence in a native language, in a second or foreign language, and in a selection of language disorders. The topics which are covered explore questions of production and comprehension on the utterance and discourse level. Topics addressed concern the acquisition and learning, teaching and testing, assessment and treatment of various aspects of pragmatic ability, knowledge and use. These include, for example, the acquisition and development of speech acts, implicatures, irony, story-telling and interactional competence. Phenomena such as pragmatic awareness and pragmatic transfer are also addressed. The disorders considered include clinical conditions pertaining to children and to adults. Specifically, these are, among others, autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, and Alzheimer's disease.

The notion that English lacks diminutives is a common misconception. This study demonstrates that English indeed features both analytic and synthetic diminutive markers. Analytic markers primarily include "little" and other related adjectives, while synthetic markers consist of suffixes such as -ie, -ette, -let, -kin, -een, -s, -er, -poo, and -pegs. These markers are analyzed through a formal-functional framework that incorporates both grammatical and pragmatic perspectives. The grammatical analysis focuses on phonological, morphological, and semantic characteristics, while the pragmatic analysis examines pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic aspects within speech acts and larger dialogue interactions. Findings indicate that English diminutive suffixes are among the most productive in the language. Although these suffixes share several features, each has developed a distinct profile regarding semantic and pragmatic aspects. In everyday conversation, there is a functional distinction between synthetic and analytic formations concerning their communicative roles and discourse distribution. The choice of diminutive form and its function is heavily influenced by pragmatic factors, including the illocution, interactive status, realization strategy, politeness value, and the relationship between speakers.