The Discourse Potential of Underspecified Structures

Human languages are very economical systems of knowledge, which usually contribute to the formation and interpretation of an utterance only what cannot be supplied by other conceptual systems. Thus, conceptual underspecification and context-dependence are essential properties, which vary from one particular language to the next in dependence on the structural make-up a given language belongs to. The book series Language, Context and Cognition explores the essential properties of natural languages in focusing on their lexical entries, on the interaction of their grammatical subsystems as well as on the text production methods, from both synchronic and diachronic viewpoints. Research on the conceptual underspecification of language requires close cooperation of linguists with researchers in cognitive and neuroscience, with phoneticians, logicians and with the experts of pragmatic and experimental disciplines, but it also needs interdisciplinary cooperation with experts of non-linguistic conceptual systems. Editorial board: Dr. habil. Kai Alter (Newcastle University und Oxford University), Prof. Dr. Ulrike Demske (Universität Potsdam), Prof. Dr. Ljudmila Geist (Universität Stuttgart), Prof. Dr. Rosemarie Lühr (Humboldt Universität Berlin), Prof. Dr. Thomas Pechmann (Universität Leipzig), Prof. Dr. Richard Wiese (Universität Marburg)