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BOOK NOTICES 227 and perhaps an introduction to Montague grammar. The author does not attempt to present a sophisticated study of linguistic phenomena; rather, this is truly an introduction and thus serves to prepare the student for more detailed analyses available in the primary literature. In spite of this, it covers a large number of semantic phenomena and contains several original analyses. The exercises after each chapter are extremely useful , and some subset of these should be attempted by readers if they are to benefit fully from this book. A set of (partial) solutions would make the book ideal for self-instruction. Overall, this book is very clearly written and is a superb introduction to compositional semantics and categorial grammar. The careful reader (there are some typographical errors, e.g. A/B should be B/A on the top of page 156) will be rewarded with a clearer understanding of the field and will find more advanced literature like GIy? Morrill's Type logical grammar (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1994) quite accessible . [Shravan Vasishth, Ohio State University.] Degree modifiers of adjectives in spoken British English. By Carita Paradis . (Lund studies in English 92.) Lund, Sweden: Lund University Press, 1997. Pp. 192 This PhD thesis investigates the relationship and combination of degree modifiers and the adjectives they apply to. The study is based on the LondonLund Corpus (LLC) recorded between 1953-1987. In Ch. 1, 'Introduction', Paradis first sets out the organization and scope of the study. The focus is on the structure of degree modifiers. She proposes her own categorization on top of three previous models categorizing the set of degree modifiers selected into five different paradigms with respect to their scaling force, from strongly reinforcing to strongly attenuating . Ch. 2, 'Degree modifiers in the London-Lund Corpus', introduces the LLC on which the study is based and shows the distribution of the selected degree modifiers of adjectives therein. Ch. 3, 'Semantics', and Ch. 4, 'Intonation', are the core part of the study. Ch. 3 aims to explore the mechanism of the combination of degree modifiers and adjectives by investigating their close semantic relationship. P suggests that there are constraints governing the combination of degree modifiers and adjectives and hypothesizes that it is the mode of construal of the adjective that determines which degree modifier it takes. The degree modifiers can in turn restrict the interpretation of the adjectives they apply to. Thus, they are exerting semantic pressure on each other. A model of semantic bidirectionality is employed illustrating this intimate relationship explicitly . The chapter ends with the conclusion that a principle of harmony underlies the matching of degree modifiers and adjectives. In Ch. 4, P adopts a traditional method of intonation analysis—'the nuclear tone approach'. This chapter marks the first attempt to systematize the study of the relationship between the abstract meaning of the intonation and the local meaning of the degree modifier. It mainly focuses on two prosodie aspects: the functional effects of nucleus placement and the nuclear tones on degree modifiers. 'Nucleus' here refers to the most prominent syllable which carries the principal accent. When the nucleus falls right on the degree modifier, it will bring out the aspect of degree distinctly, thus making the degree modifier either even stronger or more attenuating than it originally was. The degree modifier, however, will be backgrounded and less prominent if the nucleus is on the adjective. The level of degree is, therefore, less clear and less speaker-assertive. As for nuclear tone, analysis is made with reference to the scaling test conducted by P with a group ofnative English-speaking subjects in addition to the LLC. P only takes the fall and fall-rise tones into consideration here. She argues that the tones carry with them highly abstract meanings that will match naturally with the attitudinal and lexical properties of the degree modifier. The abstract meaning of certainty and conclusiveness carried by a falling tone will go along well with the reinforcers while the fallrise tone associated with uncertainty and reservation will go with the attenuators. Ch. 5, 'Conclusion', summarizes the above findings by stating that there are principles of both semantic and lexico-intonational harmony in the combination of...

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