Download or read book Language in the British Isles written by David Britain and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-08-23 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The British Isles are home to a vast range of different spoken and signed languages and dialects. Language continues to evolve rapidly, in its diversity, in the number and the backgrounds of its speakers, and in the repercussions it has had for political and educational affairs. This book provides a comprehensive survey of the dominant languages and dialects used in the British Isles. Topics covered include the history of English; the relationship between Standard and Non-Standard Englishes; the major non-standard varieties spoken on the islands; and the history of multilingualism; and the educational and planning implications of linguistic diversity in the British Isles. Among the many dialects and languages surveyed by the volume are British Black English, Celtic languages, Chinese, Indian, European migrant languages, British Sign Language, and Anglo-Romani. Clear and accessible in its approach, it will be welcomed by students in sociolinguistics, English language, and dialectology, as well as anyone interested more generally in language within British society.

Download or read book American and British English written by Paul Baker and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-28 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is British English becoming more like American English? Paul Baker tracks the changes, trends and distinctions of both languages to answer this question.

Download or read book Divided by a Common Language written by Christopher Davies and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2007-09-26 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide to the language differences between the United States and United Kingdom is “a fascinating collection full of all kinds of surprises” (Minneapolis Star Tribune). Taxi rank . . . toad in the hole . . . dustman . . . fancy dress . . . American visitors to London (or viewers of British TV shows) might be confused by these terms. But most Britons would be equally puzzled by words like caboose, bleachers, and busboy. In Divided by a Common Language, Christopher Davies explains these expressions and discusses the many differences in pronunciation, spelling, and vocabulary between British and American English. He compares the customs, manners, and practical details of daily life in the United Kingdom and the United States, and American readers will enjoy his account of American culture as seen through an Englishman’s eyes. Davies tops it off with an amusing list of expressions that sound innocent enough in one country but make quite the opposite impression in the other. Two large glossaries help travelers translate from one variety of English to the other, and additional lists explain the distinctive words of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. This delightful book is the ideal companion for travelers—or anyone who enjoys the many nuances of language.

Download or read book Oxford English Dictionary written by John A. Simpson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2002-04-18 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford English Dictionary is the internationally recognized authority on the evolution of the English language from 1150 to the present day. The Dictionary defines over 500,000 words, making it an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, pronunciation, and history of the English language. This new upgrade version of The Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM offers unparalleled access to the world's most important reference work for the English language. The text of this version has been augmented with the inclusion of the Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series (Volumes 1-3), published in 1993 and 1997, the Bibliography to the Second Edition, and other ancillary material. System requirements: PC with minimum 200 MHz Pentium-class processor; 32 MB RAM (64 MB recommended); 16-speed CD-ROM drive (32-speed recommended); Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 200, or XP (Local administrator rights are required to install and open the OED for the first time on a PC running Windows NT 4 and to install and run the OED on Windows 2000 and XP); 1.1 GB hard disk space to run the OED from the CD-ROM and 1.7 GB to install the CD-ROM to the hard disk: SVGA monitor: 800 x 600 pixels: 16-bit (64k, high color) setting recommended. Please note: for the upgrade, installation requires the use of the OED CD-ROM v2.0.

Download or read book Gwynne s Latin written by Nevile Gwynne and published by Random House. This book was released on 2014-04-10 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Latin is "it", the most wonderful "thing". It is mind-enhancing, character-improving, enthralling, exciting, deeply satisfying, and valuable. My solid determination is to spare no pains to do it the justice that its importance demands.’ Mr Gwynne, author of the Sunday Times bestselling phenomenon Gwynne’s Grammar, is just as emphatic about the importance of Latin as he is about the importance of grammar. From the novice to the more well-versed, Gwynne’s Latin is essential for anyone interested in learning Latin; Mr Gwynne promises to teach you more Latin in half an hour than you would learn from years of being taught Latin at school. He also includes a fascinating section on everyday Latin usage, which discusses all the Latin words and idioms we still use today, such as ‘quid pro quo’ and ‘sui generis’. Though we need no further convincing – as we know, Mr Gwynne is never wrong – here are just some of the many reasons why Latin is utterly wonderful: - Latin is an academic subject easy enough for the least intelligent of us to grasp all the basic elements of, and yet difficult enough to be demanding for its greatest scholars. - For well over a thousand years it was the means of communication that united the whole of Europe culturally and in every other significant way. - It is the direct ancestor of, between them, the five most widely-spoken European languages, and both of the official South American languages. - It is the ancestor and source of more than half of the English language, partly directly and partly through French, which for some centuries was England’s official language. Following in the same beautifully designed footsteps of Gwynne’s Grammar, Gwynne’s Latin will teach you all the fundamentals of Latin quickly, thoroughly and better than all the competition.

Download or read book The English Language written by Gerald P. Delahunty and published by Parlor Press LLC. This book was released on 2010-05-14 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grounded in linguistic research and argumentation, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: FROM SOUND TO SE01 General/tradeE offers readers who have little or no analytic understanding of English a thorough treatment of the various components of the language. Its goal is to help readers become independent language analysts capable of critically evaluating claims about the language and the people who use it.

Download or read book The Fall of Language in the Age of English written by Minae Mizumura and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Kobayashi Hideo Award, The Fall of Language in the Age of English lays bare the struggle to retain the brilliance of one's own language in this period of English-language dominance. Born in Tokyo but raised and educated in the United States, Minae Mizumura acknowledges the value of a universal language in the pursuit of knowledge yet also embraces the different ways of understanding offered by multiple tongues. She warns against losing this precious diversity. Universal languages have always played a pivotal role in advancing human societies, Mizumura shows, but in the globalized world of the Internet, English is fast becoming the sole common language of humanity. The process is unstoppable, and striving for total language equality is delusional—and yet, particular kinds of knowledge can be gained only through writings in specific languages. Mizumura calls these writings "texts" and their ultimate form "literature." Only through literature and, more fundamentally, through the diverse languages that give birth to a variety of literatures, can we nurture and enrich humanity. Incorporating her own experiences as a writer and a lover of language and embedding a parallel history of Japanese, Mizumura offers an intimate look at the phenomena of individual and national expression.

Download or read book British or American English written by John Algeo and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-08-10 with total page 13 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Speakers of British and American English display some striking differences in their use of grammar. In this detailed survey, John Algeo considers questions such as: •Who lives on a street, and who lives in a street? •Who takes a bath, and who has a bath? •Who says Neither do I, and who says Nor do I? •After 'thank you', who says Not at all and who says You're welcome? •Whose team are on the ball, and whose team isn't? Containing extensive quotations from real-life English on both sides of the Atlantic, collected over the past twenty years, this is a clear and highly organized guide to the differences - and the similarities - between the grammar of British and American speakers. Written for those with no prior knowledge of linguistics, it shows how these grammatical differences are linked mainly to particular words, and provides an accessible account of contemporary English in use.

Download or read book The English Language written by Charles Barber and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This bestselling text by Charles Barber recounts the history of the English language from its ancestry to the present day.

Download or read book A History of the English Language written by Elly van Gelderen and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2014-04-03 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The English language in its complex shapes and forms changes fast. This thoroughly revised edition has been refreshed with current examples of change and has been updated regarding archeological research. Most suggestions brought up by users and reviewers have been incorporated, for instance, a family tree for Germanic has been added, Celtic influence is highlighted much more, there is more on the origin of Chancery English, and internal and external change are discussed in much greater detail. The philosophy of the revised book remains the same with an emphasis on the linguistic history and on using authentic texts. My audience remains undergraduates (and beginning graduates). The goals of the class and the book are to come to recognize English from various time periods, to be able to read each stage with a glossary, to get an understanding of typical language change, internal and external, and to understand something about language typology through the emphasis on the change from synthetic to analytic. This book has a companion website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/z.183.website

Download or read book The English Languages written by Thomas Burns McArthur and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-04-23 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plural? monolithic? legion? - Tom McArthur explores the nature of English in its local and global contexts.

Download or read book Politics and the English Language written by George Orwell and published by Renard Press Ltd. This book was released on 2021-01-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Politics and the English Language, the second in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell takes aim at the language used in politics, which, he says, ‘is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind’. In an age where the language used in politics is constantly under the microscope, Orwell’s Politics and the English Language is just as relevant today, and gives the reader a vital understanding of the tactics at play. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times

Download or read book English as a Global Language written by David Crystal and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this book is ideal for general readers interested in the English language.

Download or read book The Rise of English written by Rosemary C. Salomone and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping account of the global rise of English and the high-stakes politics of languageSpoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingua franca- - its common tongue. The language of business, popular media, and international politics, English has become commodified for its economic value and increasingly detached from any particular nation. This meteoric "riseof English" has many obvious benefits to communication. Tourists can travel abroad with greater ease. Political leaders can directly engage their counterparts. Researchers can collaborate with foreign colleagues. Business interests can flourish in the global economy.But the rise of English has very real downsides as well. In Europe, imperatives of political integration and job mobility compete with pride in national language and heritage. In the United States and England, English isolates us from the cultural and economic benefits of speaking other languages.And in countries like India, South Africa, Morocco, and Rwanda, it has stratified society along lines of English proficiency.In The Rise of English, Rosemary Salomone offers a commanding view of the unprecedented spread of English and the far-reaching effects it has on global and local politics, economics, media, education, and business. From the inner workings of the European Union to linguistic battles over influence inAfrica, Salomone draws on a wealth of research to tell the complex story of English - and, ultimately, to argue for English not as a force for domination but as a core component of multilingualism and the transcendence of linguistic and cultural borders.

Download or read book The Adventure of English written by Melvyn Bragg and published by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the English language traces its evolution from a Germanic dialect around 500 A.D. to its modern form, noting the influence of such groups and individuals as early Anglo-Saxon tribes, Alfred the Great, and William Shakespeare.

Download or read book Get Started in Beginner s English written by Cindy Cheetham and published by Teach Yourself. This book was released on 2017-04-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you want a solid foundation to your English studies? If you are looking for a solid foundation to your language studies for school, work or travel, this engaging course will get you speaking, writing, reading and understanding English in no time. Through authentic conversations, clear language presentations, and extensive practice and review, you will learn the English you need to communicate naturally in everyday situations - from booking a hotel room to talking about friends and family. What will I learn? The course focuses on British English but offers American alternatives. Basic English is slowly and carefully introduced to ensure you progress confidently through the course and build up a foundation to allow you to feel confident in everyday situations and move to the next level of your learning. It teaches grammar, vocabulary and listening, reading, writing, speaking and pronunciation skills. By the end of the course you will reach a solid Novice High proficiency level of ACTFL (The American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages) and A2 Beginner level of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) guidelines. Is this course for me? Get Started in English is for absolute and false beginners of English. Clear and simple explanations make the course appropriate and accessible to anyone learning English. There are extensive illustrations to support the learner working on his or her own. This course is also ideal to use with one-to-one tutoring and as a classroom course. What do I get? This book has a learner-centred approach that incorporates the following features: - 10 units of learning content - covering everyday topics from booking a hotel room to talking about friends and family - Discovery Method - figure out rules and patterns yourself to make the language stick - Outcomes-based learning - focus your studies with clear aims - Vocabulary building - thematic lists and activities to help you learn vocabulary quickly - Test yourself - see and track your own progress - Native speaker audio - available as a digital download - Free, downloadable audio transcripts and vocabulary and language reference lists The audio for this course is available for free on library.teachyourself.com or from the Teach Yourself Library app. Where do I go next? If you want to advance your English, our Complete English as a Foreign Language course (9781473601581) will take you to an intermediate level of English. If you want to practice your speaking and listening skills, Get Talking and Keep Talking English(9781444193152) is the perfect audio course. It is available in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese instruction. **If you are looking for an American English course, you can try Get Started in American English (9781473652101). Rely on Teach Yourself, trusted by language learners for over 75 years.

Download or read book British Sign Language Book DVD Pack written by Paul Redfern and published by Teach Yourself. This book was released on 2010-10-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This product contains a book and DVD. Do you want to be able to understand and use British Sign Language confidently? All you need is this best-selling course. Learn everyday, useful BSL through real-life situations that make the grammar and vocabulary easy and memorable. Hundreds of line illustrations throughout the book and constant references to video clips on the DVD make learning fast and fun. British Sign Language (BSL) is used in the United Kingdom. The number of Deaf people in the UK using BSL has been put at about 50,000; there are in addition many more hearing people who use BSL to communicate with Deaf users. Sign languages are not related to spoken languages and BSL is completely different, for example, from American Sign Language. Sign language conveys meaning through the use of space and movement of the hands, body, face and head. We know that many hearing people are keen to learn BSL (it is a very popular evening class course, for example). But there is a lack of good teaching materials written in English for hearing learners of BSL, which this course fills. Get Started in British Sign Language follows the BSL curricula taught currently in colleges (Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People CACDP and Institute of BSL) and therefore will be able to be used as support material by learners, as well as providing a complete grounding in the structure and grammar of BSL. Flexible Learn in your own time and at your own pace Time saving Learn quickly with one- and five-minute essentials Expert Written by Deaf authors Informative Sections of Deaf culture Jargon-free Learn the grammatical features of BSL with ease Practical Reinforce your learning with examples and exercises Authentic Learn everyday BSL through real-life situations DVD (MP4 compatible) Video clips provided on a 60-minute DVD Teach Yourself British Sign Language includes: Chapter 1: Starting out with BSL structure Chapter 2: More about Deaf people Chapter 3: BSL Structures Chapter 4: Deaf culture and BSL etiquette Chapter 5: Introduction to facial expressions Chapter 6: Asking 'wh-' questions Chapter 7: Asking 'yes'/'no' questions Chapter 8: More about questions Chapter 9: How to use facial expressions Chapter 10: BSL mouth patterns Chapter 11: Starting out with fingerspelling Chapter 12: Learning to fingerspell Chapter 13: Reading fingerspelling Chapter 14: Fingerspelling signs Chapter 15: Using fingerspelling in conversation Chapter 16: Other fingerspelt words: months Chapter 17: Starting out with placement Chapter 18: Describing a room Chapter 19: Introduction to referent handshapes Chapter 20: Understanding switching Chapter 21: Describing a room from memory Chapter 22: Understanding someone describing a scene from memory Chapter 23: Starting out with directions Chapter 24: Directions - describing localities Chapter 25: Complex directions: adding more information Chapter 26: Using directions with landmarks Chapter 27: Colours Chapter 28: What next? Rely on Teach Yourself, trusted by language learners for over 75 years.