Download or read book Historical Spoken Language Research written by Ivor Timmis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical Research on Spoken Language: Corpus Perspectives uses historical sources to discuss continuity and change in spoken language. Based on two corpora compiled using data from sociological and anthropological studies of Victorian London and 1930s Bolton, the author shows how historical spoken corpora can illuminate the nature of spoken language as well as the attitudes, values and behaviour of the specific community represented in a corpus. This book: demonstrates how spoken language can be examined using material collected before the advent of sophisticated recording equipment and large-scale computerised corpora; shows how other written sources such as diaries, letters and existing historical corpora can be used to analyse informal language use as far back as the fifteenth century; provides insight into the longevity and resilience of many spoken language features which are often regarded as vernacular or non-standard; comes with a companion website which gives full access to the Bolton Worktown Corpus. Historical Research on Spoken Language is key reading for researchers and students working in relevant areas.

Download or read book How Language Began The Story of Humanity s Greatest Invention written by Daniel L. Everett and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Buzzfeed Gift Guide Selection “Few books on the biological and cultural origin of humanity can be ranked as classics. I believe [this] will be one of them.” — Edward O. Wilson At the time of its publication, How Language Began received high acclaim for capturing the fascinating history of mankind’s most incredible creation. Deemed a “bombshell” linguist and “instant folk hero” by Tom Wolfe (Harper’s), Daniel L. Everett posits that the near- 7,000 languages that exist today are not only the product of one million years of evolution but also have allowed us to become Earth’s apex predator. Tracing 60,000 generations, Everett debunks long- held theories across a spectrum of disciplines to affi rm the idea that we are not born with an instinct for language. Woven with anecdotes of his nearly forty years of fi eldwork amongst Amazonian hunter- gatherers, this is a “completely enthralling” (Spectator) exploration of our humanity and a landmark study of what makes us human. “[An] ambitious text. . . . Everett’s amiable tone, and especially his captivating anecdotes . . . , will help the neophyte along.”— New York Times Book Review

Download or read book The Handbook of Historical Linguistics Volume II written by Richard D. Janda and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An entirely new follow-up volume providing a detailed account of numerous additional issues, methods, and results that characterize current work in historical linguistics. This brand-new, second volume of The Handbook of Historical Linguistics is a complement to the well-established first volume first published in 2003. It includes extended content allowing uniquely comprehensive coverage of the study of language(s) over time. Though it adds fresh perspectives on several topics previously treated in the first volume, this Handbook focuses on extensions of diachronic linguistics beyond those key issues. This Handbook provides readers with studies of language change whose perspectives range from comparisons of large open vs. small closed corpora, via creolistics and linguistic contact in general, to obsolescence and endangerment of languages. Written by leading scholars in their respective fields, new chapters are offered on matters such as the origin of language, evidence from language for reconstructing human prehistory, invocations of language present in studies of language past, benefits of linguistic fieldwork for historical investigation, ways in which not only biological evolution but also field biology can serve as heuristics for research into the rise and spread of linguistic innovations, and more. Moreover, it: offers novel and broadened content complementing the earlier volume so as to provide the fullest available overview of a wholly engrossing field includes 23 all-new contributed chapters, treating some familiar themes from fresh perspectives but mostly covering entirely new topics features expanded discussion of material from language families other than Indo-European provides a multiplicity of views from numerous specialists in linguistic diachrony. The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Volume II is an ideal book for undergraduate and graduate students in linguistics, researchers and professional linguists, as well as all those interested in the history of particular languages and the history of language more generally.

Download or read book Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages written by Gerrit J. Dimmendaal and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2011-06-08 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This advanced historical linguistics course book deals with the historical and comparative study of African languages. The first part functions as an elementary introduction to the comparative method, involving the establishment of lexical and grammatical cognates, the reconstruction of their historical development, techniques for the subclassification of related languages, and the use of language-internal evidence, more specifically the application of internal reconstruction. Part II addresses language contact phenomena and the status of language in a wider, cultural-historical and ecological context. Part III deals with the relationship between comparative linguistics and other disciplines. In this rich course book, the author presents valuable views on a number of issues in the comparative study of African languages, more specifically concerning genetic diversity on the African continent, the status of pidginised and creolised languages, language mixing, and grammaticalisation.

Download or read book The Discovery of Spoken Language written by Peter W. Jusczyk and published by Bradford Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Discovery of Spoken Language marks one of the first efforts to integrate the field of infant speech perception research into the general study of language acquisition. It fills in a key part of the acquisition story by providing an extensive review of research on the acquisition of language during the first year of life, focusing primarily on how normally developing infants learn the organization of native language sound patterns. Peter Jusczyk examines the initial capacities that infants possess for discriminating and categorizing speech sounds and how these capacities evolve as infants gain experience with native language input. Jusczyk also looks at how infants' growing knowledge of native language sound patterns may facilitate the acquisition of other aspects of language organization and discusses the relationship between the learner's developing capacities for perceiving and producing speech.

Download or read book Sign Language written by Jim G. Kyle and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1988-02-26 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The discovery of the importance of sign language in the deaf community is very recent indeed. This book provides a study of the communication and culture of deaf people, and particularly of the deaf community in Britain. The authors' principal aim is to inform educators, psychologists, linguists and professionals working with deaf people about the rich language the deaf have developed for themselves - a language of movement and space, of the hands and of the eyes, of abstract communication as well as iconic story telling. The first chapters of the book discuss the history of sign language use, its social aspects and the issues surrounding the language acquisition of deaf children (BSL) follows, and the authors also consider how the signs come into existence, change over time and alter their meanings, and how BSL compares and contrasts with spoken languages and other signed languages. Subsequent chapters examine sign language learning from a psychological perspective and other cognitive issues. The book concludes with a consideration of the applications of sign language research, particularly in the contentious field of education. There is still much to be discovered about sign language and the deaf community, but the authors have succeeded in providing an extensive framework on which other researchers can build, from which professionals can develop a coherent practice for their work with deaf people, and from which hearing parents of deaf children can draw the confidence to understand their children's world.

Download or read book Corpus Linguistics for Oral History written by Chris Fitzgerald and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-11-14 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Corpus Linguistics for Oral History takes a step-by-step approach to presenting how corpus linguistics tools and techniques can be applied to oral history archives. Bridging the gap between the two areas, this book: establishes a framework to pursue this type of research and guides the reader through tasks that will ensure practical application shows how oral narratives can facilitate historical linguistics, including historical sociolinguistics and historical pragmatics illustrates how the techniques of corpus linguistics can help social historians to analyse oral narratives in new and fruitful ways takes readers through each step of the process, from initial close readings of data to constructing a corpus that adheres to parameters of representativeness, through to the application of various corpus linguistics techniques includes an appendix of resources and examples of extracts from a global range of historical texts throughout, introducing the reader to a range of freely accessible, digitized archives This book is key reading for students and researchers working in History and Corpus Linguistics. History students will find a new perspective on approaching primary historical sources, while linguistics students will find insights into an avenue of data worthy of multiple levels of linguistic analysis.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics written by Keith Allan and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-03-28 with total page 946 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this outstanding book leading scholars from around the world examine the history of linguistics from ancient origins to the present. They consider every aspect of the field from language origins to neurolinguistics, explore linguistic traditions in east and west, chronicle centuries of explanations for language structures, meanings, and usage, and look at how it has been practically applied. The book is organized in six parts. The first looks at the origins of language, the invention of writing, the nature of gesture, and sign languages. Part II examines the history of the analysis and description of sound systems. Part III considers the history of linguistics in China, Korea, Japan, India, and the Middle East, as well as the history of the study of Semitic and Afro-Asiatic. Part IV examines the history of grammar and morphology in the west from the classical world to the present. Part V surveys the history of lexicography semantics, pragmatics, and text and discourse studies. Part VI looks at the history the application of linguistics in fields that include the language classification; social and cultural theory; psychology and the brain sciences; education and translation; computational science; and the development of linguistic corpora. The book ends with a history of the philosophy of linguistics. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics makes a significant contribution to the historiography of linguistics. It will also be a valuable reference for scholars and students in linguists and related fields, including philosophy and cognitive science.

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 Language written by Edward Sapir and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Sapir analyzes, for student and common reader, the elements of language. Among these are the units of language, grammatical concepts and their origins, how languages differ and resemble each other, and the history of the growth of representative languages--Cover.

Download or read book Languages of the World written by Asya Pereltsvaig and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-02-09 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces readers to the rich diversity of human languages, familiarizing them with the variety of languages around the world.

Download or read book Speaking with Substance written by Kathryn M. de Luna and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-06-27 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume proposes a supplemental approach to interdisciplinary historical reconstructions that draw on archaeological and linguistic data. The introduction lays out the supplemental approach, situating it in the broader context of similar interdisciplinary research methods in other world regions. Reflecting the arguments of the volume and its goal to document the process rather than the outcome of interdisciplinary collaboration, the volume is organized into two two-chapter case studies. Within each case study, the non-specialist develops an historical interpretation using their own research findings and published data from the other discipline.This chapter is followed by critical commentary from the specialist, a dialogue clarifying the commentary and specialists’ methods, and a second short historical interpretation that deploys insights from the supplemental approach. The conclusion reflects on the challenges of disciplinary conventions to interdisciplinary research and the contribution of the supplemental approach to efforts to know the history of oral societies in Africa and beyond

Download or read book The Power of Babel written by John McWhorter and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2003-01-07 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. While laying out how languages mix and mutate over time, linguistics professor John McWhorter reminds us of the variety within the species that speaks them, and argues that, contrary to popular perception, language is not immutable and hidebound, but a living, dynamic entity that adapts itself to an ever-changing human environment. Full of humor and imaginative insight, The Power of Babel draws its illustrative examples from languages around the world, including pidgins, Creoles, and nonstandard dialects.

Download or read book Practice in Second Language Learning written by Christian Jones and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-15 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together an international team of researchers, this volume explores practice in second language learning - activities which aim to develop skills in or knowledge of a second language. The book begins with two theoretical overviews of practice as applied to learning to speak in a second language and in cognitive accounts of second language acquisition. This theory underpins the volume, which is split into two main sections: receptive and productive practice. The studies look at practice in English, German and Spanish as a second language in various contexts including traditional classrooms, periods of study abroad and online language learning. The differing research designs used mean that the chapters contain clear implications for classroom pedagogy and further directions for research, teaching and learning in different contexts.

Download or read book Orality in Written Texts written by Carolina Amador-Moreno and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-26 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for the 2020 ESSE Book Award in English Language and Linguistics Orality in Written Texts provides a methodologically and theoretically innovative study of change in Irish English in the period 1700-1900. Focusing in on a time during which Ireland became overwhelmingly English-speaking, the book traces the use of various linguistic features of Irish English in different historical contexts and over time. This book: draws on data from the Corpus of Irish English Correspondence (CORIECOR), which is composed of personal letters to and from Irish emigrants from the start of the eighteenth century up until the end of the twentieth century; analyses linguistic features that have hitherto remained neglected in the literature on Irish English, including discourse-pragmatic markers, and deictic and pronominal forms; discusses how the survival of the pragmatic mode has resulted in the preservation of certain facets of the Irish English variety as known today; explores sociolinguistic issues from a historical perspective. With direct relevance to corpus-based literary studies as well as the exploration of hybrid, modern-day text forms, Orality in Written Texts is key reading for advanced students and researchers of corpus linguistics, varieties of English, language change and historical linguistics, as well as anyone interested in learning more about Irish history and migration.

Download or read book Sign Language Research Sixty Years Later Current and Future Perspectives written by Valentina Cuccio and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2022-11-14 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book English Historical Linguistics written by Laurel J. Brinton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-03 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by an international team of leading scholars, this engaging textbook on the study of English historical linguistics is uniquely organized in terms of theoretical approaches and perspectives. Each chapter features textboxes, case studies, suggestions for further reading and exercises, enabling students to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and guiding them on undertaking further research. The case studies and exercises guide students in approaching and manipulating empirical data, providing them with hands-on experience of conducting linguistic research. An extensive variety of approaches, from traditional to contemporary, is treated, including generative approaches, historical sociolinguistic and pragmatic approaches, psycholinguistic perspectives, grammaticalization theory, and discourse-based approaches, as well as perspectives on standardization and language variation. Each chapter applies the concepts discussed to data from the history of English, and a glossary of key terms enables easy navigation and quick cross-referencing. An essential resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of the history of English linguistics.