Download or read book Language and Meaning in Human Perspective written by S. K. Leung and published by Janus Publishing Company Lim. This book was released on 2002 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the popular belief that language and meaning are essentially public in their epistemological origin, this book offers a philosophical basis for its antithesis. The author refutes the separation of reference from meaning, the long-held logical principle of the identity of the indiscernibles, and Wittgenstein's no-private-language philosophy.

Download or read book The Language Animal written by Charles Taylor and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-14 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “We have been given a powerful and often uplifting vision of what it is to be truly human.” —John Cottingham, The Tablet In seminal works ranging from Sources of the Self to A Secular Age, Charles Taylor has shown how we create possible ways of being, both as individuals and as a society. In his new book setting forth decades of thought, he demonstrates that language is at the center of this generative process. For centuries, philosophers have been divided on the nature of language. Those in the rational empiricist tradition—Hobbes, Locke, Condillac, and their heirs—assert that language is a tool that human beings developed to encode and communicate information. In The Language Animal, Taylor explains that this view neglects the crucial role language plays in shaping the very thought it purports to express. Language does not merely describe; it constitutes meaning and fundamentally shapes human experience. The human linguistic capacity is not something we innately possess. We first learn language from others, and, inducted into the shared practice of speech, our individual selves emerge out of the conversation. Taylor expands the thinking of the German Romantics Hamann, Herder, and Humboldt into a theory of linguistic holism. Language is intellectual, but it is also enacted in artistic portrayals, gestures, tones of voice, metaphors, and the shifts of emphasis and attitude that accompany speech. Human language recognizes no boundary between mind and body. In illuminating the full capacity of “the language animal,” Taylor sheds light on the very question of what it is to be a human being.

Download or read book Analyzing meaning written by Paul R. Kroeger and published by Language Science Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an introduction to the study of meaning in human language, from a linguistic perspective. It covers a fairly broad range of topics, including lexical semantics, compositional semantics, and pragmatics. The chapters are organized into six units: (1) Foundational concepts; (2) Word meanings; (3) Implicature (including indirect speech acts); (4) Compositional semantics; (5) Modals, conditionals, and causation; (6) Tense & aspect. Most of the chapters include exercises which can be used for class discussion and/or homework assignments, and each chapter contains references for additional reading on the topics covered. As the title indicates, this book is truly an INTRODUCTION: it provides a solid foundation which will prepare students to take more advanced and specialized courses in semantics and/or pragmatics. It is also intended as a reference for fieldworkers doing primary research on under-documented languages, to help them write grammatical descriptions that deal carefully and clearly with semantic issues. The approach adopted here is largely descriptive and non-formal (or, in some places, semi-formal), although some basic logical notation is introduced. The book is written at level which should be appropriate for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students. It presupposes some previous coursework in linguistics, but does not presuppose any background in formal logic or set theory.

Download or read book Linguistic Perspectives on the Construction of Meaning and Knowledge written by Elke Diedrichsen and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an exploration of the dimensions of meaning in language from several important perspectives that are of major interest to scholars today, bringing together studies from the realms of linguistic pragmatics, semantics, ontological knowledge engineering, and computational linguistics. Situated within modern functional-cognitive constructional-ontological and computational paradigms, the analyses here are supported by authentic language data, including corpus data, from a rich set of languages. Context and situation play an important but complex role in meaning elaboration. The role of context and situation is elusive and has proved difficult to elucidate with respect to meaning and knowledge representation. This volume provides evidence of the nature of the, often rapid, emergence of meaning in the digital world of the internet, social media, and Internet memes. The use of computational avatars and the rise of human language technologies, including big data and digital corpora, have made the construction of meaning and human language understanding essential to the work of linguists, cognitive scientists and computer scientists who are increasingly working together in collaborative teams to share insights.

Download or read book Encyclopaedia Britannica written by Hugh Chisholm and published by . This book was released on 1910 with total page 1090 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This eleventh edition was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time and it is considered to be a landmark encyclopaedia for scholarship and literary style.

Download or read book What It All Means written by Philippe Schlenker and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-11-22 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How meaning works—from monkey calls to human language, from spoken language to sign language, from gestures to music—and how meaning is connected to truth. We communicate through language, connecting what we mean to the words we say. But humans convey meaning in other ways as well, with facial expressions, hand gestures, and other methods. Animals, too, can get their meanings across without words. In What It All Means, linguist Philippe Schlenker explains how meaning works, from monkey calls to human language, from spoken language to sign language, from gestures to music. He shows that these extraordinarily diverse types of meaning can be studied and compared within a unified approach—one in which the notion of truth plays a central role. “It’s just semantics” is often said dismissively. But Schlenker shows that semantics—the study of meaning—is an unsung success of modern linguistics, a way to investigate some of the deepest questions about human nature using tools from the empirical and formal sciences. Drawing on fifty years of research in formal semantics, Schlenker traces how meaning comes to life. After investigating meaning in primate communication, he explores how human meanings are built, using in some cases sign languages as a guide to the workings of our inner “logic machine.” Schlenker explores how these meanings can be enriched by iconicity in sign language and by gestures in spoken language, and then turns to more abstract forms of iconicity to understand the meaning of music. He concludes by examining paradoxes, which—being neither true nor false—test the very limits of meaning.

Download or read book Linguistic Perspectives on Language and Education written by Anita K. Barry and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2002-12-30 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language issues are intrinsically part of every classroom setting. Therefore, there is a need to present the linguistic perspective to all teachers and teachers-in-training. This perspective assumes that a complex system is learned by children at an early age with little conscious instruction. It recognizes that languages change over time and that variation, based on region, ethnic identity, gender, social class, and social context, is inherent to language. Focusing more on the practical than the theoretical, Barry aims to engage teachers and education students in discussion of the relevance of linguistics to teaching and to encourage them to bring their own expertise to the discussion. Based on the research of scholars in linguistics and related disciplines, Barry's volume helps teachers synthesize some of the foundations of classic linguistic study with important, current findings. She starts by acquainting the reader with fundamentals of linguistics, then she moves on to discussions of teaching grammar and the history of English orthography. An entire chapter is devoted to the process of child language acquisition and another to the obstacles that some people face when attempting to learn a language. The work concludes with pieces on language policies and language literacy. Group exercises and suggested projects are included to facilitate the exchange between linguistics and education. The book is a must for those interested in the fundamental role of language in education.

Download or read book The Possibility of Language written by Alan K. Melby and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1995-12-08 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about the limits of machine translation. It is widely recognized that machine translation systems do much better on domain-specific controlled-language texts (domain texts for short) than on dynamic general-language texts (general texts for short). The authors explore this general — domain distinction and come to some uncommon conclusions about the nature of language. Domain language is claimed to be made possible by general language, while general language is claimed to be made possible by the ethical dimensions of relationships. Domain language is unharmed by the constraints of objectivism, while general language is suffocated by those constraints. Along the way to these conclusions, visits are made to Descartes and Saussure, to Chomsky and Lakoff, to Wittgenstein and Levinas. From these conclusions, consequences are drawn for machine translation and translator tools, for linguistic theory and translation theory. The title of the book does not question whether language is possible; it asks, with wonder and awe, why communication through language is possible.

Download or read book Language in Our Brain written by Angela D. Friederici and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-11-16 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of the neurobiological basis of language, arguing that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Language makes us human. It is an intrinsic part of us, although we seldom think about it. Language is also an extremely complex entity with subcomponents responsible for its phonological, syntactic, and semantic aspects. In this landmark work, Angela Friederici offers a comprehensive account of these subcomponents and how they are integrated. Tracing the neurobiological basis of language across brain regions in humans and other primate species, she argues that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Friederici shows which brain regions support the different language processes and, more important, how these brain regions are connected structurally and functionally to make language processes that take place in milliseconds possible. She finds that one particular brain structure (a white matter dorsal tract), connecting syntax-relevant brain regions, is present only in the mature human brain and only weakly present in other primate brains. Is this the “missing link” that explains humans' capacity for language? Friederici describes the basic language functions and their brain basis; the language networks connecting different language-related brain regions; the brain basis of language acquisition during early childhood and when learning a second language, proposing a neurocognitive model of the ontogeny of language; and the evolution of language and underlying neural constraints. She finds that it is the information exchange between the relevant brain regions, supported by the white matter tract, that is the crucial factor in both language development and evolution.

Download or read book Psycholinguistic and Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Second Language Learning and Teaching written by Krystyna Drozdzial-Szelest and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume provides a state-of-the-art overview of key issues in second language learning and teaching, adopting as a point of reference both psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives. The papers included in the collection, which have been contributed by leading specialists in the field from Poland and abroad, touch upon important theoretical issues, report latest research findings and offer guidelines for classroom practice. The range of topics covered and the inclusion of concrete pedagogic proposals ensures that the book will be of interest to a wide audience, not only SLA specialists, but also methodologists, material designers, undergraduate and graduate students, and practitioners

Download or read book Neurobiology of human language and its evolution Primate and Nonprimate Perspectives written by Constance Scharff and published by Frontiers E-books. This book was released on with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The evolution of human language has been discussed for centuries from different perspectives. Linguistic theory has proposed grammar as a core part of human language that has to be considered in this context. Recent advances in neurosciences have allowed us to take a new neurobiological look on the similarities and dissimilarities of cognitive capacities and their neural basis across both closely and distantly related species. A couple of decades ago the comparisons were mainly drawn between human and non-human primates, investigating the cytoarchitecture of particular brain areas and their structural connectivity. Moreover, comparative studies were conducted with respect to their ability to process grammars of different complexity. So far the available data suggest that non-human primates are able to learn simple probabilistic grammars, but not hierarchically structured complex grammars. The human brain, which easily learns both grammars, differs from the non-human brain (among others) in how two language-relevant brain regions (Broca’s area and superior temporal cortex) are connected structurally. Whether the more dominant dorsal pathway in humans compared to non-human primates is causally related to this behavioral difference is an issue of current debate. Ontogenetic findings suggest at least a correlation between the maturation of the dorsal pathway and the behavior to process syntactically complex structures, although a causal prove is still not available. Thus the neural basis of complex grammar processing in humans remains to be defined. More recently it has been reported that songbirds are also able to distinguish between sound sequences reflecting complex grammar. Interestingly, songbirds learn to sing by imitating adult song in a process not unlike language development in children. Moreover, the neural circuits supporting this behavior in songbirds bear anatomical and functional similarities to those in humans. In adult humans the fiber tract connecting the auditory cortex and motor cortex dorsally is known to be involved in the repetition of spoken language. This pathway is present already at birth and is taken to play a major role during language acquisition. In songbirds, detailed information exist concerning the interaction of auditory, motor and cortical-basal ganglia processing during song learning, and present a rich substrate for comparative studies. The scope of the Research Topic is to bring together contributions of researchers from different fields, who investigate grammar processing in humans, non-human primates and songbirds with the aim to find answers to the question of what constitutes the neurobiological basis of grammar learning. Open questions are: Which brain networks are relevant for grammar learning? Is there more than one dorsal pathway (one from temporal cortex to motor cortex and one to Broca’s area) and if so what are their functions? Has the ability to process sequences of a given hierarchical complexity evolved in different phylogenetic lines (birds, primates, other vocal production learners such as bats)? Is the presence of a sensory-to-motor circuit in humans a precondition for development of a dorsal pathway between the temporal cortex and Broca’s area? What role do subcortical structures (Basal Ganglia) play in vocal and grammar learning?

Download or read book Biosemiotic Perspectives on Language and Linguistics written by Ekaterina Velmezova and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-12-11 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first international volume on the topic of biosemiotics and linguistics. It aims to establish a new relationship between linguistics and biology as based on shared semiotic foundation.

Download or read book From Agamben to Zizek written by Jon Simons and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-10 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these 15 taster essays you will discover the key concepts and critical approaches of the theorists who have had the most significant impact on the humanities since 1990.

Download or read book Literacies written by Mary Kalantzis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-08-11 with total page 569 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the rise of new technologies and media, the way we communicate is rapidly changing. Literacies provides a comprehensive introduction to literacy pedagogy within today's new media environment. It focuses not only on reading and writing, but also on other modes of communication, including oral, visual, audio, gestural and spatial. This focus is designed to supplement, not replace, the enduringly important role of alphabetical literacy. Using real-world examples and illustrations, Literacies features the experiences of both teachers and students. It maps a range of methods that teachers can use to help their students develop their capacities to read, write and communicate. It also explores the wide range of literacies and the diversity of socio-cultural settings in today's workplace, public and community settings. With an emphasis on the 'how-to' practicalities of designing literacy learning experiences and assessing learner outcomes, this book is a contemporary and in-depth resource for literacy students.

Download or read book Theory of Action Routledge Revivals written by and published by Routledge. This book was released on with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Jerome Bruner written by Keiichi Takaya and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-04 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jerome S. Bruner (1915- ) is one of the best known and most influential psychologists of the twentieth century. He has made significant contributions to cognitive psychology and educational theory. This book presents a brief introduction to Jerome Bruner’s educational ideas and details their influences on our educational discourse and practice. It examines Bruner’s ideas in the context of some key educational issues in the United States since the early twentieth century. Jerome Bruner: Developing a Sense of the Possible will be an inspiration, and vital call to action, to readers looking to better understand today’s instructional and curriculum theories. It will help readers gain invaluable insight into the ways teaching and schools can be improved in the future.

Download or read book Lacanian Perspectives on Blade Runner 2049 written by Calum Neill and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-12-18 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a collection of Lacanian responses to Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 from leading theorists in the field. Like Ridley Scott’s original Blade Runner film, its sequel is now poised to provoke philosophical and psychoanalytic arguments, and to provide illustrations and inspiration for questions of being and the self, for belief and knowledge, the human and the post-human, amongst others. This volume forms the vanguard of responses from a Lacanian perspective, satisfying the hunger to extend the theoretical considerations of the first film in the various new directions the second film invites. Here, the contributors revisit the implications of the human-replicant relationship but move beyond this to consider issues of ideology, politics, and spectatorship. This exciting collection will appeal to an educated film going public, in addition to students and scholars of Lacanian psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic theory, cultural studies, film theory, philosophy and applied psychoanalysis.