Download or read book Linguistic Diversity and National Unity written by William A. Smalley and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1994-06-15 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike other multi-ethnic nations, such as Myanmar and India, where official language policy has sparked bloody clashes, Thailand has maintained relative stability despite its eighty languages. In this study of the relations among politics, geography, and language, William A. Smalley shows how Thailand has maintained national unity through an elaborate social and linguistic hierarchy. Smalley contends that because the people of Thailand perceive their social hierarchy as the normal order, Standard Thai, spoken by members of the higher levels of society, prevails as the uncontested national language. By examining the hierarchy of Thailand's diverse languages and dialects in light of Thai history, education, culture, and religion, Smalley shows how Thailand has been able to keep its many ethnic groups at peace. Linguistic Diversity and National Unity explores the intricate relationship between language and power and the ways in which social and linguistic rank can be used to perpetuate order.
Download or read book Pragmatic Organization of Discourse in the Languages of Europe written by Giuliano Bernini and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-12-22 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume is a collection of papers reporting the results of investigations on the interaction of discourse and sentence structure in the languages of Europe. The subjects discussed in the book include: morphosyntactic characteristics of spontaneous spoken texts; different patterns of word order in a pragmatic perspective; the coding of the pragmatic functions topic and focus in sentences with non-canonical word orders (e.g. dislocations, clefts); the range of functions of verb-subject order in declarative clauses and the notion of theticity; prosodic patterns of de-accenting of given information; deixis and anaphora; coding of definiteness and article systems. The book provides the empirical basis for the comparative survey of major phenomena found in the languages of Europe which have pragmatic relevance. Beside traditional areas of investigation at the interface between syntax and pragmatics such as dislocations, new areas are explored, such as the prosody of given information. Data are considered within a functional-typological approach.
Download or read book Creole Discourse written by Susanne Mühleisen and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2002-11-18 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Creole languages are characteristically associated with a negative image. How has this prestige been formed? And is it as static as the diglossic situation in many anglo-creolophone societies seems to suggest? This volume examines socio-historical and epistemological factors in the prestige formation of Caribbean English-Lexicon Creoles and subjects their classification as a (socio)linguistic type to scrutiny and critical debate. In its analysis of rich empirical data this study also demonstrates that the uses, functions and negotiations of Creole within particular social and linguistic practices have shifted considerably. Rather than limiting its scope to one "national" speech community, the discussion focusses on changes of the social meaning of Creole in various discursive fields, such as inter generational changes of Creole use in the London Diaspora, diachronic changes of Creole representation in written texts, and diachronic changes of Creole representation in translation. The study employs a discourse analytical approach drawing on linguistic models as well as Foucauldian theory.
Download or read book Sociolinguistic and Structural Aspects of Cameroon Creole English written by Aloysius Ngefac and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-17 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on current data, the book provides a detailed sociolinguistic and structural description of Cameroon Creole English, with a special focus on aspects that are often used in creolistic literature as putative defining features of bona fide prototypical creoles. It is the first comprehensive research monograph on the language that describes and situates its sociolinguistic and structural aspects within the context of current creolistic debate and answers the following unanswered questions: How is the evolutionary trajectory of the language and which theory of pidgins and creoles genesis best accounts for its origin and development? What is its current sociolinguistic status? Is the language a pidgin or a creole? What is the typological distance between the language and its main lexifier? What is its relationship with the other West African contact languages and other creole languages? In spite of the controversy that characterizes the field of creolistics regarding the defining characteristics of pidgins and creoles, the book suggests, for instance, that, if the different routes to creolization are recognized, it will be much easier to come up with putative characteristics that define the developmental status of any contact language, as is the case with Cameroon Creole English.
Download or read book Contact Languages written by Mark Sebba and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 1997-05-19 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contact Languages: Pidgins and Creoles aims to introduce the reader to the exciting and important field of pidgin and creole studies. The book deals with the linguistic, historical and social aspects of the development of pidgin and creole languages. Detailed case studies of individual pidgins and creoles are based around texts drawn from a range of different types and contexts (mainly contemporary), with discussion and grammatical notes. Chapters are interspersed with exercises to consolidate and develop the reader's understanding.
Download or read book Linguistics in Sub Saharan Africa written by Jack Berry and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2017-08-21 with total page 988 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Slavic on the Language Map of Europe written by Andrii Danylenko and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2019-10-08 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conceptually, the volume focuses on the relationship of the three key notions that essentially triggered the inception and subsequent realization of this project, to wit, language contact, grammaticalization, and areal grouping. Fully concentrated on the areal-typological and historical dimensions of Slavic, the volume offers new insights into a number of theoretical issues, including language contact, grammaticalization, mechanisms of borrowing, the relationship between areal, genetic, and typological sampling, conservative features versus innovation, and socio-linguistic aspects of linguistic alliances conceived of both synchronically and diachronically. The volume integrates new approaches towards the areal-typological profiling of Slavic as a member of several linguistic areas within Europe, including SAE, the Balkan Sprachbund and Central European groupings(s) like the Danubian or Carpathian areas, as well as the Carpathian-Balkan linguistic macroarea. Some of the chapters focus on structural affinities between Slavic and other European languages that arose as a result of either grammatical replication or borrowing. A special emphasis is placed on contact-induced grammaticalization in Slavic micro-languages
Download or read book Research Guide on Language Change written by Edgar C. Polomé and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-06-15 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.
Download or read book Language and Poverty written by Wayne Harbert and published by Multilingual Matters. This book was released on 2009 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the complex interactions of language with economic resources. How does poverty affect language survival? How is the economic status of individuals affected by the languages they do or do not speak? The authors address these questions from multiple perspectives, drawing on linguistics, language policy and planning, economics, anthropology, and sociology.
Download or read book Genes Language Culture History in the Southwest Pacific written by Jonathan S. Friedlaender and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-04-19 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The broad arc of islands north of Australia that extends from Indonesia east towards the central Pacific is home to a set of human populations whose concentration of diversity is unequaled elsewhere. Approximately 20% of the worlds languages are spoken here, and the biological and genetic heterogeneity among the groups is extraordinary. Anthropologist W.W. Howells once declared diversity in the region so Protean as to defy analysis. However, this book can now claim considerable success in describing and understanding the origins of the genetic and linguistic variation there. In order to cut through this biological knot, the authors have applied a comprehensive battery of genetic analyses to an intensively sampled set of populations, and have subjected these and complementary linguistic data to a variety of phylogenetic analyses. This has revealed a number of heretofore unknown ancient Pleistocene genetic variants that are only found in these island populations, and has also identified the genetic footprints of more recent migrants from Southeast Asia who were the ancestors of the Polynesians. The book lays out the very complex structure of the variation within and among the islands in this relatively small region, and a number of explanatory models are tested to see which best account for the observed pattern of genetic variation here. The results suggest that a number of commonly used models of evolutionary divergence are overly simple in their assumptions, and that often human diversity has accumulated in very complex ways.
Download or read book Progression and Regression in Language written by Kenneth Hyltenstam and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1994, this crosslinguistic collection looks at changes and developments in language involving gain or loss in structural complexity or utility. The dynamics of these processes of progression and regression are examined at the societal and the individual level, and the two are compared. In the former, the focus is on the social and cultural forces that influence groups of speakers to create new languages or abandon old ones. In the latter, the acquisition and attrition of both first and second languages are considered. Questions raised include: Can parallel structural patterning be observed in whole languages and in the individual's version of a language? Is there parallelism between progression and regression? Can changes occurring in progression and regression be interpreted in a typological framework? These are addressed from sociological, neuropsychological, and linguistic perspectives.
Download or read book From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics written by Pieter Muysken and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2008-02-06 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From linguistic areas to areal linguistics explores language description and typology in terms of areal background, presenting case studies in areal linguistics. Some concern well-established linguistic areas such as the Balkan, other regions such as East Nusantara (Indonesia) and the Guapore-Mamore (Amazon) regions have never before been studied in an areal perspective, and yet other areas are involved in current debates. The insight has gained ground that languages owe many of their characteristics to the languages they are in contact with over time. Yet the nature of these areal influences remains a matter of debate. Furthermore, areas are often hard to define. Hence the title: a shift from linguistic areas as concrete and circumscribed objects to a new way of doing linguistics: areally. New findings include the observation that there may be many more language areas than previously recognized. The book is primarily directed at linguists working in descriptive, comparative, historical and typological linguistics. Since it covers linguistic areas from four continents, it will have a wide appeal.
Download or read book Linguistics written by Adrian Akmajian and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Linguistics: an introduction to language and communication.
Download or read book Atlas of the World s Languages written by R.E. Asher and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-19 with total page 1009 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the first appearance of the Atlas of the World's Languages in 1993, all the world's languages had never been accurately and completely mapped. The Atlas depicts the location of every known living language, including languages on the point of extinction. This fully revised edition of the Atlas offers: up-to-date research, some from fieldwork in early 2006 a general linguistic history of each section an overview of the genetic relations of the languages in each section statistical and sociolinguistic information a large number of new or completely updated maps further reading and a bibliography for each section a cross-referenced language index of over 6,000 languages. Presenting contributions from international scholars, covering over 6,000 languages and containing over 150 full-colour maps, the Atlas of the World's Languages is the definitive reference resource for every linguistic and reference library.
Download or read book Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific Asia and the Americas written by Stephen A. Wurm and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-02-11 with total page 1903 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An absolutely unique work in linguistics publishing – full of beautiful maps and authoritative accounts of well-known and little-known language encounters. Essential reading (and map-viewing) for students of language contact with a global perspective.” Prof. Dr. Martin Haspelmath, Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie The two text volumes cover a large geographical area, including Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, South -East Asia (Insular and Continental), Oceania, the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, Mongolia, Central Asia, the Caucasus Area, Siberia, Arctic Areas, Canada, Northwest Coast and Alaska, United States Area, Mexico, Central America, and South America. The Atlas is a detailed, far-reaching handbook of fundamental importance, dealing with a large number of diverse fields of knowledge, with the reported facts based on sound scholarly research and scientific findings, but presented in a form intelligible to non-specialists and educated lay persons in general.
Download or read book The Comparative Method of Language Acquisition Research written by Clifton Pye and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-01-26 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mayan family of languages is ancient and unique. With their distinctive relational nouns, positionals, and complex grammatical voices, they are quite alien to English and have never been shown to be genetically related to other New World tongues. These qualities, Clifton Pye shows, afford a particular opportunity for linguistic insight. Both an overview of lessons Pye has gleaned from more than thirty years of studying how children learn Mayan languages as well as a strong case for a novel method of researching crosslinguistic language acquisition more broadly, this book demonstrates the value of a close, granular analysis of a small language lineage for untangling the complexities of first language acquisition. Pye here applies the comparative method to three Mayan languages—K’iche’, Mam, and Ch’ol—showing how differences in the use of verbs are connected to differences in the subject markers and pronouns used by children and adults. His holistic approach allows him to observe how small differences between the languages lead to significant differences in the structure of the children’s lexicon and grammar, and to learn why that is so. More than this, he expects that such careful scrutiny of related languages’ variable solutions to specific problems will yield new insights into how children acquire complex grammars. Studying such an array of related languages, he argues, is a necessary condition for understanding how any particular language is used; studying languages in isolation, comparing them only to one’s native tongue, is merely collecting linguistic curiosities.
Download or read book Theory Groups and the Study of Language in North America written by Stephen O. Murray and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1994-11-28 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on extensive archival research, interviews, and participant observation over the course of two decades, Theory Groups in the Study of Language in North America provides a detailed social history of traditions and “revolutionary” challenges to traditions within North American linguistics, especially within 20th-century anthropological linguistics. After showing substantial differences between Bloomfield's and neo-Bloomfieldian theorizing, Murray shows that early transformational-generative work on syntax grew out of neo-Bloomfieldian structuralism, and was promoted by neo-Bloomfieldian gatekeepers, in particular longtime Language editor Bernard Bloch. The central case studies of the book contrast the (increasingly) “revolutionary rhetoric” of transformational-generative grammarians with rhetorics of continuity emitted by two linguistic anthropology groupings that began simultaneously with TGG in the late-1950s, the ethnography of communication and ethnoscience.The history of linguistics in North America provides a continuum from isolated scholars to successful groups dominating entire disciplines. Although focused on groupings — both “invisible colleges” and readily visible institutions — Murray discusses those writing about language in society who were not participants in “theory groups” or “schools” both before and after the three central case studies. He provides a theory of social bases for claiming to be making “scientific revolution” in contrast to building on sound “traditions”, and suggests non-cognitive reasons for success in the often rhetorically violent contention of perspectives about language in North America during the last century and a half. The book includes appendices explaining the methodology used, an extensive bibliography, and an index.
