Download or read book The Social Dynamics of Pronominal Systems written by Paul Bouissac and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2019-07-15 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal pronouns have a special status in languages. As indexical tools they are the means by which languages and persons intimately interface with each other within a particular social structure. Pronouns involve more than mere grammatical functions in live communication acts. They variously signal the gender of speakers as parts of utterances or in their anaphoric roles. They also prominently indicate with a range of degrees the kind of social relationships that hold between speakers from intimacy to indifference, from dominance to submission, and from solidarity to hostility. Languages greatly vary in the number of pronouns and other address terms they offer to their users with a distinct range of social values. Children learn their relative position in their family and in their society through the “correct” use of pronouns. When languages come into contact because of population migrations or through the process of translation, pronouns are the most sensitive zone of tension both psychologically and politically. This volume endeavours to probe the comparative pragmatics of pronominal systems as social processes in a representative set from different language families and cultural areas.
Download or read book Pronominal Systems written by Ursula Wiesemann and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Modality and Structure in Signed and Spoken Languages written by Texas Linguistics Society. Conference and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-10-24 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book Reference in Discourse written by A. A. Kibrik and published by Oxford Studies in Typology and. This book was released on 2011-09 with total page 683 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first full study of how people refer to entities in natural discourse. It contributes to the understanding of both linguistic diversity and the cognitive underpinnings of language and it provides a framework for further research in both fields. Andrej Kibrik focuses on the way specific entities are mentioned in natural discourse, during which about every third word usually depends on referential choice. He considers reference as an overt representation of underlying cognitive processes and combines a theoretically-oriented cognitive approach with empirically-based cross-linguistic analysis. He begins by introducing the cognitive approach to discourse analysis and by examining the relationship between discourse studies and linguistic typology. He discusses reference as a linguistic phenomenon, in connection with the traditional notions of deixis, anaphora, givenness, and topicality, and describes the way his theoretical approach is centered on notions of referent activation in working memory. He argues that the speaker is responsible for the shape of discourse and that referential expressions should be understood as choices made by speakers rather than as puzzles to be solved by addressees. Kibrik examines the cross-linguistic aspects of reference and the typology of referential devices, including referring expressions per se, such as free and bound pronouns, and referential aids that help to tell apart the concurrently activated entities. This discussion is based on the data from about 200 languages from around the world. He then proposes a comprehensive model of referential choice, in which he draws on concepts from cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology, and cognitive neuroscience, and applies this to Russian and English. He also draws together his empirical analyses in order to examine what light his analysis of discourse can shed on the way information is processed in working memory. In the final part of the book Andrej Kibrik offers a wider perspective, including deixis, referential aspects of gesticulation and signed languages. This pioneering work will interest linguists and cognitive scientists interested in discourse, reference, typology, and the operations of working memory in linguistic communication.
Download or read book Historical Linguistics 2001 written by Barry J. Blake and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2003-07-17 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a selection of papers from the 15th International Conference on Historical Linguistics held in Melbourne 13-17 August 2001, hosted by the Linguistics Program at La Trobe University. The papers range from the general theoretical to the study of particular languages and embrace most areas of linguistics, particularly morpho-syntax.
Download or read book Pronoun Envy written by Anna Livia and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2001 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Controversy over gendered pronouns, for example using the generic "he," has been a staple of feminist arguments about patriarchal language over the last 30 years, and is certainly the most contested political issue in Western feminist linguistics. Most accounts do not extend beyond policy issues like the official institution of non-sexist language. In this volume, Anna Livia reveals continuities both before and after the sexist language refore movement and shows how the creative practices of pronoun use on the part of feminist writers had both aesthetic and political ends. Livia uses the term "pronoun envy" ironically to show that rather being a case of misguided envy, battles over gendered language are central to feminist concerns. Livia examines a broad corpus of written texts in English and French, concentrating on those texts which problematize the traditional functioning of the linguistic gender system. They range from novels and prose poems to film scripts and personal testimonies, and in time from the 19th century to the present. Some withhold any indication of gender; others have non-gendered characters. Livia's goal is two-fold; to help bridge the divide between linguistic and literary analysis, and to show how careful study of the manipulation of linguistic gender in these texts informs larger concerns. This fresh and highly interdisciplinary work lies at the intersection of several vital areas, including language and gender, sociolinguistics, and feminist literary analysis.
Download or read book The History and Philosophy of Astrobiology written by David Dunér and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2013-09-26 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human beings have wondered about the stars since the dawn of the species. Does life exist out there – intelligent life, even – or are we alone? The quest for life in the universe touches on fundamental hopes and fears. It touches on the essence of what it means to formulate a theory, grasp a concept, and have an imagination. This book traces the history of the science of this area and the development of new schools in philosophy. Its essays seek to establish the history and philosophy of astrobiology as research fields in their own right by addressing cognitive, linguistic, epistemological, ethical, cultural, societal, and historical perspectives on astrobiology. The book is divided into three sections. The first (Cognition) focuses on the human mind and what it contributes to the search for life. It explores the emergence and evolution of terrestrial life and cognition and the challenges humans face as they reach to the stars. The essays raise philosophical questions, pose ethical dilemmas, and offer a variety of approaches, including one from cognitive zoology, in formulating a theory of the universal principles of intelligence, the limits of human conceptual abilities, and the human mind’s encounter with the unknown. The second section (Communication) examines the linguistic and semiotic requirements for interstellar communication. What is needed for successful communication? Are there universal rules for success? What are the possible features – and limitations – of exolanguages? What is required for recognizing a message as a message? The third section (Culture) considers cultural and societal issues. It explores astrobiology’s organization as a scientific discipline, its responsibilities to the public sphere, and its theological implications. It reviews the historically important panspermia hypothesis, along with the popularization of astrobiology and its ongoing institutionalisation. Through addressing these questions, we take our first steps in exploring the immense terra incognita of extraterrestrial life and the human mind.
Download or read book The Syntax of Specifiers and Heads written by Hilda J Koopman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Specifiers and Heads covers such topics as: * interpretation and distribution of pronouns * ECP effects * specifiers and phrase structure * the role and functioning of head movement * the architecture of grammar Each chapter draws syntactic arguments from phenomena in a broad range of languages and brings these to bear on the structure of syntactic theory and the understanding of crosslinguistic variation. Among the languages studied are the African languages, Welsh and Irish, Norwegian, French, English and Dutch.
Download or read book Children s Language written by Gina Conti-Ramsden and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents current research findings on vital issues in language development compiled by an international group of leading researchers. The data are drawn from studies of the acquisition of Swedish, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, Portuguese, Italian, and English. Themes emphasized in all the chapters include the importance of the social context of acquisition, the existence of interconnections among various domains of language development, and the impossibility of understanding acquisition using a simple theory or a single methodological approach.
Download or read book Reconstructing Syntax written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-06-15 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During several decades, syntactic reconstruction has been more or less regarded as a bootless and an unsuccessful venture, not least due to the heavy criticism in the 1970s from scholars like Watkins, Jeffers, Lightfoot, etc. This fallacious view culminated in Lightfoot’s (2002: 625) conclusion: “[i]f somebody thinks that they can reconstruct grammars more successfully and in more widespread fashion, let them tell us their methods and show us their results. Then we’ll eat the pudding.” This volume provides methods for the identification of i) cognates in syntax, and ii) the directionality of syntactic change, showcasing the results in the introduction and eight articles. These examples are offered as both tastier and also more nourishing than the pudding Lightfoot had in mind when discarding the viability of reconstructing syntax.
Download or read book Melanesian Pidgin and the Oceanic Substrate written by Roger M. Keesing and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Topics in this volume include: interlingual contact in the Pacific to the mid-19th century; the Sandalwood period; the Tok Pisin language; oceanic Austronesian languages; structures and sources of pidgin syntax; the pidgin pronominal system; and calquing - pidgin and Solomons languages.
Download or read book The Use of Databases in Cross Linguistic Studies written by Martin Everaert and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2009-03-26 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book promotes the development of linguistic databases by describing a number of successful database projects, focusing especially on cross-linguistic and typological research. It has become increasingly clear that ready access to knowledge about cross-linguistic variation is of great value to many types of linguistic research. Such a systematic body of data is essential in order to gain a proper understanding of what is truly universal in language and what is determined by specific cultural settings. Moreover, it is increasingly needed as a tool to systematically evaluate contrasting theoretical claims. The book includes a chapter on general problems of using databases to handle language data and chapters on a number of individual projects. Note: This title was originally announced as including a CD-Rom with databases. The CD-Rom, however, was replaced by a list of URLs within the book. More information as well as links to the databases can also be found here.
Download or read book Clitics written by Andrew Spencer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-12 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In most languages we find 'little words' which resemble a full word, but which cannot stand on their own. Instead they have to 'lean on' a neighbouring word, like the 'd, 've and unstressed 'em of Kim'd've helped'em ('Kim would have helped them'). These are clitics, and they are found in most of the world's languages. In English the clitic forms appear in the same place in the sentence that the full form of the word would appear in but in many languages clitics obey quite separate rules of placement. This book is the first introduction to clitics, providing a complete summary of their properties, their uses, the reasons why they are of interest to linguists and the various theoretical approaches that have been proposed for them. The book describes a whole host of clitic systems and presents data from over 100 languages.
Download or read book Making Meaningful Choices in English written by Rainer Schulze and published by Gunter Narr Verlag. This book was released on 1998 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sociolinguistic Typology written by Peter Trudgill and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-20 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers how far social factors explain why human societies produce different kinds of language at different times and places and why some languages and dialects get simpler while others get more complex. It does so in the context of a wide range of languages and societies.
Download or read book Language Structure and Environment written by Rik De Busser and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2015-06-15 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language Structure and Environment is a broad introduction to how languages are shaped by their environment. It makes the argument that the social, cultural, and natural environment of speakers influences the structures and development of the languages they speak. After a general overview, the contributors explain in a number of detailed case studies how specific cultural, societal, geographical, evolutionary and meta-linguistic pressures determine the development of specific grammatical features and the global structure of a varied selection of languages. This is a work of meticulous scholarship at the forefront of a burgeoning field of linguistics.
Download or read book Meaning Based Translation written by Mildred L. Larson and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 1997-11-28 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meaning-Based Translation is designed for training beginning translators and organized chapter by chapter as drill material for the textbook Meaning-Based Translation. The textbook emphasizes the importance of a translation being accurate, clear and natural and the exercises give the student practice in achieving this goal. The exercises follow closely the content of the textbook since this is a drill manual for added practice. The textbook has some exercises as well, but the workbook provides additional practice from one basic source, thus giving students a wider variety of problems to solve during practice time. It also provides material that can be used as homework or as testing material.
