Third Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar (Second Language Acquisition)
By Yan-kit Ingrid Leung
* Publisher:Multilingual Matters
* Number Of Pages:232
* Publication Date:2009-01-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:1847691315
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9781847691316
Review
A pioneer in the theoretical study of third language acquisition and interlanguage transfer, Ingrid Leung presents a series of original studies from diverse theoretical perspectives, ranging from typology to Universal Grammar and multicompetence. Featuring interesting three-way interactions between European and Asian languages, the studies offer an intriguing taste of the findings beginning to emerge in this rapidly developing field. --Stephen Matthews, University of Hong Kong
Leung's volume makes an important contribution to the dynamic, fast-growing field of third language acquisition, showcasing state of the art research and presenting a bird's eye view of the challenging research agenda. The papers shows how the acquisition of third language competence poses new theoretical and empirical puzzles that can be described and explained in interesting ways. The volume is sure to inspire further studies in the field. --Virginia Yip, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Product Description "Third Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar" contains nine chapters on adult third language (L3) or multilingual acquisition from the Universal Grammar (UG) perspective. A variety of languages other than English are involved in the studies reported in the papers, including Cantonese Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Thai, with acquisition cases taking place in a number of different geographical locations, such as Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Norway, Taiwan, Thailand, the UK and the USA. This volume will appeal to those studying L3 acquisition from a variety of theoretical perspectives and should encourage scholarly exchange between the fields of bi-/multilingualism and SLA.
Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion
责任人: J.F.A. Sawyer, J.M.Y. Simpson (Eds.)
By
* Publisher:Pergamon / Elsevier
* Number Of Pages:612
* Publication Date:2001-05-01
* Sales Rank:2583893
* ISBN / ASIN:0080431674
* EAN:9780080431673
* Binding:Hardcover
* Manufacturer:Pergamon
* Studio:Pergamon
Book Description:
The Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion provides the specialist and the general reader with accurate, up-to-date information on every aspect of the crucial interface between language and religion. Easy access to material in over 320 articles by scholars in many fields is provided both in a clear thematic arrangement, and by means of a comprehensive and detailed general index. Discussion of many topics including the creation of special sacred scripts, religious calligraphy, and the use of religious symbols in meditation, magic and elsewhere, is enriched and elucidated by illustrations, diagrams and tables. The Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion brings together articles and bibliographic entries drawn from the award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, all of which have been revised and updated appropriately. These articles are supplemented by a large number of completely new contributions, one of which is an extensive 12,500 word article on 'Basic Concepts and Terms in Linguistics', making this volume accessible to a wide audience.
Reviews
Michael Pye, Professor of Study of Religions, University of Marburg, Germany
Profoundly delicate relations between religion and language have been a fascinating feature of cultural history since time immemorial. Yet there has been no systematic exploration or overview of the subject. At last this gap has been filled by specialists both in linguistics and in a wide range of religious traditions. This finely balanced reference work is a unique resource which will prove indispensable for all students of religion.
Peter G. Ridell, London Bible College ...the erudition of the scholarship and the very appealing physical layout, make this a particularly significant contribution to the study of language in its diverse contexts in the modern era.
Histographia Linguistica, E.F.K. Koerner, Cologne University Like other previous volumes in the series,... the present volume contains close to 200 (and if biographical entries are added, many more) mostly short articles, arranged under seven major sections...Unlike in previous volumes, the present one has introductions by the first editor to all six main sections.
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Vol 99, J.K. Aitken ...a major reference work of lasting value. ...The range and detail of all entries ensure the value of this book as a reference work not only for students, but for scholars wishing a brief introduction to topics on the intersection of language/linguistics and religious studies.
Attitudes and Changing Contexts (Synthese Library)
责任人: Robert van Rooij
By
* Publisher:Springer
* Number Of Pages:273
* Publication Date:2006-03-08
* Sales Rank:3699981
* ISBN / ASIN:1402041764
* EAN:9781402041761
* Binding:Hardcover
* Manufacturer:Springer
* Studio:Springer
* Average Rating:
* Total Reviews:
Book Description:
In this book, the author defends a unified externalists account of propositional attitudes and reference, and formalizes this view within possible world semantics. He establishes a link between philosophical analyses of intentionality and reference and formal semantic theories of discourse representation and context change. Stalnakerian diagonalization plays an important role here. Anaphora are treated as referential expressions, while presupposition is seen as a propositional attitude. The relation between belief change and the semantic analyses of conditional sentences and evidential (knowledge) and buletic (desire) propositional attitudes is discussed extensively.
The Elephants of Style : A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English
责任人: Bill Walsh
en
0071422684 9780071422680 9780071442756
By
* Publisher:McGraw-Hill
* Number Of Pages:238
* Publication Date:2004-03-12
* Sales Rank:23784
* ISBN / ASIN:0071422684
* EAN:0639785385646
* Binding:Paperback
* Manufacturer:McGraw-Hill
* Studio:McGraw-Hill
* Average Rating:5
* Total Reviews:4
Book Description:
Advice on good writing from everybody's favorite editorial curmudgeon
Persnickety, cantankerous, opinionated, entertaining, hilarious, wise...these are a few of the adjectives reviewers used to describe good-writing maven Bill Walsh's previous book, Lapsing Into a Comma. Now, picking up where he left off in Lapsing, Walsh addresses the dozen or so biggest issues that every writer or editor must master. He also offers a trunkload of good advice on the many little things that add up to good writing. Featuring all the elements that made Lapsing such a fun read, including Walsh's trademark acerbic wit and fascinating digressions on language and its discontents, The Elephants of Style provides:
* Tips on how to tame the "elephants of style"--the most important, frequently confused elements of good writing
* More of Walsh's popular "Curmudgeon's Stylebook"--includes entries such as Snarky Specificity, Metaphors, Near and Far, Actually is the New Like, and other uses and misuses of language
* Expert advice for writers and editors on how to work together for best results
Download Description:
Advice on good writing from everybody's favorite editorial curmudgeon Persnickety, cantankerous, opinionated, entertaining, hilarious, wise...these are a few of the adjectives reviewers used to describe good-writing maven Bill Walsh's previous book, Lapsing Into a Comma. Now, picking up where he left off in Lapsing, Walsh addresses the dozen or so biggest issues that every writer or editor must master. He also offers a trunkload of good advice on the many little things that add up to good writing. Featuring all the elements that made Lapsing such a fun read, including Walsh's trademark acerbic wit and fascinating digressions on language and its discontents, The Elephants of Style provides: Tips on how to tame the ""elephants of style""--the most important, frequently confused elements of good writing More of Walsh's popular ""Curmudgeon's Stylebook""--includes entries such as Snarky Specificity, Metaphors, Near and Far, Actually is the New Like, and other uses and misuses of language Expert advice for writers and editors on how to work together for best results
Date: 2006-03-11Rating: 5
Review:
Grammar with a funny bone
Almost nothing is as boring as learning the rules of grammar.
The Elephants of Style, however, makes the subject humorous and easier to both read and learn about. The author uses great(and often funny ) examples to teach students about everything from parts of speech to plagarism. I would recommend this book to college freshman, English teachers, or anyone struggling with grammar.
Of course, grammar may never lose the title of "boringest of them all," but at least there is a little humor at the end of the tunnel.
Date: 2004-08-02Rating: 4
Review:
Always Useful, Sometimes Funny
By Bill Marsano. What a jolly season for word-lovers this is, what with Lynn Truss's "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" and this book by Bill Walsh coming along neck-and-neck and cheek-by-jowl. Walsh, who is the copy chief of the Washington Post, has written a far broader work than Truss's, with punctuation just one of the things covered (and usually very well covered). There's also grammar here and more important there is style.
The author of such a book sets himself up, always. Many readers will assume or claim that he's preaching perfection and will therefore fall upon tiny errors yelling nyah-nyah in spiteful disvalidation of his whole work, of his very right to speak at all. Sorry but, admirable as it may be, prefection eludes and always will (Lynn Truss's first error is in her subtitle!). Mark Twain said, of perfection in English grammar, "the thing just can't be done." So let's be willing to give a little, and even accept the odd contradiction.
That done, we find a pretty useful guide. It's mostly newspaper-oriented, but it's still a help to the ordinary writer and ordinary person struggling to commit a sentence and finding between the opening capital and the closing period a morass of weird plurals, nightmare collectives, number-of-the-verb, stylistic conventions, punctuational deadfalls and a lot of other horrors that make not ending with a preposition a treat (which taboo is, by the way, nonsense, as Walsh neatly explains). Walsh deals with most problems briskly and helpfully, and if you keep this book ever close to your heart it won't be long before you can toss off elegant vanity plates, bumperstickers and ransom notes without so much as a by-your-leave. And you will begin to enjoy doing so, because you won't be scared out of your wits half the time. (Most people dread writing as they dread public speaking.)
I am generally dubious of copy editors; I consider them a species of vermin that should be hunted for sport. But I will go a long way with Walsh because he clearly thinks about the language and tries to make intelligent, workable decisions that help reader and writer alike. (Most copy editors simply trot out their pet peeves and hobby-horses, salt with ignorance and prejudice, and then damage the writer's copy, the hideous effects invisible until the crime appears in print.)
I will unyieldingly dispute with him on two points, however. First, (free-lance) writers should absolutely not waste any time studying client magazines to learn their style. Magazines routinely pay writers poorly and abuse them in general; if they want their stylebooks followed, let the editors do some work for a change. (Editors don't have jobs. They have lunch.) Second, what's this foolishness about a ship being referred to as "it"?
That's an example of what offends me most about copy editors: their char-woman's mentality. Always trying to neaten up; emptying the ashtray every time the ash hits the glass; making you move so they can plump up the pillows. Busy, busy, busy! The net result of all this is damage to a language of which varioty is its chiefest glory. Referring to ships as feminine is a tradition many centuries old: it goes back to the Romans; it is established and understood; it is not to be dismissed by some petty tyrant with an itchy pencil. Maybe it's a question of political correctness. Maybe someone is pained because it excludes an entire sex (the male, I believe). Frankly I'm disinclined to believe that this will cause little boys everywhere to be discouranged from becoming ocean liners, but copy editors might very well fall for that.--Bill Marsano is a professional writer and editor.
Date: 2004-04-29Rating: 5
Review:
The next Bill Safire?
Visiting the front lines of the grammar and usage wars with Bill Walsh is a pleasure for writers and readers alike. Like his previous work, Lapsing Into a Comma, this entertaining and enlightening book shows Walsh has got a great ear and a great sense of humor.
Date: 2004-03-28Rating: 5
Review:
Who left me out of the 鼼rammar can now be amusing
Language, Truth and Logic
责任人: A.J. Ayer
0141186046 9780141186047
By
* Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
* Number Of Pages:224
* Publication Date:2001-04-26
* Sales Rank:1032287
* ISBN / ASIN:0141186046
* EAN:9780141186047
* Binding:Paperback
* Manufacturer:Penguin Books Ltd
* Studio:Penguin Books Ltd
* Average Rating:4.5
* Total Reviews:21
Book Description:
Classic introduction to objectives and methods of schools of empiricism and linguistic analysis, especially of the logical positivism derived from the Vienna Circle. Topics: elimination of metaphysics, function of philosophy, nature of philosophical analysis, the a priori, truth and probability, critique of ethics and theology, self and the common world, more.
Date: 2006-11-04Rating: 5
Review:
A very important book
Ayer is gifted as a clear, precise writer.
Agree or disagree with Ayer, this is a book every contemporary analytic philosopher should read.
Date: 2006-05-03Rating: 3
Review:
A Crazy Classic
Ayer's "Language, Truth and Logic" is written clearly and passionately. It electrified and shocked its audience, and became one of the most influential pieces of analytic philosophy in the twentieth century. And it was almost entirely mistaken.
Ayer articulates an extreme empiricist theory according to which all literally meaningful statements are either analytic or empirically verifiable. The theory is supposed to resolve or dissolve various philosophical disputes by showing that they are about statements that are literally meaningless (like gibberish that is neither true nor false).
Ethical statements are argued to be literally meaningless, while functioning primarily to express the subject's feelings. Statements about God and metaphysics are also rejected as literally meaningless. Other topics covered include the nature of truth, probability, personal identity, the material world and philosophical analysis.
Along with logical empiricism or positivism generally, Ayer's theory is not very popular anymore, and it's hard to understand why it ever was, given the extensive (and to my mind often quite obvious) criticism it deserves and has received.
Nevertheless, "Language, Truth and Logic" does a better job of articulating and explaining a version of logical empiricism than does any other work that I am aware of, and given its influence, it is of historical interest.
My edition of this book is the Penguin edition (2001), though this review may be posted for other editions of "Language, Truth and Logic" as are other reviews. My edition is nicely set forth, and includes as an appendix what I think has sometimes been published as the preface to the second edition of the book. It also includes a very brief introduction to Ayer, the book and its influence.
Date: 2006-03-16Rating: 4
Review:
A Classic Discussion of Positivist Thought
Language, Truth and Logic by Alfred J. Ayer was originally published in 1936. The current text published by Dover is a re-release of the 1946 edition - unchanged from the original except for an additional introduction by the author. Ayer is a well known and respected mid-twentieth century philosopher.
Language, Truth and Logic is the first detailed English work articulating the logical positivist thought of the Vienna Circle. Logical positivism major focus was on the issue of what constituted a meaningful statement and subsequently what was the proper role of philosophy. In the positivist view meaningful statement were either tautologies (statements that are true by definition e.g. mathematical truths) or propositions that could be proved/disproved by empirical investigation. They argued that propositions that did not adhere to these criterion were meaningless or non-sense (questions of religion and ethics would fall into this category). As a result of this restrictive interpretation of truth/knowledge they saw philosophical discourse relegated to a largely logical-linguistic role - as opposed to any type of metaphysical speculation.
The genesis of Positivist thought can be found in the early twentieth century works of Russell and Wittgenstein. Although this school of thought continues to have some advocates its popularity has declined markedly during the latter part of the twentieth century. Logical positivism demise stemmed from a range of reasons, not the least of which was its limited intuitive appeal and its apparent lack of internal consistency. With regard to the first point, to some, positivism seemed to artificially remove many of life's most important issues from discussion; e.g. ethics, God and beauty. While from a philosophical perspective positivism appeared to be self referentially inconsistent, i.e. its assertions appeared not to meet its own criterion (i.e. the assertion of what was a meaningful statement was itself not meaningful). Positivism's advocates have attempted to escape this latter charge - but these efforts have been largely unsuccessful.
Despite the fact that Logical Positivism has fallen out of favor (some would say relegated to the dust bin of history), Ayer's remains a classic exposition of this important movement in twentieth century philosophy. I recommend it to all serious students of philosophy.
Date: 2005-10-18Rating: 5
Review:
A superb book about logical positivism
Ayer is simply fed up with metaphysical and religious claims that appear to be nonsensical. So he makes us ask the following question about any claim we feel is hard to interpret:
"Would any observations be relevant to the determination of its truth or falsehood?"
That gets us away from having to worry about what otherwise might appear to be cognitive remarks, such as "god exists."
If it is then claimed that there is indeed evidence that would be relevant, we start to interpret claims in that light. If we are told that the existence of thunder and lightning shows that god exists, we can interpret the statement "god exists" as being equivalent to "sometimes, there is thunder and lightning." That, and no more.
The idea is to connect claims to verification, and to connect meaningfulness (or cognitivity) to verifiability.
Plenty of people say that the logical positivists are Wrong, or that Ayer is Wrong. But that is silly. What they have given us is a method for arguing about potentially ambiguous statements. How we use this method is up to us. Saying that this method is Wrong is preposterous. We merely need to figure out when it is appropriate to use it and how to do so.
In this book, we learn a little about logic, and we get some good training in the law of excluded middle. That law says that a proposition has to be either true or false. It is not possible that neither it nor its contradictory are true. We may not be able to tell if it is true or false. But if we see two statements which both appear to be true, they can't truly be contradictory. Ayer gives some good examples of this and of several other elements of logic.
This is indeed a classic work. One can read it in a matter of hours, and it is well worth it for anyone who wants to use logic to seek answers to questions.
Date: 2005-07-05Rating: 4
Review:
Language, Truth and Logic by A.J. Ayer
I know this logical positivist approach to life and thinking is supposed to be out of date, generally considered false, but still, it has its attractive side, it has a common-sense feeling to it, it has a kind of clear sharp-edge quality, it is sort of seductive. It's like something I could use in daily life.
Arguing on the Toulmin Model: New Essays in Argument Analysis and Evaluation (Argumentation Library)
责任人: DAVID HITCHCOCK, BART VERHEIJ (Editors)
en
By
* Publisher:Springer
* Number Of Pages:440
* Publication Date:2007-01
* Sales Rank:1517119
* ISBN / ASIN:1402049374
* EAN:9781402049378
* Binding:Hardcover
* Manufacturer:Springer
* Studio:Springer
* Average Rating:
* Total Reviews:
Field Linguistics: A Beginner's Guide
责任人: Terry Crowley
en
0199213704 9780199213702 9781429470575
By
* Publisher:Oxford University Press, USA
* Number Of Pages:216
* Publication Date:2007-02-19
* Sales Rank:326025
* ISBN / ASIN:0199213704
* EAN:9780199213702
* Binding:Paperback
* Manufacturer:Oxford University Press, USA
* Studio:Oxford University Press, USA
* Average Rating:
* Total Reviews:
Book Description:
Crowley's voice of experience brings us the best practical fieldwork guide to date. Sensible, frank, and comprehensive, this book prepares beginning field workers for the rigours ahead and will save years of costly trial and error. N. J. Enfield This book is a comprehensive, practical guide to field linguistics. It deals in particular with the problems arising from the documentation of endangered languages. Deploying a mixture of methodology and practical advice and drawing on his own immense experience, Terry Crowley shows how to record, analyse, and describe a language in the field. He covers the challenges and problems the researcher is likely to encounter, offers guidance on issues ranging from ethics to everyday diplomacy, and provides full discussions of corpus elicitation, how to keep track of data, salvage fieldwork, dealing with unexpected circumstances, and many other central topics. "We all learn by our mistakes," he writes, "and I have plenty of my own to share with you."
Spoken Image
By Clive Scott
* Publisher:Reaktion Books
* Number Of Pages:360
* Publication Date:1999-07-15
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:186189032X
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9781861890320
Product Description:
Language has always been central to the meaning and exploitation of photographic images. However, the various types and "styles" of language associated with different photographic genres have been largely overlooked. This book considers the nature of photography, examining the language used in titles, captions and commentaries, particularly as they relate to documentary photography, photojournalism and fashion photography.
The Spoken Image addresses the question of how the photograph communicates its message, with or without the aid of language. The book looks at the work of film-makers such as Antonioni and Greenaway to contrast filmic methods of narration with those of photography. Scott concludes that photography has arrived at a level of communicative sophistication equal to that of modern textual narratives, in conjunction with which it often works.
Summary: Well done Clive!
Rating: 5
As a crazed reader of much photographic literature I was delighted to see what Bell thought was most worth addressing. He's provided thoughtful and comprehensive insights about the value and meaning of imagery in our culture. I appreciated his straightforward style and his managed ways of dealing with intricacies and subtleties of narrative and visual literacy.
His bibliography is a great resource in itself!
Psychology of Language: A Critical Introduction
By Dr Michael A Forrester
* Publisher:Sage Publications Ltd
* Number Of Pages:224
* Publication Date:1996-04-26
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0803979916
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780803979918
Product Description:
This comprehensive textbook brings together diverse themes on the psychology of language in an accessible and integrated way. Rather than covering only the formal-structural aspects of language, Michael A Forrester provides a broad view of the study of language across various perspectives, focusing throughout on interesting relationships between language and human psychological processes.
Psychology of Language provides a clear introduction to key topics from language structure and processing, semantics and cognitive science, to conversation analysis, reading and writing, power relations in communication and postmodern psychology.
The book explores language by considering three themes:
· Thinking - the cognitive processes of self-communication.
· Talk - where the emphasis is on everyday conversational behaviour.
· Text - including the study of reading and writing.
A coherent framework is developed by looking at topics which link the themes together, clearly demonstrating the relationship between language and communication processes. The text will be invaluable to students on all courses addressing psychology and language, particularly in areas such as cognitive and social psychology and psycholinguistics.
Review `Forrester's book succeeds in outlining a fuller psychology of language, one that foregroundss the communication functions of language. I hope it spurs other works of that kind' - Theory and Psychology
`An attempt to reconcile the different facets of the contemporary study of the psychology of language... this is a daring attempt to point out the diversity and lurking disintegration of the field of psychology of language...Throughout the endeavour, the suggestion is made that the psuchology of language would profit from a focus on conversation in which researchers immerse themselves into the language scene instead of looking at it from a distance...The book is appealing in its attempt to approach the psychology of language from a wide range of often controversial viewpoints...Forrester's book is a book of reflection. The work constitutes a nice addition to the alternative book library of the advanced graduate student or academic' - Contemporary Psychology
`Forrester's book provides an account not of the field of psycholinguistics as traditionally conceived, but rather of the author's vision for its future development... Forrester argues that traditional psycholinguistics, having been dominated by cognitivism and structuralism, has little to offer to those who aim to understand language as communication. To rectify this, the psychology of language should extend its domain of inquiry and become more closely integrated with alternative approaches to the study of language, both from other areas of psychology and from other disciplines... The scope of Forrester's book is impressively wide... there is a strong emphasis throughout on the philosophy, history and sociology of science... His book can be likened to a large-scale map with a few inset boxes containing smaller-scale plans - designed for the traveller who is considering going to neighbouring lands and wants to get a flavour of what it will be like there. For this reason, the book is well suited to senior undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers, particularly those who already have a sound knowledge of one field of language study and are interested in exploring allied fields. Such readers will be likely to find Forrester's book a thought-provoking, challenging introduction to alternative theoretical and methodological approaches. It would, for example, make an excellent resource for discussion in honours tutorials/seminars... Forrester presents a persuasive case for the need to integrate diverse approaches to the study of language, and he successfully highlights many of the gaps and potential conflicts between these' - British Journal of Psychology
Rhetoric (The New Critical Idiom)
By Jenni Richards
* Publisher: Routledge
* Number Of Pages: 198
* Publication Date: 2007-10-12
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0415314372
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780415314374
* Binding: Paperback
* Publisher:Routledge
* Number Of Pages:198
* Publication Date:2007-10-12
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0415314364
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780415314367
Product Description:
The term ‘rhetoric’ describes the effective use of language, usually to persuade or influence. Frequently set up in opposition to ‘truth’ or ‘plain speech’, it has attracted much critical debate from ancient philosophy to current literary theory.
Examining both the practice and theory of this controversial concept, Jennifer Richards looks at:
historical and contemporary definitions of the term ‘rhetoric’uses of rhetoric in literature, by authors such as William Shakespeare, Mary Shelley and James Joyceclassical traditions of rhetoric, as seen in the work of Plato, Aristotle and Cicerothe rebirth of rhetoric in the Renaissance and its return to the contemporary academy through Composition and Literature coursesthe current position and way forward for rhetoric in literary and critical theory, as envisaged by critics such as Paul de Man, Jacques Derrida and Kenneth Burke.
This insightful volume offers an honest and accessible account of this debatable yet unavoidable term, making this book invaluable reading for students of literature, philosophy and cultural studies.
Philosophy of Language (Fundamentals of Philosophy)
By Alex Miller
* Publisher: Routledge
* Number Of Pages: 416
* Publication Date: 2007-09-11
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0415349818
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780415349819
* Binding: Paperback
Book Description:
This engaging and accessible introduction to the philosophy of language provides an important guide to one of the liveliest and most challenging areas of study in philosophy.
Interweaving the historical development of the subject with a thematic overview of the different approaches to meaning, the book provides students with the tools necessary to understand contemporary analytical philosophy. The second edition includes new material on: Chomsky, Wittgenstein and Davidson as well as new chapters on the causal theory of reference, possible worlds semantics and semantic externalism.
Selves and Identities in Narrative and Discourse (Studies in Narrative)
By Michael Bamberg, Anna De Fina, Deborah Schiffrin
* Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co
* Number Of Pages: 355
* Publication Date: 2007-12-14
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 9027226490
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9789027226495
* Binding: Hardcover
Shortcuts for Teaching Phonics
By Flora Joy
* Publisher:Good Apple
* Number Of Pages:144
* Publication Date:1990-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0866535144
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780866535144
Activities designed to teach all phonics skills. There are large letter activities, large picture activities, bingo-style cards, and 530 mini-cards!
A Course in Phonetics
By Peter Ladefoged
* Publisher:Wadsworth Publishing
* Number Of Pages:304
* Publication Date:2000-07-26
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0155073192
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780155073197
* Binding:Paperback
Product Description:
The easy to understand approach builds on the basics, beginning with technical terms required for describing speech and transcription symbols before moving on to the phonetics of English and other languages.
Summary: Linguistics
Rating: 4
I had to buy this book for my Intro to Linguistics class.
It's easy to read, and it has taught me the basics to phonetics.
Summary: good resource
Rating: 4
great introduction to phonetics, although some of the standard and typical presentations can be misleading when individual speech is analyzed and shows much more variation. he is more exact in this book at setting specific boundaries compared with some of his later books. a great resource to refer to later also with lots of basics, easy to read and understand, CD is helpful too
Summary: MAGNIFICENT
Rating: 5
Peter Ladefoged's Course in Phonetics covers the so-called science of speech (according to Professor Higgins)in every respect. Unlike many other texts on the field, this is no only meant to describe the phonological system of a language in particular or give you some background on general phonetics. This book really teaches you to become a phonetician! This is not just because of Ladefoged's imcomparable background in phonetics and physics (what a great scientist!), but also because Ladeofged himself acts like a motivator as he passes his own passion to the readers.
The interactive CD is awesome. You will be able to listen to the XX century's leading English phonetician Daniel Jones making his own cardinal vowels. There is also an invaluable x-ray short movie of different articulations, and believe me! It is really illuminating to have the chance to see that rather than beautifully designed drawings. Ladefoged himself will teach you by dictating and pronouncing a great number of words, nonsense, English and other languages.
I really recommend this book to whoever is interested or passionate about this discipline. Even though Prof. Ladefoged is not here with us anymore, this is an excellent - and for many of us the only one - chance to be taught by one of the greatest.
Summary: Good choice by my son's linguistics professor
Rating: 5
My son is taking his first linguistics course at NYU this semester and this textbook was required. He informs that the book is readable and understandable and is pleased that the professor chose it for the class.
Summary: i had to buy it for class.
Rating: 4
I'm taking a phonetics and phonology class this semester, so the book was requried reading. Nevertheless, it proved to be very useful and readable, which was nice. The interactive CD-rom is the best part about, though I imagine that's what makes the book so expensive. For those of you who need the book but don't want to break the bank, the fourth edition is almost exactly the same, though without the CD.
Paragraph Development: A Guide for Students of English
By Martin L. Arnaudet, Mary Ellen Barrett
* Publisher:Prentice Hall College Div
* Number Of Pages:193
* Publication Date:1981-03-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0136486185
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780136486183
Product Description:
Paragraph Development A Guide for Students of English First Edition
Critical Pedagogy: Political Approaches to Language and Intercultural Communication (Languages for Intercultural Communication and Education, 8)
By Alison Phipps, Manuela Guilherme
* Publisher:Multilingual Matters Limited
* Number Of Pages:61
* Publication Date:2004-05
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:1853597538
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9781853597534
* Binding:Hardcover
Synopsis
Teaching and learning Languages and Intercultural Communication is not a neutral enterprise. Critical Pedagogy, as a movement and an intellectual field, engages with the political and ideological questions raised in educational practices. In this book the respective fields of languages, intercultural communication and critical pedagogy are brought into dialogue, dissent and reflection.
Beyond the Beginnings: Literacy Interventions for Upper Elementary English Language Learners (Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 46)
By Angela Carrasquillo, Stephen B. Kucer, Ruth Abrams
* Publisher:Multilingual Matters Limited
* Number Of Pages:159
* Publication Date:2004-05
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:1853597503
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9781853597503
* Binding:Hardcover
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature
By Steven Pinker
* Publisher:Viking Adult
* Number Of Pages:512
* Publication Date:2007-09-11
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0670063274
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780670063277
* Binding:Hardcover
Product Description:
New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker possesses that rare combination of scientific aptitude and verbal eloquence that enables him to provide lucid explanations of deep and powerful ideas. His previous books—including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Blank Slate—have catapulted him into the limelight as one of today’s most important and popular science writers.
Now, in The Stuff of Thought, Pinker marries two of the subjects he knows best: language and human nature. The result is a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. What does swearing reveal about our emotions? Why does innuendo disclose something about relationships? Pinker reveals how our use of prepositions and tenses taps into peculiarly human concepts of space and time, and how our nouns and verbs speak to our notions of matter. Even the names we give our babies have important things to say about our relations to our children and to society.
With his signature wit and style, Pinker takes on scientific questions like whether language affects thought, as well as forays into everyday life—why is bulk e-mail called spam and how do romantic comedies get such mileage out of the ambiguities of dating? The Stuff of Thought is a brilliantly crafted and highly readable work that will appeal to fans of readers of everything from The Selfish Gene and Blink to Eats, Shoots & Leaves.
Summary: Always Educational
Rating: 4
Steven Pinker is one of the greatest minds we have. The Blank Slate is on my top 20 lifetime list for books and I've enjoyed seeing him in interviews (and one outstanding debate) online. The Stuff of Thought unfortunately is fairly pedestrian by his standards. To me, this book was far more about language than it was human nature or psychology. As far as linguistics is concerned readers learn much but the same cannot be said in terms of it providing a window into our souls. Some of the wordplay was entertaining and he is insightful concerning speech but not enough psychology was illuminated here in my view to warrant opening it again.
Summary: Lacks 'stuff' on the physiological and cognitive origins of language
Rating: 3
Although Pinker is renown in the field of linguistics, I was a bit disappointed with the single sidedness of this book. In it, he examines the origins of the English language, but to a large degree fails to introduce the factors attributing to the physiological and cognitive results from the birth of language. I anticipated a book with more in-depth research on the origins and effects of language on the formation of consciousness and cognition. An example of such book is Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza's "Genes, Peoples, and Language,' which I highly recommend.
Summary: Excellent
Rating: 4
Take One: Steven Pinker is the premier purveyor of the parsed poesy of plain prose.
No, that won't do. No matter how accurate that statement is, its excessive alliteration is bound to sound too cutesy for such an engaging read as his latest foray into the way mankind thinks and speaks.
Take Two: In his previous bestselling books, such as The Blank Slate, How The Mind Works, and The Language Instinct (to name just the most influential), Pinker- a Harvard cognitive psychologist, has emerged as the premier science researcher and writer on the human mind and language. Yes, there are people who would point to philosopher Daniel Dennett as being a greater expert in the way the mind arose and works, and linguists and cognitive psychologists would likely point to Noam Chomsky as the granddaddy of all language theory, but as well theorized and as influential as the ideas of the other two men have been (not to mention the controversial natures of their ideas and personae) it is Pinker who has emerged as the public's foremost educator in the field. He is to language and the mind what Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould were to astronomy and evolutionary science, respectively.
His latest book is The Stuff Of Thought: Language As A Window Into Human Nature, although a more accurate title might be The Stuff Of Language, since the book focuses far more on language, and parsing it down into its constituent elements. Yes, language represents thoughts we communicate, but when one views the word thought one is led to think that Pinker might be writing of the biochemical firings of neurons, and how one that zigs left results in memories of the smell of Aunt Bea's cherry pies when a child, and when one zigs right a memory of losing your first fistfight is dredged up.
Nonetheless, at 439 pages, with over 40 pages of footnotes, the book is not a difficult read, and this is because Pinker, aside from being a gifted thinker, possesses an even rarer quality- he is a gifted writer. No, his gift is not in the creative field. I cannot speculate on how he would guide a fictive narrative nor end a poem. But, he has an elemental grasp of how to use words to sell ideas. First, he will elucidate the terms of what he is attacking or explaining, by using a lucid metaphor or analogy, and that is further heightened by his very apt use of pop cultural detritus- from the obscure to the profane, and back again, and then he will usually contrast this to a pre-formed idea. That notion can be one that is put forth by another thinker, or rival, or may just be common knowledge, or even mythos....The Stuff Of Thought is an excellent book, and while it may not be as groundbreaking and controversial as some of his earlier works, it is easily his most accessible and fun book to read, as it is so suffused in pop culturata. Yet, on a scientific level, the book does something quite amazing: it bridges the chasm that many Academics have over language itself. Postmodernists believe language is a circular self-referential trap, while pragmatists believe it lends insight into what reality is. Pinker's book seems to posit that that is a false dichotomy, not because both claims are false, but because both are fundamentally true. And in the gullies created by the force of this remarkable fact lie the careers of men like Pinker, ever the Lokis of language to the obtuse, but the Prometheuses of polysemy to those in the know.
Now, about that beginning: Steven Pinker is the premier purveyor of the parsed poesy of plain prose....fire from strange gods, indeed!
Summary: Still a Good Read in Spite of its Flaws
Rating: 4
I confess to being an unabashed fan of Steven Pinker's books on language (I am a multilingual life-long student of linguistics with time to read and study in retirement), which is why I bought this book.
I agree it has some serious flaws that have been mentioned in negative reviews, such as political and social beliefs intruding where they do not really belong. (Well, he's a psychologist, not a linguist, so I don't expect anything different.)
Still, the book is quite fascinating and contains some very compelling analysis. In particular, I find his dissection of political (or perhaps better, politically correct) speech of various groups to be well worth reading.
But what is most fascinating to me is the analysis of what I think of as "subconscious grammar." My personal favorite example of what Pinker is explaining here is when my Russian-born cleaning lady scares my cat with the vacuum and says "He is scary." (I answer, "No, the vacuum is scary, Tashi is scared.") What is there in our brains that figures out that "scary" is what emanates from elsewhere, but "scared" is what we feel?
Why is it that in German I would say "She came back to her home town" (even though I am not in her home town and never have been, but for her it is "homecoming"), but in English I am supposed to say "She went back to her home town" because she moved somewhere other than towards me?
For anyone fascinated by this sort of linguistic analysis, this book is valuable and interesting.
I also enjoyed the analysis of "slow evolution" -- the fact that we humans change our environment much faster than our brains can evolve to cope with current circumstances. He says nothing new and startling here, I think, but as always with Steven Pinker, his detailed examples and apt analogies make the subject matter come alive.
If, like me, you don't need the political stuff or the overly explicit analysis of cursing, just skim over that.
Summary: Good but dense
Rating: 4
I am a Pinker fan and I enjoyed this book but it is closely written with much detailed linguistic background to support Pinker's ideas on the relation between cognition and language. Entertaining sections include the one on dirty words and his critique of Fodor's "Extreme Nativism":
"Fodor is a brilliant, witty, and pugnacious scholar who, among other things, helped to lay the conceptual foundations for cognitive science and to develop the scientific study of sentence comprehension.5 His notorious theory that we are born with some fifty thousand innate concepts (a conventional estimate of the number of words in a typical English speaker's vocabulary) makes an appearance here not as a player in the nature-nurture debate but as a player in the debate over how the meanings of words are represented in people's minds. In the preceding chapter, I proposed that the human mind contains representations of the meanings of words which are composed of more basic concepts like "cause," "means," "event," and "place." Fodor begs to differ. He believes that the meanings of words are atoms, in the original sense of things that cannot be split. ......"
The Converting Imagination: Linguistic Theory and Swift's Satiric Prose
By Marilyn Francus
* Publisher:Southern Illinois University Press
* Number Of Pages:280
* Publication Date:1994-02-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0809318903
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780809318902
* Binding:Hardcover
Product Description:
By illuminating Jonathan Swift’s fascination with language, Marilyn Francus shows how the linguistic questions posed by his work are at the forefront of twentieth-century literary criticism: What constitutes meaning in language? How do people respond to language? Who has (or should have) authority over language? Is linguistic value synonymous with literary value?
Francus starts with a detailed analysis of Swift’s linguistic education, which straddled a radical transition in linguistic thought, and its effect on his prose. This compelling beginning includes sometimes surprising historical information about the teaching and learning of linguistics and language theory in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Swift’s academic studies reflected the traditional universalist view that seeks an Adamic language to reverse the fragmentation of Babel and achieve epistemological unity. But Swift’s tutor also exposed him to the contemporary linguistics of the scientific societies and of John Locke, who argued that the assignment of linguistic meaning is arbitrary and subjective, capturing an individual’s understanding at a particular instant. These competing theories, Francus maintains, help explain the Irish writer’s conflicting inclinations toward both linguistic order and freewheeling creativity.
To develop a complete vision of Swiftian linguistics, Francus focuses on A Tale of a Tub as the archetypal linguistic text in the Swift canon, but she also includes evidence from his other famous works, including Gulliver’s Travels, A Modest Proposal, Journal to Stella, and The Bickerstaff Papers, as well as from his lesser known religious and political tracts and his correspondence. In addition, Francus draws on the relevant work of contemporary linguists (such as Wilkins, Watts, Dyche, and Stackhouse), philosophers (Hobbes and Locke), and authors (including Temple, Sprat, Dryden, Pope, Addison, and Defoe).
Francus concludes that Swift occupies a pivotal place in literary history: his conscious emphasis on textuality and extended linguistic play anticipates not only the future of satiric prose but the modern novel as well.
A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms
By Richard A. Lanham
* Publisher:University of California Press
* Number Of Pages:168
* Publication Date:1991-12-23
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0520076699
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780520076693
Product Description:
The first edition of this widely used work has been reprinted many times over two decades. With a unique combination of alphabetical and descriptive lists, it provides in one convenient, accessible volume all the rhetorical termsmostly Greek and Latinthat students of Western literature and rhetoric are likely to come across in their reading or to find useful in their writing. Now the Second Edition offers new features that will make it still more useful:A completely revised alphabetical listing that defines nearly 1,000 terms used by scholars of formal rhetoric from classical Greece to the present day.A revised system of cross-references between terms.Many new examples and new, extended entries for central terms.A revised Terms-by-Type listing to identify unknown terms.A new typographical design for easier access.
Summary: More than a textbook
Rating: 5
This book--this excellent book--puts a name on just about every literary device, rhetorical term, and classical trope a writer could ever use, and by doing so allows writers and fans of the English language an opportunity to become more aware of what they write and more attuned to how their writing can be improved.
If you fancy yourself a writer, you need this. Get it. Now.
The book is well-organized, easily acccessible, loaded with great quotes, and a treasure trove of unique terms and devices. Some of these you've no doubt used and will be happy to hear these labeled and defined. Others will be new to you but will certainly be of use to you in the future. Chiasmus, anyone?
This was assigned as a textbook for Jerome Shea's classical tropes class at the University of New Mexico, but I would never even consider selling this back at the end of the year. Having been introduced to this, I can no more imagine my writing den without it than I can imagine it without a dictionary or a thesaurus or a hidden drawer full of treats.
Summary: It's Just Fun!
Rating: 5
Over the Christmas holidays, I traveled back east to visit my parents. I carried Lanham's "A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms." One night my mom and I sat up talking about everything from Picasso to metaphysics and at some point we got to talking about Shakespeare. I tried to explain to her why Shakespeare is rhetorically reveered, and at one point I climbed downstairs to the guest room and retrieved Lanham's book. She -- like most of us -- hears the word "rhetoric" and thinks of politicians and empty promises, or phrasing so complicated as to render simple fact obscure.
I think the first word in "Handlist" we got a chuckle over was "chiasmus" and some of the examples like "It's not whether grapenuts are good enough for you, but whether you're good enough for grapenuts!" And the famous "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." The one that gave her the best chuckle though was an editor's advice to a young writer "You're writing is both original and interesting; unfortunately the part that's original is not interesting and the part that is interesting is not original."
The great thing about this book is that it gives name to a great many devices we already use in everyday speech, and for a writer this information is invaluable. The better facility a writer has with these devices the better he or she can express our endless human emotions.
A good many of the examples give the Latin or Greek root word, but the definitions are in English. Many of them have example usage along with the definition.
E.g., "Insultatio": derisive, ironical abuse of a person to his face. As Hamlet says to his mother:
Look on this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See what a grace was seated on this brow:
Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove himself...
This was your husband. Look you now what follows.
Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear
Blasting the wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! Have you eyes?
(Hamlett, III, iv)
All in all, I think this handlist -- as much a dictionary as a "handlist" of rhetorical devices -- is a rich resource for writers, law students, political science majors, and young English scholars. Indeed, with this handlist, you could begin your own "Progymnasmata"!
Stacey
Summary: A Wordsmith's Wonderland
Rating: 4
Samuel Butler once wrote that "All a rhetorician's rules teach nothing but to name his tools." Classical and Medieval rhetoricians named, renamed, parsed, and cataloged all these tools with a bewildering sesquipedalian nomenclature. "Handlist" almost succeeds in its attempt to make sense of this thorny thicket of jargon.
Chapter 1 of "Handlist" is a dictionary style listing of all the various names of the rhetorical devices. Each name is individually entered, but only the main name is defined. Each of the lesser names simply has cross references. The merely-cross-referenced names outnumber the actually-defined names by about 3 to 1. The actually-defined names should have been set in a bolder type than the merely-cross-referenced names.
Chapter 2 consists of an excellent review of the divisions of rhetoric. Read Chapter 2 first.
Chapter 3 takes the more common rhetorical devices and catalogs them by type, giving brief definitions. It catalogs only one name for each device, and is much more user friendly than Chapter 1. Read Chapter 3 second.
My suggestion for the third edition: Reorder the chapters. Put Chapter 2 first and Chapter 1 last.
Summary: poorly organized
Rating: 2
The problem that I have with this book is that often the words that it defines tells me to go look up another fine. That would be fine, except that I go to the word it said to look up and discover that I either have to look up another word. This book is not helpful in that respect, and given that a lot of PCs run Windows, it doesn't really make sense to release a hypertext version for the Mac but not one for Windows. So the Windows users are stuck with a book that really isn't that good.
Summary: Enquire Within Upon Everything
Rating: 5
It's hard to describe how valuable this book is. Simply put, it changed my life. The title is both perfect and a little misleading: yes, it's a handlist, but that gives little sense of the breadth and scholarship of Lanham's work. Yes, you'll find incredibly useful definitions of the most recondite, as well as the most everyday, tropes and schemes. But embedded within his exposition Lanham gives us an argument for rhetoric: its complexity, historical richness, and value. Lanham's touch is very personal, offering a collection of definitions that are at once eclectic and definitive. If you need to buy one book on rhetoric, this should be it. If it intrigues you as much as it did me, follow up with Lanham's _The Electronic Word: Democracy, Technology, and the Arts_. There you'll see the very practical implications of the study of rhetoric framed through historical and theoretical debates. Two thumbs up.