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Books in Language and linguistics

  • Linguistic Theory in America

    • 2nd Edition
    • June 28, 2014
    • Frederick J. Newmeyer
    • English
    Linguistic Theory in America, Second Edition focuses on the origin and development of the theory of transformational generative grammar. The book first elaborates on the state of American linguistics in the mid-1950s, the Chomskyan revolution, and the movement from syntactic structures to the aspects of the theory of syntax. Discussions focus on the incorporation of semantics into the model, revisions in the syntactic component, generative phonology, impact of generative grammar on other fields, syntactic structures, and structural linguistics. The text then takes a look at the rise of generative semantics and linguistic wars. Topics include late generative semantics, collapse and legacy of generative semantics, steps to generative semantics, and emerging opposition to generative semantics. The manuscript elaborates on the extended standard theory and approaches to syntax, including generalized phrase structure grammar, constraints on transformational rules, and constraints on surface structure and base rules. The text is a dependable source of data for researchers interested in the theory of transformational generative grammar.
  • Finite Automata

    Behavior and Synthesis
    • 1st Edition
    • June 28, 2014
    • A. de Vries
    • English
    This dictionary supplies associations which have been evoked by certain words, signs, etc. in Western civilization in the past, and which may float to the surface again tomorrow; for however 'daringly new' a modern use of imagery may look, it generally appears to have roots in what has been said and done in the past. No fine distinctions have been made between symbols (in the limited sense), allegories, metaphors, signs, types, images, etc. (not to mention 'ascending' and 'descending' symbols), since such subtle distinctions, however sensible from a scientific point of view, are useless to a person struggling with the deeper comprehension (and thus appreciation) of a particular 'symbol'.
  • Hearing Science and Hearing Disorders

    • 1st Edition
    • June 28, 2014
    • M.E. Lutman
    • English
    Hearing Science and Hearing Disorders focuses on the nature of the processes in the inner ear and the nervous system that mediate hearing. Organized into eight chapters, this book first discusses the nature of speech communication, the extent of hearing problems, and the pathophysiology of hearing. Four core chapters follow, in which four areas of central importance to understanding hearing disorders and their effects are covered. These areas are assessment of auditory function, the scope for technological solutions, the nature of audio-visual speech perception, and the effects of deafness upon speech production. This book will be valuable to students; to academic and professional workers concerned with hearing, speech, and their disorders; and to scientifically or medically literate people in general.
  • Concise History of the Language Sciences

    From the Sumerians to the Cognitivists
    • 1st Edition
    • June 28, 2014
    • E.F.K. Koerner + 1 more
    • English
    This book presents in a single volume a comprehensive history of the language sciences, from ancient times through to the twentieth century. While there has been a concentration on those traditions that have the greatest international relevance, a particular effort has been made to go beyond traditional Eurocentric accounts, and to cover a broad geographical spread. For the twentieth century a section has been devoted to the various trends, schools, and theoretical framework developed in Europe, North America and Australasia over the past seventy years. There has also been a concentration on those approaches in linguistic theory which can be expected to have some direct relevance to work being done at the beginning of the twenty-first century or those of which a knowledge is needed for the full understanding of the history of linguistic sciences through the last half of this century. The last section of this book reviews the applications of some of these findings. Based on the foundation provided by the award winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics this volume provides an excellent focal point of reference for anyone interested in the history of the language sciences.
  • The Discourse of Negotiation

    Studies of Language in the Workplace
    • 1st Edition
    • June 28, 2014
    • A. Firth
    • English
    The study of negotiation has attracted considerable scholarly attention in recent decades, yet rarely have discourse analysts applied their particular concerns and interests to the phenomenon. Although a fundamental characteristic of negotiation is linguistic action, the detailed study of negotiation as a communicative, discourse activity is in its infancy. In the first collection of its kind, Alan Firth has brought together 14 original studies of negotiation discourse.Drawing on insights and methodologies from discourse and conversation analysis, pragmatics, ethnography and ethnomethodology, the book examines negotiations in a wide range of workplaces, including the US Federal Trade Commission, management-union meetings, doctors' surgeries, travel agencies, international trading houses in Denmark, Belgium and Australia, Swedish social welfare offices, and consumer helplines. Collectively, the book explores the notion of negotiation both as a formal encounter and as a gloss for more informal decision-making activities.Questions specifically addressed include: what is the interactional character of negotiation? How are negotiations related to the work context? And how are negotiations undertaken linguistically - as discourse-based activities? Answers are sought by utilising transcripts of real-life instances of negotiation. This allows for finely-detailed descriptions of the observed activities, providing important insight into the discourse-context relationship, the interactional bases of work acitivities, and the communicative processes of negotiation.
  • Dialect and Language Variation

    • 1st Edition
    • June 28, 2014
    • English
    This anthology emphasizes dialects of American English and language variation in America. The editors present original essays by today's leading investigators, including articles by some of Europe's best dialectologists, obtained expressly for this work.
  • Saussure's Third Course of Lectures on General Linguistics (1910-1911)

    (F. de Saussure - Troisième Cours de Linguistique Générale (1910-1911)
    • 1st Edition
    • May 23, 2014
    • R. Harris + 1 more
    • English
    The notes taken by Saussure's student Emile Constantin were not available to the editors of the published Cours de linguistique générale (1916), and came to light only after the second world war. They have never been published in their entirety.The third and last course of lectures, of which Constantin kept this very full record, is generally considered to represent a more advanced version of Saussure's teaching than the earlier two. It is clear that Constantin's notebooks offer a text which differs in a number of significant respects from the Cours published by Saussure's original editors, and bring forward ideas which do not emerge in the 1916 publication. They constitute unique evidence concerning the final stages of Saussure's thinking about language.This edition of the notes is accompanied by an introduction and a full English translation of the text. There has been no attempt made by Komatsu and Harris, to turn the English into readable prose. Constantin's notes, even as revised by their author, retain the infelicities, repetitions, abruptness - occasionally incoherences - that betray the circumstances of their origin.The volume constitutes an important landmark in the history of modern linguistics and provides essential documentation for all scholars and libraries specializing in the subject.
  • Learning, Speech and Thought in the Mentally Retarded

    Proceedings of Symposia 4 and 5 Held at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School on 31 October 1969 and 20 March 1970 under the Auspices of the Institute for Research Into Mental Retardation, London
    • 1st Edition
    • May 19, 2014
    • A. D. B. Clarke + 1 more
    • English
    Learning, Speech and Thought in the Mentally Retarded contains the proceedings of Symposia 4 and 5 held at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London on October 31, 1969 and March 20, 1970, respectively, under the auspices of the Institute for Research into Mental Retardation. This monograph presents topical problems in mental retardation, with emphasis on learning processes, speech, and thought. The application of operant learning techniques to the development of language in the retarded is highlighted. This book is comprised of four chapters and begins by outlining directions in research on learning deficits, followed by a discussion on teaching processes in the care of severely retarded children. The next chapter deals with speech and thought in the mentally retarded, with particular reference to two basic problems: the relative priority of language or thought and the selection processes underlying language. The final chapter explores language delay and language deviation in mentally retarded children. Throughout the book, the focus is on language: its nature, its development in the constitutionally normal and handicapped, some theoretical controversies among experts in this field, and the development of appropriate techniques for teaching language to the mentally retarded. This monograph will be useful to psychologists and clinicians working in the field of mental retardation.
  • The Sociolinguistics of the Deaf Community

    • 1st Edition
    • May 19, 2014
    • Ceil Lucas
    • English
    This is a unified collection of the best and most current empirical studies of socio-linguistic issues in the deaf community, including topics such as studies of sign language variation, language contact and change, and sign language policy.Established linguistic concerns with deaf language are reexamined and redefined, and several new issues of general importance to all sociolinguists are raised and explored. This is a book which interests all sociolinguists as well as deaf professionals, teachers of the deaf, sign language interpreters, and anyone else dealing on a day-to-day basis with the everyday language choices that deaf persons must make.
  • Studies in Lexical Phonology

    Lexical Phonology
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 4
    • May 19, 2014
    • Sharon Hargus + 1 more
    • English
    Phonetics and Phonology, Volume 4: Studies in Lexical Phonology focuses on studies done on lexical phonology, including methods, techniques, and approaches involved in the field. The selection first underscores the simultaneity of morphological and prosodic structure, modeling the phonology-morphology interface, and deriving cyclicity. Discussions focus on affixation and cyclicity in prosodic lexical phonology, prosodic lexical phonology, theories of phonology-morphology interaction, phonology preceding morphology, and evidence for simultaneity. The book then examines interaction between modules in lexical phonology and the structure of the slave (Northern Athabaskan) verb. The book ponders on word level, structure preservation and postlexical tonology in Dagbani, and (post) lexical rule application. Topics include context-sensitivity in underspecification, postlexical and lexical tonology, word cycle, and English allophonic rules. The manuscript also tackles rule domains and phonological change, rule reordering and rule generalization in lexical phonology, and blocking in nonderived environments. The selection is a valuable reference for researchers interested in lexical phonology.