Historical and comparative linguistics Books

Book SynopsisThis is the first full account of the transformation of Ottoman Turkish into Modern Turkish. It is based on the author''s knowledge and experience of the language, history, and people of Turkey. The transformation of the Turkish language is probably the most thorough-going piece of linguistic engineering in history. Its prelude came in 1928, when the Arabo-Persian alphabet was outlawed and replaced by the Latin alphabet. It began in earnest in 1930 when Ataturk declared:''Turkish is one of the richest of languages. It needs only to be used with discrimination. The Turkish nation, which is well able to protect its territory and its sublime independence, must also liberate its language from the yoke of foreign languages.''All Arabic and Persian vocabulary was replaced forthwith by words collected from popular speech, resurrected from ancient texts, or coined from native roots and suffixes. The snag - identified by the author as one element in the catastrophic aspect of the reform - was tTrade ReviewReview from previous edition The Turkish Language Reform is a dramatic story, entertainingly written, and not overly long. What is more, it provides a great insight into the practicalities of language planning.... From the moment you read 'A catastrophic success' in the subtitle you know that Lewis's intention is to provide interesting, entertaining reading. The story is a great one ... and well worth the read.' * Journal of Sociolinguistics 5/2, 2001 *Professor Lewis has written a fascinating book and he deserves the gratitude and appreciation of both colleagues and non-specialists alike. Lewis has succeeded in making a demanding task seem particularly easy and even graceful. As a stylist, Lewis is incisive, sometime brutally candid, and almost always witty. The book is sure to remain the last word on the language reform for a long time to come. * Journal of Middle Eastern Studies *Very informative - especially for the nonspecialist - and worthwhile reading ... this book can and must be recommended to anyone interested in the modern Turkish language.' * Anthropological Linguistics *Lewis's book is learned, eloquent, and witty... Particularly effective and entertaining are those passages which he skillfully translates twice -- first in their unadulterated form with their full complement of words of non-Turkic origin, then in their clean-up, "pure" Turkic form.' * Sino-Platonic Papers *Lewis ... writes in a lively and witty style. Absolutely essential for collections supporting Turkish and linguistics departments at all levels... This book is a fascinating description of what can happen when language reform is attempted in an unplanned but enthusiastic fashion.' * Choice *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2Ottoman Turkish ; 3. The New Alphabet ; 4. Ataturk and the Language Reform until 1936 ; 5. The Sun-Language Theory and After ; 6. Atay, Atac, Sayili ; 7. Ingredients ; 8. Concoctions ; 9. Technical Terms ; 10. The New Yoke ; 11. The New Turkish ; 12. What Happened to the Language Society ; References ; Index

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Book SynopsisPortuguese emerged from vulgar Latin during the course of the third century. Influential in its development were successive invasions by Germanic peoples, Visigoths, and Moors, the latter of whom were finally evicted in the thirteenth century. As a consequence of the newly-independent kingdom''s imperial achievements, Portuguese is the national language of Brazil and the official language of several African countries.Maria Helena Mateus and Ernesto d''Andrade present a broad description and comparative analysis of the phonetics and phonology of European and Brazilian Portuguese. They begin by introducing the history of Portuguese and its principal varieties. Chapter 2 describes the phonetic characteristics of consonants, vowels, and glides, and Chapter 3 looks at prosodic structure. Chapters 4 and 5 present the general characteristics of Portuguese nominal and verbal systems, the former considering inflectional and the latter derivational processes. Chapter 6 examines stress, main, secTrade ReviewThis is a much appreciated book for those of us who regularly teach a course on the synchronic phonology and morphophonology of Portuguese....The book is divided into clear modules, the data in each section being clearly presented in well-organised tables, always including examples covering each of the possible cases of interest....Mateus and d'Andrade have crafted a very easy to read, well-organised exposition of their favourite analyses quite suitable for a course in the structure of Portuguese phonology. * Phonology *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. The Phonological System of Portuguese ; 3. Syllable Structure ; 4. Portuguese Morphology: Inflection ; 5. Portuguese Morphology: Derivation ; 6. Word Stress in Portuguese ; 7. Phonological Processes ; References ; Index

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Book SynopsisPeople have been reading on computer screens for several decades now, predating popularization of personal computers and widespread use of the internet. But it was the rise of eReaders and tablets that caused digital reading to explode. In 2007, Amazon introduced its first Kindle. Three years later, Apple debuted the iPad. Meanwhile, as mobile phone technology improved and smartphones proliferated, the phone became another vital reading platform.In Words Onscreen, Naomi Baron, an expert on language and technology, explores how technology is reshaping our understanding of what it means to read. Digital reading is increasingly popular. Reading onscreen has many virtues, including convenience, potential cost-savings, and the opportunity to bring free access to books and other written materials to people around the world. Yet, Baron argues, the virtues of eReading are matched with drawbacks. Users are easily distracted by other temptations on their devices, multitasking is rampant, and scrTrade ReviewLucid and engaging... Words Onscreen ably brings into focus the impact that reading in one form or another will have on our culture and how practice will change as a consequence of that impact. * Babel: The Language Magazine, Erika Corradini *Words Onscreen is a timely book. * Leah Price, The Times Literary Supplement. *For every digital devotee clutching an e-reader, there is an old-school bibliophile brandishing a physical book. But which works best for reading comprehension? In this thoughtful study, linguist Naomi Baron investigates each platform in the light of recent research, and surveys US, Japanese and German reading habits. * Nature *this is one of the few books to address the question without resort to such clichés as 'I can't smell an ebook' * Scotland on Sunday, Stuart Kelly *Table of ContentsChapter 1. "I Hate Books": Words Go Digital ; Chapter 2. Reading Evolves ; Chapter 3. tl;dr: Readers Reshape Writing ; Chapter 4. The Appeal of Words Onscreen ; Chapter 5. The Web Ate My Print Button: One-Off Reading ; Chapter 6. How Social is Reading? ; Chapter 7. "It's Not a Book": The Physical Side of Reading ; Chapter 8. Your Brain on eText ; Chapter 9. Faxing Tokyo: When Cultures and Markets Meet ; Chapter 10. The Future of Reading in a Digital World

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Book SynopsisIn the first comprehensive survey of the politics of language in Ireland in the colonial and post-colonial period, Tony Crowley challenges received notions, revisits familiar materials, and considers previously little-known evidence in order to present a complex, fascinating, and often surprising history.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition This book offers a simultaneously sweeping and subtle view into the ways language has been inextricably linked with notions of cultural, political, and personal identity throughout modern Irish history... As impressive as the breadth of Crowley's research is the beauty and accessibility of his prose: the book proves enjoyable to the historian or critic as well as the linguist. Indeed, War of Words will encourage scholars in all aspects of Irish Studies to recognize the centrality of the language issue to nearly all aspects of Irish culture and politics. * Michael J Durkan Prize Review *Crowley's War of Words is a valuable and stimulating book, bringing together an impressive array of primary and secondary sources from more than five centuries in a carefully crafted argument... the defining account of a historical formation * Chris Morash, Times Literary Supplement *A sourcebook, a treasure trove . . . Crowley brings a welcome sensitivity to the complexity of his subject . . . Tony Crowley's War of Words and his earlier The Politics of Language in Ireland are seminal texts for our understanding of how that dichotomy has evolved over the centuries. [Crowley has] raised profoundly important questions and provided a context in which they can be thought about and planned for in the hope that future wars over words will be far less bitter and prolonged. * Irish Literary Supplement *a first-rate piece of scholarship that deserves to be read by any student of Ireland and her history. * Contemporary Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Language acquisition ; 1. Reforming the Word and the words of the Irish, 1537-1607 ; 2. Language, God, and the struggle for history, 1607-1690 ; 3. Education, antiquity, and the beginnings of linguistic nationalism, 1690-1789 ; 4. Culture, politics, and the language question, 1789-1876 ; 5. Language and revolution, 1876-1922 ; 6. The politics of language on the island of Ireland, 1922-2004

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Book SynopsisThis history of the Spanish lexicon is written from the interacting perspectives of linguistic and cultural change and in the light of advances in the study of language contact and lexical change. The author describes the language inherited from spoken Latin in the Iberian Peninsula during six centuries of Roman occupation and examines the degree to which it imported words from the languages - of which only Basque survives - of pre-Roman Spain. He then shows how Germanic words were imported either indirectly through Latin or Old French or directly by contact with the Visigoths. He describes the importation of Arabisms following the eighth-century Arab conquest of Spain, distinguishing those documented in medieval sources from those adopted for everyday use, many of which survive in modern Spanish. He considers the influence of Old French and Old Provençal and identifies late direct and indirect borrowings from Latin, including the Italian elements taken up during the Renaissance. AfterTrade ReviewThe scholarship in this book is, without question, of the highest calibre. This book will benefit greatly both advanced students and scholars of Spanish historical linguistics, and, as a pedagogical tool, could serve either as supplementary reading for a course on the history of the Spanish language or as the main text for a seminar on the topic for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. * Joel Rini, Bulletin of Spanish Studies *Dworkins book is a lively and entertaining discussion of the history of the Spanish lexicon. The approach made this book difficult to put down. The books accessibility makes it a joy to read, suitable for beginning students, and yet rigorous enough for Hispanists. More books should be written in a way that encourages future students to undertake studies in the field. * Diachronica *This History will probably be used as a reference book rather than as a good read, but the scholarly perspectives and thought processes displayed should even so impress and inspire all those who have ever wondered about the hows and whys of the provenance of Spanish vocabulary from other languages. * Roger Wright, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies *a lively and entertaining discussion of the history of the Spanish lexicon. * John M. Ryan, Diachronica *Table of Contents1. Language Contact and the History of the Spanish Lexicon: General and methodological questions ; 2. The Lexical Impact of the Pre-Roman Languages of the Iberian Peninsula ; 3. The Latin Base of the Spanish Lexicon ; 4. The Germanic Component of the Spanish Lexicon ; 5. The Arabic Component of the Spanish Lexicon ; 6. The Impact of Gallo-Romance on the Spanish Lexicon ; 7. The Influence of Italian on the Spanish Lexicon ; 8. Latinisms in Spanish ; 9. Portuguese and Catalan Loans in Spanish ; 10. Lexical Borrowings From the New World ; 11. Anglicisms in Spanish ; 12. Some Final Thoughts ; References ; Index Verborum ; General Index

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Book SynopsisThis book provides both the first comprehensive description of the phonology and phonetics of Standard Mongolian and the first account in any language of the historical phonology of the Mongolian group of languages.Trade Reviewa ripe source for interested researchers. * Andrew Nevins, Phonology *Table of Contents1. Vowels ; 2. Consonants ; 3. Phonemes ; 4. Writing Systems ; 5. Phonological Processes ; 6. Syllabification and Epenthesis ; 7. Prosody ; 8. Old Mongolian ; 9. The Mongolic Languages ; 10. Development of the Modern Mongolic Languages ; Appendices ; References ; Index ; Index of Old Mongolian Words

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Book SynopsisA Linguistic History of Arabic challenges the traditional accounts of the progression of classical Arabic to contemporary dialects. It presents a rich and complex picture of early Arabic language history and establishes the basis for a comprehensive, linguistically-based understanding of the history of Arabic.Trade Review...highly stimulating read for anyone with interest in the history of Arabic...It deserves a warm welcome. * Clive Holes SOAS *Table of Contents1. Introduction: A Language and its Secrets ; 2. Old Arabic, Neo-Arabic, and Comparative Linguistics ; 3. Case and Proto Arabic ; 4. Al-Idgham al-Kabiyr and Case Endings ; 5. Pre-Diasporic Arabic in the Diaspora: A Statistical Approach to Arabic Language History ; 6. Nigerian Arabic and Reconstruction of the Imperfect Verb ; 7. Imala ; 8. Suffix Pronouns and Reconstruction ; 9. Summary and Epilogue ; Appendix ; References ; Index

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Book SynopsisBasic Linguistic Theory provides a fundamental characterization of the nature of human languages and a comprehensive guide to their description and analysis. In crystal-clear prose, R. M. W. Dixon describes how to go about doing linguistics. He show how grammatical structures and rules may be worked out on the basis of inductive generalisations, and explains the steps by which an attested grammar and lexicon can built up from observed utterances. He describes how the grammars and vocabulary of one language may be compared to others of the same or different families, explains the methods involved in cross-linguistic parametric analyses, and shows how to interpret the results. Volume 3 introduces and examines key grammatical topics, each from a cross-linguistic perspective. The subjects include number systems, negation, reflexives and reciprocals, passives, causatives, comparative constructions, and questions. The final chapter discusses the relation between linguistic explanation and thTrade ReviewThere can be little doubt that Basic Linguistic Theory is a valuable addition to the linguistic literature, both as a broadly conceived typological study and as an inspiring guide to grammar writers ... BLT covers the principal parts of grammar and probably more extensively so than any other single book of its kind. * Steffen Haurholm-Larsen, Studies in Language *These books are monumental and destined to become classics, equatable to the two volumes entitled Language by Sapir (1921) and Bloomfield (1933), and to Givón's Syntax, volumes 1 (1984) and 2 (1990) but in each case surpassing them in scope, detail, rigor, and coherence. Dixon presents a complete, fully articulated, and cohesive explication of grammar, with extensive elaboration on every major grammatical structure found in the world's languages, as well as many minor ones.... This is a masterwork ... a lasting reference for grammar writers, typologists, grammatical theorists, and all those fascinated by the complexities of linguistic systems and grammatical analysis. * Carol Genetti,Language *Table of Contents19. Non-spatial Setting ; 20. Number Systems ; 21. Negation ; 22. Reflexive and Reciprocal Constructions ; 23. Pivots, Passives,and Antipassives ; 24. Causatives ; 25. Applicatives ; 26. Comparative Constructions ; 27. Questions ; 28. Language and the World: explanations now and needed ; Appendix

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Book SynopsisPossession and Ownership brings together linguists and anthropologists in a series of cross-linguistic explorations of expressions used to denote possession and ownership, concepts central to most if not all the varied cultures and ideologies of humankind. Possessive noun phrases can be broadly divided into three categories - ownership of property, whole-part relations (such as body and plant parts), and blood and affinal kinship relations. As Professor Aikhenvald shows in her extensive opening essay, the same possessive noun or pronoun phrase is used in English and in many other Indo-European languages to express possession of all three kinds - as in Ann and her husband Henry live in the castle Henry''s father built with his own hands - but that this is by no means the case in all languages. In some, for example, the grammar expresses the inalienability of consanguineal kinship and sometimes also of sacred or treasured objects. Furthermore the degree to which possession and ownership Trade ReviewThis volume, the result of cooperation among eminent linguists and anthropologists, is a significant intellectual achievement. * Lars Johanson, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Project Muse *Table of Contents1. Possession and Ownership: a cross-linguistic perspective ; 2. Ownership, part-whole and Other Possessive-associated Relations in Nelemwa ; 3. Possession in Moskona, an East Bird's Head Language ; 4. Possession and Ownership in Manambu, a Ndu Language from the Sepik Area, Papua New Guinea ; 5. Possession in Martuthunira ; 6. Possession in Nanti ; 7. Possession and Association in Galo Language and Culture ; 8. Possessive Constructions in Chinese ; 9. Possession in Hone ; 10. Possession in Lipke ; 11. Possession in Wandala ; 12. Spirits of the Forest, the Wind, and New Wealth: defining some of the possibilities, and limits, of Kamula possession ; 13. Being and Belonging: exchange, value, and land ownership in the Western highlands of Papua New Guinea ; 14. Possession and Also Ownership - vignettes

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Book SynopsisThis book offers an exciting new perspective on the origins of language. Language is conceptualized as a collective invention, on the model of writing or the wheel, and the book places social and cultural dynamics at the centre of its evolution: language emerged and further developed in human communities already suffused with meaning and communication, mimesis, ritual, song and dance, alloparenting, new divisions of labour and revolutionary changes in social relations. The book thus challenges assumptions about the causal relations between genes, capacities, social communication and innovation: the biological capacities are taken to evolve incrementally on the basis of cognitive plasticity, in a process that recruits previous adaptations and fine-tunes them to serve novel communicative ends. Topics include the ability brought about by language to tell lies, that must have confronted our ancestors with new problems of public trust; the dynamics of social-cognitive co-evolution; the roleTable of ContentsPART 1 THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS; PART 2 LANGUAGE AS A COLLECTIVE OBJECT; PART 3 APES AND PEOPLE, PAST AND PRESENT; PART 4 THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE; PART 5 THE JOURNEY THEREAFTER

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Book SynopsisThis book makes the Greek New Testament and word studies based on it easily accessible to everyone, all in one volume.

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Book SynopsisThe book presents the state-of-the-art in major aspects of text analysis and cognitive text processing by some of the most well-known European and American researchers in the field of text-linguistics and cognitive psychology. Comprehensive views and new perspectives are proposed in the following topics: cognitive and metacognitive aspects of text processing, structures and processes involved in the construction of multi-level semantic representations in relation with text and reader characteristics, achievement of local and global coherence of meaning during reading and comprehension, assessment of knowledge, knowledge acquisition of concepts and complex systems by text, and cognitive and metacognitive aspects of text production.

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Book SynopsisIs there more to words than meets the eye? Let us tumble down the rabbit hole...

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Book SynopsisThis is an exploration of the hundreds of words and expressions based on numbers and numerical expressions and the ideas that underlie them.

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Book SynopsisPULITZER PRIZE FINALISTA New York Times Notable Book of 2022What does it take to reinvent a language?After a meteoric rise, China today is one of the world’s most powerful nations. Just a century ago, it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few, as the world underwent a massive technological transformation that threatened to leave them behind. In Kingdom of Characters, Jing Tsu argues that China’s most daunting challenge was a linguistic one: the century-long fight to make the formidable Chinese language accessible to the modern world of global trade and digital technology.Kingdom of Characters follows the bold innovators who reinvented the Chinese language, among them an exiled reformer who risked a death sentence to advocate for Mandarin as a national language, a Chinese-Muslim poet who laid the groundwork for Chairman Mao's phonetic writing system, and a computer engineer who devised input

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisDo you cringe when a talking head pronounces “niche” as NITCH? Do you get bent out of shape when your teenager begins a sentence with “and”? Do you think British spellings are more “civilised” than the American versions? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re myth-informed.     In Origins of the Specious, word mavens Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellerman reveal why some of grammar’s best-known “rules” aren’t—and never were—rules at all. This playfully witty, rigorously researched book sets the record straight about bogus word origins, politically correct fictions, phony français, fake acronyms, and more. Here are some shockers: “They” was once commonly used for both singular and plural, much the way “you” is today. And an eighteenth-century female grammarian, of all people, is largely responsible for the all-purpose &l

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Book SynopsisPresents a comprehensive cultural history of the language sciences in nineteenth-century Germany. This book situates German language scholarship in relation to European nationalism, nineteenth-century notions of race and ethnicity, the methodologies of humanistic inquiry, and debates over the interpretation of scripture.

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