Philosophy of language Books

Book SynopsisThis is a unique and accessible reference guide to the work of figures who have played an important role in the development of ideas about language. It includes 80 entries on individual thinkers in the Western tradition, ranging from antiquity to the present day, chosen because of their impact on the description or theory of language.

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Book SynopsisThis is a unique and accessible reference guide to the work of figures who have played an important role in the development of ideas about language. It includes 80 entries on individual thinkers in the Western tradition, ranging from antiquity to the present day, chosen because of their impact on the description or theory of language.Trade ReviewDue to the wide variety of disciplines represented and the encyclopaedic nature of the entries, the book will be of interest not only to students and scholars from many different backgrounds, but also to the general reader. Year's Work in English Studies ! the volume is of good quality, a valuable endeavour for bringing together linguistics and the philosophy of language. I find the volume very useful, quite easy to consult and use in teaching and research, especially valuable for under and postgraduates and I really believe that it filled a gap when this was really needed. -- Anca Gata LINGUIST list Due to the wide variety of disciplines represented and the encyclopaedic nature of the entries, the book will be of interest not only to students and scholars from many different backgrounds, but also to the general reader. ! the volume is of good quality, a valuable endeavour for bringing together linguistics and the philosophy of language. I find the volume very useful, quite easy to consult and use in teaching and research, especially valuable for under and postgraduates and I really believe that it filled a gap when this was really needed.

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Book SynopsisChallenging the linear view of history which confines or predetermines the outcome of politics, this book argues for an 'untimely' politics, rendering the past problematic and the future unpredictable.Trade ReviewThis tough-minded book considers the politics of political theory... Admirably clear in dealing with difficult concepts, this book will interest theorists looking to deepen the critical project of 'poststructuralism'! This is a lively book, a good addition to EUP's admirably left-field series 'Taking on the Political', and Chambers is certainly 'one to watch'. [A] splendid and, yes, timely book This is an excitingly disruptive book. It offers a substantial thesis in philosophy and then employs it productively. It is lucid, argumentative and topical. It wastes no words. Packs a powerful intellectual punch that should at a minimum produce a thoughtful pause in an important debate about the status of contemporary theory and its relevance to political life. This tough-minded book considers the politics of political theory... Admirably clear in dealing with difficult concepts, this book will interest theorists looking to deepen the critical project of 'poststructuralism'! This is a lively book, a good addition to EUP's admirably left-field series 'Taking on the Political', and Chambers is certainly 'one to watch'. [A] splendid and, yes, timely book This is an excitingly disruptive book. It offers a substantial thesis in philosophy and then employs it productively. It is lucid, argumentative and topical. It wastes no words. Packs a powerful intellectual punch that should at a minimum produce a thoughtful pause in an important debate about the status of contemporary theory and its relevance to political life.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction: 'Time is Out of Joint'; Chapter 1: Language and the 'Burden' of Politics; Chapter 2: Experience Language, Broaching Untimeliness; Chapter 3: Spectral History, Untimely Theory; Chapter 4: Untimely Reading: Foucault's Evasive Maneuvers; Chapter 5: Untimely Agency: Having the Historical Sense to 'Bypass' Psychoanalytic Theory; Chapter 6: The Untimely Politics of DOMA; Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisThis book offers the first critical study of Gilles Deleuze's The Logic of Sense, his most important work on language and ethics.Table of ContentsContentsChapter 1. Introduction to the logic of sense* Event and structure* Life and morals* Reading Logic of Sense* Preliminary critical questionsChapter 2. Language and event* Events as effects* Unfolding the circle of the proposition: denotation, manifestation, signification and sense* Sense and the circle* Series and paradox* Structure and esoteric words* Paradox and nonsenseChapter 3. Philosophy as event* Philosophy and diagrams* Height, depth and surface* Individuals* Singularities and sense* Transcendental deductions* Singularities and series* Problems* The connection of events* The ideal game* Static genesis* Deleuze and HusserlChapter 4. Morals and events* Placing the human* Principles for moral problems* How moral problems are replayed* How to act morally (principles)* How to act morally (examples)* The crack-up* Individuals, solipsism and the communication of events* Time and univocityChapter 5. Thought and the unconscious* The thinker deposed* Thought and problems* Seriation and the phantasm* Thought and sexuality* Dynamic genesisChapter 6. Conclusion: on method and metaphysicsBibliography

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Book SynopsisThis book offers introductory entries on 80 ideas that have shaped the study of language up to the present day. Entries are written by experts in the fields of linguistics and the philosophy of language to reflect the full range of approaches and modes of thought. Each entry includes a brief description of the idea, an account of its development, and its impact on the field of language study. The book is written in an accessible style with clear descriptions of technical terms, guides to further reading, and extensive cross-referencing between entries. A useful additional feature of this book is that it is cross-referenced throughout with Key Thinkers in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language (Edinburgh, 2005), revealing significant connections and continuities in the two related disciplines. Ideas covered range from Sense Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Logic, through Generative Semantics, Cognitivism, and Conversation Analysis, to Political Correctness, Deconstruction, and Corpora.Table of ContentsPreface; Acknowledgements; Notes on Contributors; Acceptability/Grammaticality; Adequacy; Ambiguity/Vagueness; Analytic Philosophy; Analytic/Synthetic; Artificial Intelligence; Behaviourism; Cognitivism; Compositionality; Connotation/Denotation; Continuity; Conventional Meaning; Conversation Analysis; Corpora; Correspondence Theory; Creativity; Deconstruction; Deduction/Induction; Definite Descriptions; Descriptivism; (Critical) Discourse Analysis; Distinctive Features; Emic/Etic; Empiricism/Rationalism; Feminism; Generative Phonology; Generative Semantics; Glossematics; Holism; Ideational Theories; Implicature; Indeterminacy; Innateness; Integrationism; Intentionality; Intuition; Language Games; Language of Thought; Langue/Parole; Linguistic Relativity; Linguistic Variable; Logic; Logical Form; Logical Positivism; Mentalism; Metaphor; Minimalism; Modality; Model Theoretic Semantics; Names; Nonnatural Meaning; Optimality Theory; Ordinary Language Philosophy; Performatives; Phoneme; Politeness; Political Correctness; Port Royal Logic; Possible World Semantics; Poststructuralism; Presupposition; Private Language; Propositional Attitudes; Propositions; Prototype; Psychoanalysis; Relevance Theory; Sense Data; Sense/Reference; Signs and Semiotics; Situational Semantics; Speech act theory; Structuralism; Systemic-Functional Grammar; Transformational-Generative; Grammar; Truth Theories; Truth Value; Type/Token; Universal Grammar; Use/Mention; Index.

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Book SynopsisTaking the linguistics students beyond the classical logic used in introductory courses into the variety of non standard logics that are commonly used in research, this book embraces a variety of material, including modal logic, partial logic, situation semantics and the growing area of the substructural logics, starting with simple and more.

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Book SynopsisJames Williams sets out a new process philosophy of signs where signs are processes, not fixed relations. He develops his argument through a formal model and a series of case studies. He engages in dialogue with the philosophies of Deleuze and Whitehead, and in critical discussion with contemporary and historical theories of the sign.

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Book SynopsisWestern philosophy has often claimed for itself not just a distinct sphere of knowledge, but a distinct form of communication, set against ordinary speech. In Speaking Philosophically, Thomas Sutherland proposes that for some philosophers, authentic philosophizing demands a specific manner of speaking or writing, adoption of which enables one to gesture toward truths that propositional speech will never grasp. Drawing on a variety of thinkers Heraclitus, Plato, Kant, Fichte, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Weil, Foucault, and Irigaray Sutherland argues this emphasis on the form of philosophical communication can function as an exclusionary mechanism, determining who is deemed capable of speaking philosophically.Trade ReviewA stunningly original investigation of philosophical expression. Focused less on the content of Western systems of philosophy and more on the challenge of their communicability, the book raises fascinating questions about what philosophizing says, and cannot say, how it speaks, and what that tells us. * Garnet C. Butchart, Associate Professor, Duquesne University, USA *Drawn to an other without which thinking would remain mute, Speaking Philosophically is both a declaration of love and an appeal for a rethinking of philosophers’ relationship with language—a depth hermeneutics by which the “love of wisdom” is brought back to its discursive provenance as it engages speech and writing in perpetuity. * Briankle G. Chang, Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts, US *Thomas Sutherland has produced an excellent book that interrogates the dynamic boundaries and intersections between language, philosophy, knowledge, and subjectivity. Whilst many students and scholars will already be familiar with the ideas of Plato, Kant, and Foucault, Sutherland masterfully weaves Fichte, Simone Weil, and other less famous thinkers into his brilliant narrative. The book makes a major contribution to our understanding of communication and reason today. * Darrow Schecter, Professor of Critical Theory & Modern European History, University of Sussex, UK *Table of ContentsIntroduction: A Philosophical Manner Of Speaking 1. Escaping The Noise Of The City: Heraclitus’ Logos 2. Speaking In The Presence Of Truth: Plato And Dialectic 3. Speaking Appropriately: The Philosophical Work Ethic In Immanuel Kant 4. The Foundation Within Us: J.G. Fichte On The Role Of The Scholar 5. A New Breed Of Philosophers: Friedrich Nietzsche’s Tyrannical Impulse 6. The Mark Of A True Christian: Søren Kierkegaard On Solitude 7. Aspiring To A Higher Good: Speaking Of Afbliction With Simone Weil 8. Writing At The Limits Of History: Michel Foucault And Unreason 9. Speaking With Borrowed Words: Strategic Mimesis In Luce Irigaray BIbliography Index

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Book SynopsisKobus Marais is Professor of Translation Studies at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.Trade ReviewIn recent years, Kobus Marais has earned himself the reputation of “a disturber of the peace” in translation studies. This volume, featuring contributions from a broad range of disciplines, will no doubt create fresh waves in all things translational, spreading farther and wider than ever before. -- Piotr Blumczynski, Queen’s University Belfast, UKFor years we have been attempting to go beyond translation studies, with inter- and even transdisciplinary approaches. This book finally offers an example of how translation as a semiotic process can be studied in widely different fields and domains. This timely volume explores the multiplicity of forms of translational processes, from mathematics to biology and computer science to ecology, inviting us to consider the variety and complexity of translational phenomena. The book itself is a fascinating translation project! -- Siri Nergaard, University of South-Eastern Norway, NorwayTable of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Introduction: What does it Mean to Translate? Kobus Marais (University of the Free State, South Africa) Part I. Translation in the Natural Sciences 1. Translating into and from Mathematics, Mihai Nadin (University of Texas, USA) 2. ‘Translating’ Geometric into Arithmetic Reasoning as a Case of Negentropic Semiotic Work, Michael H. G. Hoffmann (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) 3. The ‘Carrying Over’ and Entanglement of Practices in the Computer Science and Translation Communities, David Vampola (SUNY Oswego, USA) 4. Biology of Translation: The Role of Agents, Alexei A. Sharov (National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, USA) 5. Translation in Medical Science and Biomedical Research, Steve Reid (University of Cape Town, South Africa) and Delva Shamley (University of Cape Town, South Africa) PART II. Translation in the Social Sciences 6. Interlingual, Intralingual and Intersemiotic Translation in Law, Agnieszka Doczekalska (Kozminski University, Poland) and Lucja Biel (University of Warsaw, Poland) 7. Translation Approaches Within Organisation Studies, Susanne Tietze (Sheffield Hallam University, UK), Rebecca Piekkari (Aalto University, Finland) and Kaisa Koskinen (University of Tampere, Finland) PART III. Translation in the Humanities 8. Literary Translation in Electronic Literature and Digital Humanities, Chris Tanasescu (University of Louvain, Belgium) and Raluca Tanasescu (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) 9. Translating Friendship Alternatively Through Disciplines, Epochs, and Cultures, Claus Emmeche (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) 10. Meaning-Making Processes in Religious Translation involving Sacred Space, Jacobus A. Naudé and Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé (University of the Free State, South Africa) 11. Translation between Non-Humans and Humans, Xany Jansen van Vuuren (University of the Free State, South Africa) 12. Translation in Intermedial Studies, João Queiroz (Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil), Ana Paula Vitorio da Costa (University of the Free State, South Africa) and Ana Luiza Fernandes (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Index

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Book SynopsisWhat is astro-culture? In The Babylonian Planet it is unfolded as an aesthetic, an idea, a field of study, a position, and a practice. It helps to engineer the shift from a world view that is segregated to one that is integrated from global to planetary; from distance to intimacy and where closeness and cosmic distance live side-by-side.In this tour de force, Sonja Neef takes her cue from Edouard Glissant's vision of multilingualism and reignites the myth of the Tower of Babel to anticipate new forms of cultural encounter. For her, Babel is an organic construction site at which she fuses theoretical analysis and case studies of artists, writers and thinkers like William Kentridge, Orhan Pamuk and Immanuel Kant. Her skilful interrogations then allow her to paint a portrait of art and culture that abolishes the horizon as a barrier to vision and reclaims it as a place of contact and relation. By combining the Babylonian concept of the enTrade ReviewWe can now say that Sonja Neef’s thinking about and analysis of encounters in the era of globalisation was prophetic. When she wrote these essays, the sense of urgency about the care for the planet, and the importance of the intercultural encounters that the qualifier “Babylonion” habours, were not as keen as they are today. We miss her wisdom and insight, but at least we now have this book - a monument of sorts. * Mieke Bal, Professor of Cultural Analysis, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), The Netherlands *The Babylonian Planet rethinks human civilization in terms of its virtually planetary distribution in time and space. Its comprehensive narrative integrates millennial events of language, communication, mediation, and translation with significant and precisely denoted cultural forms and traces the intertextual lines of their historical transformations in the movement from globalization to planetization. * Bruce Clarke, Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor of Literature and Science, Texas Tech University, USA *The Babylonian Planet reinvents cultural studies under the prism of planetarization by the use of a creative and convincing methodology, mixing issues as diverse as mythology and deconstruction or cosmos and globalization, while underlining the essential need to thinking translation culturally. The ultimate work of a great figure of cultural studies too quickly disappeared, whose perspective remains of an extreme topicality. * Damien Ehrhardt, Associate Professor, University of Paris-Saclay in Evry, France *Table of ContentsPreface Chapter 1: The Babylonian Planet Chapter 2: Europe: Myth and Translation Chapter 3: On the Shores … of the Cité Nationale de l’Histoire de l’Immigration in Paris Chapter 4: Outre Mér(e) : Jacques Derrida and the Mediterranean Chapter 5: The Southern Cross: Planetarism of Alexander von Humboldt and François Arago Chapter 6: Sublunar: Star Friendship in Orhan Pamuk‘s The White Castle Chapter 7: In Orbit over the Earth: The Constellation of a Suitcase. Chapter 8: Intergalactic: Universal Translation: Immanuel Kant, Spaceship Enterprise, and the Circulation of the Planets Chapter 9: Heaven on Earth: Paul, a Cosmopolitan? Finally: East Pole and West Pole References

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Book SynopsisAgainst the background of often esoteric literature in semiotics, this book offers a fresh and rigorous new interpretation of how to approach the study of communication, signs and meaning. Grounded in a deductive theory of interacting systems, Piotr Sadowski''s book provides an accessible account of the hierarchy of communication.Divided into two parts, this book argues in the first section that a deductive semiotic theory generates communication situations of increasing complexity, from contiguous communication to indirect, referential forms based on indexical, iconic, and symbolic signs. Within this system, Sadowski explains how key concepts of the semiotic model such as information, parainformation and metainformation can account for degrees of cognitive complexity of communication processes, including the perception and interpretation of signs on literal and figurative levels. After this clear, step-by-step exposition of the theory of interacting systems, Systemic SeTrade ReviewSystemic Semiotics is grounded in the real world and delightful in its fresh exploration of the universe of communication and meaning. The discussion encompasses everything from rock carvings and body decoration in prehistory to current art, cinema, and language; it is always thoughtful and free from jargon. Sadowski opens the reader's eyes with a rich and provocative understanding of the dynamics of meaning and consciousness. -- Jeffrey L. Kallen, Fellow Emeritus and Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Language and Communication Studies, Trinity College Dublin, IrelandThis fresh and innovative study displays a very confident and provocative reading of systemic semiotics, with insightful analysis of classic films including Blowup and its short story adaptation, together with the magic of The Purple Rose of Cairo that both scholars and students will find very stimulating. -- Pat Brereton, Professor in the School of Communications, Dublin City University, IrelandTable of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Theory 1. Interaction as Communication 2. Types of Communication 3. Information and Levels of Meaning 4. Between Indexicality and Iconicity 5. The (Mostly) Symbolic Signs of Verbal Language Part II: Applications 6. Oscar Wilde and Dynamism of Character 7. The Esthetics of Light in Early Cinema 8. Photography and the Limitations of Indexicality in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup (1966) 9. The Iconicity of the Pictorial Frame 10. The Iconic Magic of Cinema in Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) Postscript Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSpanning the period between Wittgenstein's return to Cambridge in 1929 and the first version of Philosophical Investigations in 1936, Piotr Dehnel explores the middle stage in Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophical development and identifies the major issues which engrossed him, including phenomenology, philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of language. Contrary to the dominant perspective, Dehnel argues that this period was intrinsically different from the early and late stages and should not be viewed as a mere transitional phase. The distinctiveness of Wittgenstein's middle work can be seen in his philosophical thinking as it unfolds in a non-linear trajectory: thoughts do not follow upon each other, ideas do not appear sequentially one by one, and insights do not form a straight chain. Dehnel portrays the diffused and multifarious quality of Wittgenstein's middle thinking, enabling readers to form a more comprehensive view of his entire philosophy and acquire a better grasp Trade ReviewThe book sheds an interesting new light on interpretations of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy as it offers one of the first explorations of his concepts between the Tractatus and the Philosophical Investigations. The author argues that, rather than developing in a linear sequence from insight to insight and from idea to idea, Wittgenstein’s thought in the middle period expands radially, unfolding in several directions at the same time. A must-read for Wittgenstein researchers, the book is certainly of profound interest to humanities scholars and social scientists alike. * Leszek Koczanowicz, Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poland *This book offers broad hermeneutic explanations of Wittgenstein’s writings from 1929 to 1936. They are based on a thorough knowledge of the source material, which they place in the context of his thought and its philosophical environment. I am impressed with the scientific merit of the present work. * Herbert Hrachovec, Associate Professor at the Institute for Philosophy, University of Vienna, Austria *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Phenomenological Turn 2. Verification: 1929-1932 3. Wittgenstein’s Critique of Frege in the Notes of 1929-1932 4. ‘A Clever Man got Caught in this Net of Language’: Wittgenstein’s Attack on Set Theory 5. The Big Typescript as a Work of the Middle Period 6. P.S. Understanding, Expecting, Wishing 7. Magic, Rituals and Philosophy: Wittgenstein on Frazer’s The Golden Bough 8. Wittgenstein as a Philosopher of Culture Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisConnecting poetry and philosophy of language, Philip Mills bridges the continental and analytical divide by bringing together the writings of Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. Through an expressivist philosophy of poetry, he argues that we can understand some of the core questions in the philosophy of language.Mills highlights the continuity of poetic language with ordinary language, and positions Nietzsche and Wittgenstein's thinking as the clearest way to expand the philosophy of poetry. By tracing the expressivist tradition of philosophy of language, this study locates its roots in German Romanticism right through to the work of contemporary expressivists such as Huw Price and Robert Brandom. Where poetry has been difficult to grasp with the traditional philosophical tools used by aestheticians, A Poetic Philosophy of Language operates at the crossroads between philosophy of art and language, proposing a new philosophy of poetry with wide-ranging potentialities.Trade ReviewMills’ central question is compelling: what might the core questions of a traditionally ‘representationalist’ philosophy of language look like when viewed through the lens of a ‘poetic expressivism’? The answer, drawing on Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, is no less compelling, and admirably negotiates analytic, continental and pragmatic philosophical traditions. Highly recommended. * Sean Bowden, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Deakin University, Australia *In a world of scarce resources and powerful technologies that are unequally shared, human life threatens to collapse into unavoidable, viciously competitive getting and spending. Philip Mills makes a powerful, urgent case that poetry can help us to see our lives otherwise. * Richard Eldridge, Charles and Harriett Cox McDowell Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Swarthmore College, USA *Table of ContentsA Tale of Two Divides: Towards a Philosophy of Poetry 1.Language, Representation, and Metaphysics 2.German Philosophy of Language as Romantic Expressivism 3.Pragmatic Expressivism: Brandom, Price, Blackburn 4.From Wittgenstein to Nietzsche and Back 5.Poetry After Nietzsche and Wittgenstein 6.Towards a Perspectival Poetics Conclusion: A Poetic Philosophy of Language Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the influential currents in the philosophy of language and linguistics of the first half of the twentieth century, from the perspective of the English scholar C. K. Ogden (1889 1957). It reveals links between early analytic philosophy, semiotics and linguistics in a crucial period of their respective histories.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the influential currents in the philosophy of language and linguistics of the first half of the twentieth century, from the perspective of the English scholar C. K. Ogden (18891957). It reveals links between early analytic philosophy, semiotics and linguistics in a crucial period of their respective histories.

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Book Synopsis11 essays by leading Whitehead scholars re-examinae Whitehead s Barbour-Page lectures, published as the book Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect in 1927, to give you exciting insights into the contemporary implications of Whitehead's symbolism in an era of new scientific, cultural and technological developments.

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Book Synopsis11 essays by leading Whitehead scholars re-examinae Whitehead's Barbour-Page lectures, published as the book 'Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect' in 1927, to give you exciting insights into the contemporary implications of Whitehead's symbolism in an era of new scientific, cultural and technological developments.

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Book SynopsisMichael Halewood uses ideas from analytic philosophy, continental philosophyand social theory to look at how language relates to the world, and the world to language. He primarily draws on the work of Alfred North Whitehead, and incorporating the ideas of Gilles Deleuze, John Dewey and Luce Irigaray, to view the world as 'in process'.

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Book SynopsisMichael Halewood uses ideas from analytic philosophy, continental philosophy and social theory to look at how language relates to the world, and the world to language. He primarily draws on the work of Alfred North Whitehead, and incorporating the ideas of Gilles Deleuze, John Dewey and Luce Irigaray, to view the world as 'in process'.

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.To hyphenate or not to hyphenate has been a central point of controversy since before the imprinting of the first Gutenberg Bible. And yet, the hyphen has persisted, bringing and bridging new words and concepts. Hyphen follows the story of the hyphen from antiquityHyphen is derived from an ancient Greek word meaning to tie together to the present, but also uncovers the politics of the hyphen and the role it plays in creating identities. The journey of this humble piece of connective punctuation reveals the quiet power of an orthographic concept to speak to the travails of hyphenated individuals all over the world. Hyphen is ultimately a compelling story about the powerful ways that language and identity intertwine. Mahdaviherself a hyphenated Iranian-Americanweaves in her own experiences struggling to find a sense of self amidst feelings of betwixt and between. ThroTrade ReviewThe hyphen, which may not technically qualify as a punctuation mark, because it operates at the level of the word rather than the sentence—it doesn’t make you pause (though it may give you pause)—has inspired not one great book but two: “Meet Mr. Hyphen (And Put Him in His Place),” a classic by Edward N. Teall, published in 1937, and “Hyphen,” by Pardis Mahdavi, which came out in 2021. Mahdavi, an Iranian-American (hyphen hers), was a dean at Arizona State University when she tackled this project, as part of a series for Bloomsbury Academic called Object Lessons, “about the hidden lives of ordinary things.” -- Mary Norris * The New Yorker *While the hyphen shines as a connector of compound words and allows them, over time, to take on new meanings, for the author its true magic lies in its ability to harmonize and honor a person's individuality. * Shelf Awareness *Mahdavi's compelling histories offer guidance for a way out of a struggle that binds us all within so many unhelpful and frankly boring binaries. The book rules. * The Stranger *Part memoir, part meditation, this book, like the hyphen, is small but mighty. Mahdavi weaves together the line-breaking history of a typographical mark with the heart-breaking choices faced by those living hyphenated lives—Chinese-American, African-American, Mexican-American—in the United States. Mahdavi draws on her ethnographic skills to reveal how the hyphen can punctuate lives, tearing them apart. Yet the hyphen's connective force cannot be underestimated. Ultimately, as an Iranian-American, Mahdavi urges refusal, showing us that to embrace the hyphen is to choose wholeness. * Elizabeth Chin, Professor of Media Design Practices, ArtCenter College of Design, USA, and Editor-in-Chief of American Anthropologist *Table of ContentsPreface Part 1 Ancestors Worshipped 1. My Big Fat Persian Wedding (Pardis) 2. U-Hyphens 3. Ancestors Hear My Prayers (Daniel) 4. Hyphen Justification – Gutenberg and His Travails 5. Lost in Migration (AdeChike) 6. Like Water for Chocolate (Ania) Part 2 Hyphen as Divider 7. Scolding Private Hyphen 8. Pardis 9/11 9. Ade 10. A Hyphen Set in Stone 11. Dani 12. Ania 2.0 Part 3 The Death and Re-birth of the Hyphen(ated) 13. Hyphen Thief On-The-Loose? 14. The Big Moment 15. The Big Game 16. The Big Debate 17. The Big Read 18. The Big Reveal Acknowledgments Endnotes Index

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.The haunted doll has long been a trope in horror movies, but like many fears, there is some truth at its heart. Dolls are possessedby our aspirations. They''re commonly used as a tool to teach mothering to young girls, but more often they are avatars of the idealized feminine self. (The word doll even acts as shorthand for a desirable woman.) They instruct girls what to strive for in society, reinforcing dominant patriarchal, heteronormative, white views around class, bodies, history, and celebrity, in insidious ways. Girls' dolls occupy the opposite space of boys' action figures, which represent masculinity, authority, warfare, and conflict. By analyzing dolls from 17th century Japanese Hinamatsuri festivals, to the 80s American Girl Dolls, and even to today's bitmoji, Doll reveals how the objects society encourages us to play with as girls shape the women we become.Object LessonsTrade ReviewSome of the information is jaw dropping ... It is very readable and relatable. * Is This Mutton blog *The fascinating facts [Hart] uncovered about the women behind the industry and her observations about how dolls are emotional vectors—simultaneously objects of scorn and adoration—are revelatory and relatable. * Brevity *Maria Teresa Hart’s Doll is a fascinating personal and public exploration of the deeper meanings behind the plastic, polymer, and porcelain playthings that still shape American girlhood. * Susan Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of Unhooked, Five Men Who Broke My Heart, and Barbie: Sixty Years of Inspiration *Doll is a heartfelt, intimate, and clever study of objects that terrify some and thrill others. Maria Teresa Hart answers the question "what makes dolls so special, anyway?" while giving us new perspective on these tiny, fragile mirrors. * Allison Horrocks, co-host of the American Girls podcast *Aqua once sang of Barbie, “life in plastic, it’s fantastic.” The same could also be said of the experience of reading this great contribution by Maria Teresa Hart to the Object Lessons series. Through an analysis of “doll culture” Hart demonstrates the value of thinking with things. Dolls have much to teach us about issues of gender, sexuality, and girlhood. Through an exploration of different brands and styles, Hart reveals the stories we tell with and about dolls, and what thinking about them can tell us about our world. * Mary Mahoney, co-host of the American Girls podcast *Entertaining and brilliant, this deceptively slim book packs all the potent drama and intrigue of the world of childhood doll play itself. A fascinating exploration of self and society that is equal parts enlightening, nostalgic, and insightful. An important addition to the literature of feminist cultural history that readers are bound to return to again and again. * Summer Brennan, author of High Heel *Another spectacular part of this (Object Lessons) series. So much packed into such a small package, and yet so immensely readable as well. * Randomly Yours, Alex *Table of ContentsIntroduction Play Date #1 1. Bodies that Matter: The Barbie Doll Play Date #2 2. All that Money Can Buy: The Porcelain Doll Play Date #3 3. The Stories We Tell: The American Girl Doll Play Date #4 4. How to Live Forever: The Celebrity Doll Play Date #5 5. Virtual Proxy: The Avatar “Doll” Conclusion Acknowledgment Index

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. When you are born, the first thing you do is scream. Be it a response to fear, anger, sadness, or happiness, the scream is a declaration of being alive. The metal vocalist cupping the microphone blares out a deafeningly harsh scream. The drill instructor screams out commands to their soldiers. And then there's the bloodcurdling screams we know from horror films. A scream has many meanings, but it is an instinctive and reflexive action that, at its core, reveals raw emotion. Investigating popular and alternative cultures, art, and science, Michael J. Seidlinger tracks the resonance of the scream across media and literature and in his own voice. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewA comprehensive and deeply personal trip through the cultural history of the scream. From Slipknot to Edvard Munch to John Carpenter and back into his own body, Michael Seidlinger reminds us all why we scream. As a singer, this one really hit home! * Geoff Rickly, singer of Thursday *Michael J. Seidlinger dissects the emotional complexity of the scream and—using examples from history, pop culture, and his own life—analyzes the way it highjacks the rational mind. Scream is an unforgettable ode to auditory extremes. * Jim Ruland, author of Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records *Table of ContentsVoice (Prologue) 1. A Scream in the Night 2. Stand and Deliver 3. Speak Up, Shout Out 4. Howl at the Wall 5. A Rollercoaster of Emotions 6. “OMG I’m Screaming” The Body (Epilogue) Index

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Book SynopsisAlthough Mikhail Bakhtin's study of the novel does not focus in any systematic way on the role that translation plays in the processes of novelistic creation and dissemination, when he does broach the topic he grants translation''a disproportionately significant role in the emergence and constitution of literature. The contributors to this volume, from the US, Hong Kong, Finland, Japan, Spain, Italy, Bangladesh, and Belgium, bring their own polyphonic experiences with the theory and practice of translation to the discussion of Bakhtin's ideas about this topic, in order to illuminate their relevance to translation studies today. Broadly stated, the essays examine the art of translation as an exercise in a cultural re-accentuation (a transferal of the original text and its characters to the novel soil of a different language and culture, which inevitably leads to the proliferation of multivalent meanings), and to explore the various re-accentuation devices employed over

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Book SynopsisIt is commonplace to regard many great works of literature—poems, dramas, works of fiction—as in some sense philosophical. Yet ever since Plato, there has been a tension between the kind of abstract theorizing that goes on in philosophy and the focus on concrete particulars that occurs in poetry and fiction. Beyond Words: Philosophy, Fiction, and the Unsayable elaborates on and addresses this Platonic tension, asking in what sense, if any, literature in the form of poetry, drama, short stories, and novels can contribute significantly to our philosophical understanding. Timothy Cleveland suggests there is something in certain poems, novels, and stories that makes them especially suited to expanding our awareness and understanding into the nature of things otherwise unsayable and unconceived. Such literary works show us something that a theoretical—scientific or philosophical—discourse cannot literally say.Trade ReviewIn a wide-ranging discussion that focuses on the relationship between philosophy and literature, Cleveland argues that some works of fiction can point readers toward what is unsayable. Against Plato, the author claims there is a sense in which literature can be philosophical by providing an enhanced awareness of the world, but trying to put this into words risks losing it. Among other reflections, Cleveland offers an extended account of T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” to show how the poem works as a kind of performance that provides a strong sense of the self’s fragmentation in the modern world. It may seem paradoxical to say that one can talk about the unsayable, but poetry, novels, negative theology, and Zen Buddhist koans can get beneath the surface level of meaning to transform one from within. Cleveland describes his work as “a philosophical prolegomena to fiction and the unsayable” (p. 4). He does not get bogged down in theory but offers insights and a thoughtful discussion concerning philosophical aspects of literature “that cannot be articulated, only shown” (p. 22). Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * Choice Reviews *I recommend the book to everyone interested in questions regarding literature and philosophy that issue from the ancient quarrel. Cleveland writes clearly and pushes his arguments forward through a maze of different philosophical disciplines. As he himself states, this book was written primarily in order to honor two of his great loves, literature and philosophy, and the result is a book that invites a similar degree of enthusiasm and dedication. Concerned with the unsayable, the book, almost paradoxically, manages to say (and show!) how inspiring philosophy can be, when it is done from the heart. Most importantly perhaps, in the age when literacy is rapidly declining and fewer and fewer people read, with the STEM-areas trumping the humanities all around the world, Cleveland’s book is a much-needed reminder that certain things just are beyond theoretical grasp: they can only be shown to us by art. One can only hope that its messages will resonate with those who fail to acknowledge the social, cultural, and educational values of the arts and philosophy. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *What can be shown but not said? Where and how can something of surpassing interest or importance be shown but not said? A picture, for example, can be worth a thousand words. These questions arise when we ponder what can be shown and not said. In this book, Timothy Cleveland, a philosopher who can see deeply and broadly, shows himself able to not only see but also say much of great interest about such questions. -- Ernest Sosa, Rutgers University

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Book SynopsisThis book examines and breaks the routine to propose alternative languages for criticism. It shows the commitments of some of the most distinctive voices in criticism, from literature, music, the visual arts, psychoanalysis, and philosophy, amongst others, to comparative thinking.Table of Contents1. What If? The Language of Affect 2. Nuisance Value 3. Borges's Blindness and Giacometti's Eyes 4. Wittgenstein's Chopin: Interdisciplinarity and 'the Music Itself' 5. Preserving the Performance: Scholarship as Art? 6. Echoing the 'Mortal Ear': Orfeo's Indiscipline 7. Is Music Criticism Criticism? 8. Modernist Futures 9. Conversation, Sport, or Hatchet Job? Criticism and the Power of Metaphor 10. Set Adrift in Style: The Scholar as Fiction and Film-Maker in Jacob's Room 11. Languages for Learning to Delight in Art 12. Loopholes in Performance 13. Etymology and its Others 14. Yves Bonnefoy's Récits en rêve: The Intersection of Creativity and Critique 15. On Touching: War, Art, and the Realm of the Senses 16. Snapshots from the Hereafter: Benjamin, Adorno, and the Critic as Photographer 17. Faith and Doubt: An Alternative Dialectic 18. Literature and the Theory of Games: Kleist's Verlobung in St Domingo as an Example 19. Towards Discursive Discipline: Dance beyond Metaphor in Critical Writing 20. Interdisciplinarity and Public Engagement

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Book SynopsisTRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that provide new insights by approaching language from an interdisciplinary perspective. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.

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Book SynopsisResearchers with backgrounds in theoretical linguistics, computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, and psychology have contributed to the interdisciplinary discussion of the interface between conceptual representations and linguistic structures. This book fills a critical gap in cognitive science. The study implements the objective of determining the impact that adjoining non-linguistic cognitive systems have on linguistic encoding, the mapping between representations, and the requirements of language processing. In this setting event conceptualization and verbalization is treated as one central phenomenon from the different interdisciplinary viewpoints. Theoretical analyses are confronted with psycholinguistic findings about the processing of event representations. Further empirical issues like the influence of visual perception on speech become apparent since we are primarily concerned with the overall architecture of the language processing system as an integral part of the cognitive endowment. Here, the lexicon is recognized as a mediator between linguistic and non-linguistic, semantic and syntactic components. The volume constitutes a major contribution to knowledge in the field and will be of value to an interdisciplinary audience.Table of ContentsHeike Tappe and Holden Härtl: Mediating between concepts and language - Processing structures 1 Mediating between non-linguistic and linguistic structures: Femke van der Meulen: Coordination of eye gaze and speech in sentence production Philip Cummins, Boris Gutbrod, and Rüdiger Weingarten: Time patterns in visual perception and written phrase production Kathy van Nice and Rainer Dietrich: Animacy effects in language production: From mental model to formulator Markus Guhe: Incremental preverbal messages Gerard Kempen and Karin Harbusch: Word order scrambling as a consequence of incremental sentence production Andreas Späth: The linearization of arguments DPs and its semantic reflection Heike Wiese: Semantics as a gateway to language 2 Mediating between event conceptualization and verbalization: Elke van der Meer, Reinhard Beyer, Herbert Hagendorf, Dirk Strauch, and Matthias Kolbe: Temporal relations between event concepts Ralf Nüse: Segmenting event sequences for speaking Maria Mercedes Piñango: Events: Processing and neurological properties Johannes Dölling: Aspectual (re-)interpretation: Structural representation and processing Markus Egg and Kristina Striegnitz: Type coercion from a natural language generation point of view 3 The mediating function of the lexicon: Veronika Ehrich: The thematic interpretation of plural nominalizations Andrea Schalley: Competing principles in the lexicon Ladina Tschander: Concepts of motion and their linguistic encoding Heidrun Dorgeloh and Anja Wanner: Too abstract for agents? The syntax and semantics of agentivity in abstracts of English research articles

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Book SynopsisA study of the fundamental building blocks that serve to organise natural language systems. The author argues that there are two distinct forms of agreement in linguistic theory: feature compatibility and an abstract syntactic relation. Her primary source of evidence is Chamorro, an Austro-nesian language spoken on Guam and Saipan.

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Book SynopsisConsider Miles Davis, horn held high, sculpting a powerful musical statement full of tonal patterns, inside jokes, and thrilling climactic phrases all on the fly. Or think of a comedy troupe riffing on a couple of cues from the audience until the whole room is erupting with laughter. Or maybe it's a team of software engineers brainstorming their way to the next Google, or the Einsteins of the world code-cracking the mysteries of nature. Maybe it's simply a child playing with her toys. What do all of these activities share? With wisdom, humor, and joy, philosopher Stephen T. Asma answers that question in this book: imagination. And from there he takes us on an extraordinary tour of the human creative spirit. Guided by neuroscience, animal behavior, evolution, philosophy, and psychology, Asma burrows deep into the human psyche to look right at the enigmatic but powerful engine that is our improvisational creativity the source, he argues, of our remarkable imaginational capacity. How is it, he asks, that a story can evoke a whole world inside of us? How are we able to rehearse a skill, a speech, or even an entire scenario simply by thinking about it?How does creativity go beyond experience and help us make something completely new? And how does our moral imagination help us sculpt a better society? As he shows, we live in a world that is only partly happening in reality. Huge swaths of our cognitive experiences are made up by what-ifs, almosts, and maybes, an imagined terrain that churns out one of the most overlooked but necessary resources for our flourishing: possibilities. Considering everything from how imagination works in our physical bodies to the ways we make images, from the mechanics of language and our ability to tell stories to the creative composition of self-consciousness, Asma expands our personal and day-to-day forms of imagination into a grand scale: as one of the decisive evolutionary forces that has guided human development from the Paleolithic era to today. The result is an inspiring look at the rich relationships among improvisation, imagination, and culture, and a privileged glimpse into the unique nature of our evolved minds.

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Book SynopsisQuestioning the role of the human voice within the field of philosophy this text examines philosopher Stanley Cavell's viewpoint, the relation between his pervasive authorial voice and his equally powerful, though less discernible, impulse to produce a set of usable philosophical methods.

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Book SynopsisTwitter allows us to build communities, track celebrities, raise our social profile, and promote a personal brand. Adam Hodgkin thinks Twitter is much more than a mere social media tool it is a terrain ripe for a conceptual and theoretical analysis of our use of digital language. In Following Searle on Twitter, Hodgkin takes John Searle's theory of speech acts as Status Function Declarations (SFDs) speech acts that fulfill their meaning by saying the right words in the right context as a probe for understanding Twitter's institutional structure and the still-developing toolset that it provides for its members. He argues that Twitter is an institution built, constituted and evolving through the use of SFDs. Searle's speech act theories provide a framework for illuminating how Twitter membership arises, how users of Twitter relate to each other by following, and how increasingly complex content is conveyed with tweets. Using this framework, Hodgkin places language, action, intention, and

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Book SynopsisWe frequently see one idea appear in one discipline as if it were new, when it migrated from another discipline, like a mole that had dug under a fence and popped up on the other side. Taking note of this phenomenon, John Goldsmith and Bernard Laks embark on a uniquely interdisciplinary history of the genesis of linguistics, from nineteenth-century currents of thought in the mind sciences through to the origins of structuralism and the ruptures, both political and intellectual, in the years leading up to World War II. Seeking to explain where contemporary ideas in linguistics come from and how they have been justified, Battle in the Mind Fields investigates the porous interplay of concepts between psychology, philosophy, mathematical logic, and linguistics. Goldsmith and Laks trace theories of thought, self-consciousness, and language from the machine age obsession with mind and matter to the development of analytic philosophy, behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, positivism, and structural linguistics, emphasizing throughout the synthesis and continuity that has brought about progress in our understanding of the human mind. Arguing that it is impossible to understand the history of any of these fields in isolation, Goldsmith and Laks suggest that the ruptures between them arose chiefly from social and institutional circumstances rather than a fundamental disparity of ideas.

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Book SynopsisAn analysis of Plato and the relationship he posits among language, truth, and the world.

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Book SynopsisPiper shows how we can use data in digital humanities to learn more about the texts under consideration, making use of the surprising information that calculation and quantity can offer about words, how they're used, and what the texts in which they're found mean.

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Book SynopsisThis volume proposes means of describing, comparing, and interpreting linguistic diversity, both genetic and structural, providing the foundations for a theory of diversity based upon popular science.

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Book SynopsisThe author shows that structuralism's use of linguistic theory has rendered hollow the philosophical core of a generation of work in the human sciences. He isolates three modes of thought and shows how they all, despite differences, advocate an antihumanist point of view.

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Book SynopsisFrom Plato's contempt for the madness of the multitude to Kant's lament for the great unthinking mass, the history of Western thought is riddled with disdain for ordinary collective life. But it was not until Kierkegaard developed the term chatter that this disdain began to focus on the ordinary communicative practiceswhich sustain this form of human togetherness. The Chattering Mind explores the intellectual tradition inaugurated by Kierkegaard's work, tracing the conceptual history of everyday talk from his formative account of chatter to Heidegger's recuperative discussion of idle talk to Lacan's culminating treatment of empty speech--and ultimately into our digital present, where small talk on various social media platforms now yields big data for tech-savvy entrepreneurs. In this sense, The Chattering Mind is less a history of ideas than a book in search of a usable past. It is a study of how the modern world became anxious about everyday talk, figured in terms of the intelle

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