Sociolinguistics Books

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Book SynopsisEnglish summary: In his last years, Leo Tolstoy has composed some compilations of aphoristic wisdom. The culmination of this last period of work was the way of life from the year 1910, the year of Tolstoy's death. Therein Tolstoy found a special language of wisdom, which has arisen out from his mystical religious thinking and the expressionistic extremes in his moralistic tracts, such as Truth and deception, God an man, Spirit and flesh, Women and man, Life and death. As wisdom Tolstoy's thinking has developed to some practice of religious meditation. Holger Kusse investigates Tolstoy's thinking in extremes, his language of moral, his mystical thinking and, as a result, his language of wisdom. It shows not only Tolstoy's particular philosophy, but also the forms of expression, in which the famous Russian writer proves himself as a provocative modern thinker for our times. In his second part, Kusse presents a selection of aphorisms, thoughts and ideas from The way of life. German description: In seinen letzten Lebensjahren verfasste Lev Tolstoj eine Reihe von Aphorismen- und Gedankensammlungen, in denen sich sein religios-moralisches Denken zur Sprache der Weisheit entwickelte. Ihr Hohepunkt ist die im Todesjahr des Dichters, 1910, entstandene Sammlung Der Weg des Lebens. Die Sprache der Weisheit bildet eine eigenstandige Welt im Werk Tolstojs, ist aber aus der mystischen Spiritualitat und den expressionistischen Gegensatzen hervorgegangen, in denen sich sein Denken in umfangreichen moralischen, kirchen- und institutionenkritischen Traktaten seit den siebziger Jahren des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts entwickelt hatte. Zu den Gegensatzen gehoren Wahrheit und Tauschung, Gott und Mensch, Geist und Fleisch, Mann und Frau, Tod und Leben. Als Moralist prangerte Tolstoj in langen Traktaten die Ubel der Welt und der menschlichen Gesellschaft an. Als Mystiker sprach er vom Licht Gottes, das in jedem Menschen leuchten will. Beides zusammen macht ihn zu einem aktuellen provokanten Denker auch fur unsere Gegenwart. Und beides trifft in der Sprache der Weisheit zusammen, in der sich die geschlossene Form des Traktats auflost in die offene Sammlung einzelner Gedanken. Ihre Lekture ist eine Meditationspraxis und Suche nach der richtigen Lebensregel fur jeden Lebensmoment. Holger Kusse stellt im ersten Teil in vier Kapiteln Tolstojs Denken in Gegensatzen, die Sprache seiner rigoristischen Moral und die Sprache seiner weisheitlichen Sammlungen vor. Die Darstellung ist nicht nur den Inhalten des Tolstojschen Denkens, sondern vor allem auch ihren Ausdrucksformen gewidmet. Der zweite Teil enthalt eine Auswahl von Gedanken aus Tolstojs Der Weg des Lebens von 1910.

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Book SynopsisThis study is an attempt to reorient the field of Chinese linguistics from the perspective of the new field of cultural interaction studies. The author, approaching Chinese linguistics from the periphery, examines such topics as the spread of Western learning and linguistic contact and Westerners' study of Chinese: He studies materials produced by Western missionaries and Ryukyuan materials to show the validity and usefulness of Chinese linguistics in the field of cultural interaction studies. In addition, he looks at cultural interaction through illustrations.

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Book SynopsisVariationist Linguistics and Contact Linguistics

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Book SynopsisThis volume comprises 16 chapters both research papers and theoretical contributions grouped in three thematic sections. The chapters in the first part, entitled Discourse Communities: Languages in Contact, adopt a social and/or historical perspective on bi-/multilingualism. The contributions in the second part, entitled Languages in the Mind: Language Development and Language Use, view issues related to bi- and multilingualism from psycholinguistic and psychological perspectives. The chapters comprising the third part, Language Education: Supporting Multilingual Development, adopt a broadly understood didactic perspective on bi-/multilingualism.

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Book SynopsisText in German. Much research has been and is being done on Turkish-German relations. However, the individual disciplines rarely meet to discuss their results for intercultural practice in Germany and Turkey. This volume aims to help close this gap: It brings together contributions from the fields of linguistics, literature and media studies, sociology, political science and other Turkish -German contact fields. Scholars from Turkey, Germany and the USA address, for example, the EU accession negotiations, the God Warrior configurations in contemporary German-language literature and the image of Germany in Turkish films, German-Turkish brain drain, intercultural learning and literary didactics, Turkish schools in Germany, as well as multilingualism and literary translation. Controversial aspects in Turkish-German contact also come into focus, because neither an emphasis on supposedly insurmountable contradictions nor a harmonising suppression of conflicts is expedient when it comes to improving Turkish-German relations.

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Book Synopsis?This book looks at the development of language skills in Swedish as a second language in young adults, beginning from the first months of their second language instruction and ending after three years of intensive language courses. The focus is on three proficiency dimensions: complexity, accuracy, and fluency, and their interplay at group level and in individual students.At the beginning of the second language learning process, accuracy, complexity, and fluency are not integrated in the learner's mind and they tend to act in an arbitrary fashion. During second language development, integration of all dimensions proceeds steadily and after three years of learning the discrepancy between different aspects of proficiency is very low. The study traces the mutual impact of each dimension on particular aspects in order to identify four distinct learner profiles. The goal of this book is to provide a platform for further discussion of the dynamics of second language development and the interconnectedness of the systems involved in this development. Iwona Kowal calls for an individual approach to be taken with every learner and for development to be treated as a constant interplay between many factors.Trade ReviewThe monograph encourages reflection for second language researchers and teachers. It has stemmed from an observation of the development of the third language (Swedish) in young Polish adults, i.e. students at the Jagiellonian university... The application of dynamic systems theory in second language research enables to follow a way in which a new language emerges in persons who are learning it as a second, third or fourth language. That is, I think, the most important conclusion that can be drawn from the study. -- Zdzislaw Wawrzyniak

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Book SynopsisEn este libro se describen las formas en que los polÃticos, los dirigentes religiosos, los lÃderes de movimientos nacionalistas y otros agentes tratan de influir sobre nuestro uso de la lengua. El Profesor Cooper sostiene que la planificaciÃn lingÃÃstica nunca es un fin en sà misma, sino que se lleva a cabo para lograr fines no lingÃÃsticos como la integraciÃn nacional, el control polÃtico, el desarrollo econÃmico, la creaciÃn de nuevas Ãlites o el mantenimiento de las existentes, la pacificaciÃn de grupos minoritarios y la movilizaciÃn de masas. Se examinan muchos ejemplos, como las campaÃas feministas encaminadas a erradicar el uso sexista del idioma, las campaÃas de alfabetizaciÃn de adultos, la tendencia hacia la educaciÃn bilingÃe en los Estados Unidos, la creaciÃn de sistemas de escritura para idiomas no escritos y las campaÃas encaminadas a depurar el idioma de tÃrminos extranjeros. El libro es de lectura muy accesible. Interesarà a los estudiosos de la lingÃÃstica aplicada, l

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Book SynopsisStrong women dominate these reminiscences: the grandmother taught the girl whose mother refused to let her go to school, and the life-changing events they witnessed range from the ravages of the influenza epidemic of 1918-20, to murder committed in a jealous rage, to the abduction of a young woman by underground spirits.Table of Contents PART I Becoming a Cree woman Chapter 1 êkosi nikî-pê-ay-itâcihonân / This has been our way of life Chapter 2 êkosi nikî-tâs-ôy-ohpikihikawin / This is the way I was raised Chapter 3 mêh-mêskoc nikî-pimohtahikawin / I was taken back and forth Chapter 4 miton ê-kî-pê-na-nêhiyaw-ôhpikihikawiyân / I was truly raised as a Cree woman PART II Being a Cree woman Chapter 5 êwak ôm ê-kî-ay-itâcimisot awa nikâwiy / This is my mother's own story Chapter 6 iyikohk ê-kî-sôhkêpayik anima nipahtâkêwin / So horrible was that murder Chapter 7 ê-nipahi-kâh-kaskêyihtamân / I was desperately lonesome Chapter 8 pikw êkwa niya / Now I had to take charge PART III The spiritual life Chapter 9 ê-sîkâwîhcikêhk / Observing the mourning ritual Chapter 10 manitow kâ-matwêhikêt / Where the spirits drum (I) Chapter 11 manitow kâ-matwêhikêt / Where the spirits drum (II) Chapter 12 manitow kâ-matwêhikêt / Where the spirits drum (III)

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking critical discourse analysis of everyday language, reveals the underlying racist stereotypes circulating in American culture In The Everyday Language of White Racism, prominent linguist Jane H. Hill provides an incisive analysis of the relationship between language, race, and culture. First published in 2008, this classic textbook employs an innovative framework to reveal the underlying racist stereotypes that continue to persist in White American culture and sustain structures of White Supremacy. Detailed yet accessible chapters integrate a broad range of literature from across disciplines, including sociology, social psychology, critical legal studies, anthropology, and sociolinguistics. Throughout the book, students are encouraged to engage with the linguistic data available through observation of racialized communication in their everyday lives. Edited by a team of leading scholars, the second edition of The Everyday Language of White Racism brings Hill's contributions to the study of racism into conversation with the most current literature on language and racism in the United States. Topics such as racial profiling, police violence, the Black Lives Matter movement, White nationalism, White fragility, and various forms of institutional racism are addressed within Hill's broader framework of White racial projects and the White folk theory of race and racism. New chapter-by-chapter annotations clarify and contextualize theoretical concepts, accompanied by new discussion questions that offer guidance for analytical conversations in classrooms. Provides resources for critical discussions on contemporary racial issues that continue to limit and endanger BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) individuals and communitiesDispels the common assumption that White racism is fading in the US and the Western worldIllustrates how racist effects can be produced in interaction without any single person intending discriminationContains an overview of the theory of race and racism, with definitions of terms and conceptsIncludes recent statistical data on U.S. racial gaps across a variety of categories and access to a companion website with additional resources The Everyday Language of White Racism, Second Edition remains an indispensable resource for undergraduate and graduate students in Critical Race Studies and Linguistic Anthropology courses across the Humanities and Social Sciences.

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Book SynopsisThe Syntax and Semantics of the Perfect Active in Literary Koine Greek incorporates linguistic insights from both neo-Davidsonian and Chomskyan traditions to present a unified semantic description of the perfect and pluperfect in literary Koine Greek.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1.1 Problem of the Greek perfect active 1.2 Existing frameworks for understanding the perfect 1.3 Existing frameworks for understanding the Greek perfect 1.4 Critical assessment of existing studies 1.5 Aims and approach 1.6 Corpus 1.7 Outline 2. The perfect and lexical aspect 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 Events and the Greek perfect 2.1.2 The true domain of events 2.1.3 Aspect: semantic, pragmatic or morphological? 2.1.4 Viewpoint aspect, situation aspect and telicity 2.1.5 Tense and aspect in terms of Utterance Time and Topic Time 2.1.6 Viewpoint aspect in Greek 2.1.7 Lexical aspectual categories: Aristotle, Kenny and Vendler 2.1.8 The domain of situation aspect: syntax or lexis? 2.1.9 Developing a lexical aspectual framework for Greek 2.2 Perfect of homogeneous verbs 2.2.1 Introduction 2.2.2 Non-durative state verbs 2.2.3 Durative state verbs 2.2.4 Terminative state verbs 2.2.5 Non-state homogeneous verbs 2.2.6 Conclusion 2.3 Non-durative terminative verbs (describing achievements) 2.4 Non-homogeneous durative verbs (describing activities and accomplishments) 2.4.1 Introduction 2.4.2 Non-COS verbs 2.4.3 COS verbs 2.4.4 Verbs with two perfect active stems 2.4.5 Verbs alternating between COS and non-COS readings without specialised stems 2.4.6 Conclusion 2.5 Noise verbs 2.6 Conclusion 3. Syntactic theoretical frameworks 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Neo-Davidsonian tradition 3.2.1 Event semantics in the Davidsonian tradition 3.2.2 Argument projection in a neo-Davidsonian framework 3.2.3 Semantic roles and grammatical relations 3.2.4 Determining the number of arguments 3.2.5 Formally representing semantic roles in a neo-Davidsonian framework 3.2.6 Are states predicates of eventualities? 3.2.7 Theme hierarchies and thematic proto-roles 3.3 Government-Binding (GB) theory 3.3.1 Introduction 3.3.2 Unaccusativity hypothesis and (causative) change of state 3.3.3 X-bar theory 3.3.4 Status of the subject as a verbal argument 3.3.5 Subject of state sentences 3.3.6 Combining Davidsonian semantics with GB theory 3.4 Predicate types 3.4.1 Introduction 3.4.2 State predicates 3.4.3 Change of state and causative change of state 3.4.4 Change of state and change of location 3.4.5 Accomplishment predicates 3.4.6 Activity predicates 3.5 Voice alternations and the resultative 3.5.1 Passive voice 3.5.2 Resultative 3.5.3 The middle 3.6 Conclusion 4. The causative alternation 4.1 Introduction 4.1.1 Transitivity in traditional Greek grammar passive 4.1.2 The function and development of the Greek middle and passive 4.1.3 Voice and argument projection in Greek 4.1.4 Transitivity and the Greek perfect 4.2 Labile transitivity outside of the perfect 4.2.1 Introduction 4.2.2 Verbs fully participating in the causative alternation 4.2.3 Anticausative denoted by infl ection 4.2.4 Anticausative perfective with a root stem 4.2.5 Semantic distinction determining participation in the causative alternation 4.2.6 Conclusion 4.3 Labile transitivity in the perfect 4.3.1 Introduction 4.3.2 Causative/anticausative distinctions in the perfect 4.3.3 Re-expression of external cause argument by means of an adjunct phrase 4.3.4 Productivity of the specialised causative/anticausative perfect stems 4.3.5 Implications for the meaning of the perfect 4.4 Conclusion 5. The interaction of the perfect with different predicate types 5.1 Introduction: tense and aspect in a neo-Davidsonian framework 5.1.1 Approach 5.1.2 Aspectual Interface Hypothesis (AIH) 5.1.3 Situation aspect 5.1.4 Tense and aspect in a Government-Binding (GB) and neo- Davidsonian framework 5.1.5 Constructing the path of an event 5.1.6 Role of VAspP 5.1.7 Resultative and perfect in English 5.1.8 Outline of the present chapter 5.2 Homogeneous eventualities 5.2.1 Non-durative predicates 5.2.2 Durative predicates 5.2.3 Conclusion 5.3 Non-homogeneous non-COS eventualities 5.3.1 Introduction 5.3.2 Activity predicates 5.3.3 Accomplishment predicates 5.3.4 Conclusion 5.4 COS accomplishment predicates 5.4.1 Introduction 5.4.2 Unaccusative and anticausative predicates 5.4.3 Causative COS predicates 5.4.4 Unaccusativised activity predicates 5.4.5 Delimiting the post-state 5.5 COS achievement predicates 5.5.1 COS predicates 5.5.2 Causative COS predicates 5.6 Conclusion 6. The interaction of the perfect with COS predicates 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Extent predicates 6.2.1 COS and extent predicates 6.2.2 Achievements in a difference scale framework 6.2.3 Non-COS extent predicates 6.2.4 Disambiguation of extent and temporal readings 6.2.5 Viewpoint aspect and difference scales 6.2.6 Tense and extent predicates 6.2.7 The resultative construction 6.2.8 Extent predicates in Greek 6.2.9 Implications for the semantics of the perfect 6.3 Temporal versus extent readings of perfect predicates 6.3.1 Introduction 6.3.2 Prestate not logically present in time 6.3.3 Prestate logically present in time 6.3.4 Metaphorical extension of extent predicates to non-distance scales 6.4 Suppression of the internal argument in non-causative COS predicates 6.5 Suppression of the external argument 6.6 A special case 6.7 Conclusion 7. Deriving homogeneous atelic eventualities from states and non-states 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Deriving a homogeneous atelic eventuality by negation 7.3 Telic state predicates 7.4 Activity predicates 7.5 Non-COS accomplishment predicates 7.6 Causative COS predicates 7.7 Deriving states from states: the perfect of atelic state predicates 7.7.1 Introduction 7.7.2 Pure state predicates 7.7.3 Continued state predicates 7.7.4 COS predicates 7.8 Obligatory anteriority in derived states 7.9 Semantic contribution of the Greek perfect 7.10 Tense and the time adverbial problem 7.11 Noise predicates 7.12 Conclusion 8. Conclusion: the semantics of the Greek perfect

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Book SynopsisA celebration of cultural inheritance and the evolution of language. Mapping the language, literature, and history of Icelandic immigrants and their descendants, this collection, translated and expanded for English-speaking audiences, delivers a comprehensive overview of Icelandic linguistic and cultural heritage in North America. Drawn from the findings of a three-year study involving over two hundred participants from Manitoba, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and the Pacific West Coast, Icelandic Heritage in North America reveals the durability and versatility of the Icelandic language. Editors Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir, Höskulder Þráinsson, and Úlfar Bragason bring together a range of interdisciplinary scholarship to investigate the endurance of the “Western Icelander.” Chapters delve into the literary works of Icelandic immigrant writers and interpret archival letters, newspapers, and journal entries to provide both qualitative and quantitative linguistic analyses and to mark significant cultural shifts between early settlement and today. Icelandic Heritage in North America offers an in-depth examination of Icelandic immigrant identity, linguistic evolution, and legacy.Table of Contents Foreward by Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and Eliza Reid, President and First Lady of Iceland Introduction Moving a language between continents: Icelandic language communities 1870-1914 Icelanders and America: What is it to be Vestur-Íslendingur? Acculturation on their own terms: The social networks of political radicals among Icelandic immigrants in Canada in the early twentieth century The Barnason brothers in Nebraska: Two pioneer farmers Ralph E. Halldorson and the Great War Icelandic immigrants, modernity, and Winnipeg in Einar Hjörleifsson Kvaran’s “Hopes” Another emigrant ship crossing the Atlantic: The poetics of migration in the poetry of Undína and Stephan G. Stephansson The young Icelander grows up: Nationalism and ethnic identity in Jóhann Magnús Bjarnason’s life and work Icelandic-Canadian oral lore: New life in a new land and how the women's tales may shed light on the classification of the Edda poems Raven tracks across the Prairies: Icelandic immigration and manuscript culture in the Canadian West World meanings in North American Icelandic: More North American or more Icelandic? Understanding complex sentences in a heritage language "And the dog is sleeping too": The use of the progressive in North American Icelandic Language and Identity: The case of North American Icelandic The Heritage Language Project: Impact and implications

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Book SynopsisNames are very powerful and significant, especially in the African context. Across societies, there is a universal, albeit taken-for-granted fact that all human beings have names. Names Fashioned by Gender is a collection of essays on onomastics – a linguistics field of study focusing on the origin, form, history and use of proper names.The study of naming potentially provides significant evidence about the role of gender in the assimilation and/or enculturation processes as personal names evoke insight into the construction of gender and personhood in African societies. The book takes intellectual course from the idea that how names are viewed and used is heavily context-dependent and gendered. It demonstrates that personal names are narratives derived from different contexts within various cultures and circumstances subsequently imposing different identities on name bearers. Through persuasive essays, this book elucidates that naming is an activity that needs to be conducted cautiously because names tend to determine the destiny and character of an individual. Unfortunately, names are sometimes given without considering the consequences of ascribing names to people. This book asserts that females continue to be named according to gender stereotypes, therefore, evidently perpetuating women oppression. Sometimes, circumstances around one's birth may be used to name the child, including time, month, emotions, and weather among others. Music is also used to describe and denigrate the characters of women. Moreover, westernisation, colonisation, Christianity, patriarchy and African traditions influence African naming patterns. Interrogating positions and attitudes of the larger society, what transpires from the discussion about this scholarly work is that personal names form and reflect ideas held about personal identities, children's well-being and underlying perceptions held by the public about boys versus girls and men relative to women.

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