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| Author | : Will Abberley |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 249 |
| Release | : 2015-05-21 |
| Genre | : Fiction |
| ISBN | : 1107101166 |
Explores how Victorian fiction and science imagined the evolution of language, from primordial noise to modern English.
| Author | : Will Abberley |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 249 |
| Release | : 2015-05-27 |
| Genre | : Literary Criticism |
| ISBN | : 1316300870 |
Victorian science changed language from a tool into a natural phenomenon, evolving independently of its speakers. Will Abberley explores how science and fiction interacted in imagining different stories of language evolution. Popular narratives of language progress clashed with others of decay and degeneration. Furthermore, the blurring of language evolution with biological evolution encouraged Victorians to re-imagine language as a mixture of social convention and primordial instinct. Abberley argues that fiction by authors such as Charles Kingsley, Thomas Hardy and H. G. Wells not only reflected these intellectual currents, but also helped to shape them. Genres from utopia to historical romance supplied narrative models for generating thought experiments in the possible pasts and futures of language. Equally, fiction that explored the instinctive roots of language intervened in debates about language standardisation and scientific objectivity. These textual readings offer new perspectives on twenty-first-century discussions about language evolution and the language of science.
| Author | : Will Abberley |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 250 |
| Release | : 2015 |
| Genre | : English fiction |
| ISBN | : 9781316324271 |
Explores how Victorian fiction and science imagined the evolution of language, from primordial noise to modern English.
| Author | : Steven Roger Fischer |
| Publisher | : Reaktion Books |
| Total Pages | : 240 |
| Release | : 2004-10-03 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : 1861895941 |
It is tempting to take the tremendous rate of contemporary linguistic change for granted. What is required, in fact, is a radical reinterpretation of what language is. Steven Roger Fischer begins his book with an examination of the modes of communication used by dolphins, birds and primates as the first contexts in which the concept of "language" might be applied. As he charts the history of language from the times of Homo erectus, Neanderthal humans and Homo sapiens through to the nineteenth century, when the science of linguistics was developed, Fischer analyses the emergence of language as a science and its development as a written form. He considers the rise of pidgin, creole, jargon and slang, as well as the effects radio and television, propaganda, advertising and the media are having on language today. Looking to the future, he shows how electronic media will continue to reshape and re-invent the ways in which we communicate. "[a] delightful and unexpectedly accessible book ... a virtuoso tour of the linguistic world."—The Economist "... few who read this remarkable study will regard language in quite the same way again."—The Good Book Guide
| Author | : Minae Mizumura |
| Publisher | : Columbia University Press |
| Total Pages | : 237 |
| Release | : 2015-01-06 |
| Genre | : Literary Criticism |
| ISBN | : 0231538545 |
Winner of the Kobayashi Hideo Award, The Fall of Language in the Age of English lays bare the struggle to retain the brilliance of one's own language in this period of English-language dominance. Born in Tokyo but raised and educated in the United States, Minae Mizumura acknowledges the value of a universal language in the pursuit of knowledge yet also embraces the different ways of understanding offered by multiple tongues. She warns against losing this precious diversity. Universal languages have always played a pivotal role in advancing human societies, Mizumura shows, but in the globalized world of the Internet, English is fast becoming the sole common language of humanity. The process is unstoppable, and striving for total language equality is delusional—and yet, particular kinds of knowledge can be gained only through writings in specific languages. Mizumura calls these writings "texts" and their ultimate form "literature." Only through literature and, more fundamentally, through the diverse languages that give birth to a variety of literatures, can we nurture and enrich humanity. Incorporating her own experiences as a writer and a lover of language and embedding a parallel history of Japanese, Mizumura offers an intimate look at the phenomena of individual and national expression.
| Author | : |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : |
| Release | : 2015 |
| Genre | : English fiction |
| ISBN | : 9781316317570 |
| Author | : Maggie Tallerman |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 790 |
| Release | : 2012 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : 0199541116 |
Leading scholars present critical accounts of every aspect of the field, including work in animal behaviour; anatomy, genetics and neurology; the prehistory of language; the development of our uniquely linguistic species; and language creation, transmission, and change.
| Author | : Douglas Biber |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 355 |
| Release | : 2009-10-29 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : 0521860601 |
This book describes the most important kinds of texts in English and introduces the methodological techniques used to analyse them. Three analytical approaches are introduced and compared, describing a wide range of texts from the perspectives of register, genre and style. The primary focus of the book is on the analysis of registers. Part 1 introduces an analytical framework for studying registers, genre conventions, and styles. Part 2 provides detailed descriptions of particular text varieties in English, including spoken interpersonal varieties (conversation, university office hours, service encounters), written varieties (newspapers, academic prose, fiction), and emerging electronic varieties (e-mail, internet forums, text messages). Finally, Part 3 introduces advanced analytical approaches using corpora, and discusses theoretical concerns, such as the place of register studies in linguistics, and practical applications of register analysis. Each chapter ends with three types of activities: reflection and review activities, analysis activities, and larger project ideas.
| Author | : John McWhorter |
| Publisher | : Penguin |
| Total Pages | : 258 |
| Release | : 2009-10-27 |
| Genre | : Language Arts & Disciplines |
| ISBN | : 1592404944 |
A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar Why do we say “I am reading a catalog” instead of “I read a catalog”? Why do we say “do” at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Language distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history. Covering such turning points as the little-known Celtic and Welsh influences on English, the impact of the Viking raids and the Norman Conquest, and the Germanic invasions that started it all during the fifth century ad, John McWhorter narrates this colorful evolution with vigor. Drawing on revolutionary genetic and linguistic research as well as a cache of remarkable trivia about the origins of English words and syntax patterns, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue ultimately demonstrates the arbitrary, maddening nature of English— and its ironic simplicity due to its role as a streamlined lingua franca during the early formation of Britain. This is the book that language aficionados worldwide have been waiting for (and no, it’s not a sin to end a sentence with a preposition).
| Author | : Melvyn Bragg |
| Publisher | : Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. |
| Total Pages | : 497 |
| Release | : 2011-04-01 |
| Genre | : Reference |
| ISBN | : 1611450071 |
A history of the English language traces its evolution from a Germanic dialect around 500 A.D. to its modern form, noting the influence of such groups and individuals as early Anglo-Saxon tribes, Alfred the Great, and William Shakespeare.
