Historical Linguistics is concerned with the process of language change through time. It investigates how and why the language of individuals, a social group or a whole 'speech community' develops in respect of its pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Dr Bynon regards language as essentially a dynamic phenomenon, whose character can be at best only partly understood by a static, and necessarily idealized, synchronic approach. In Part I she establishes the theoretical framework by providing a systematic survey of the three main models of language development - the neogrammarian, structuralist... View More...
Examining various aspects of language planning in modern European society, these essays include an analysis of the impact of legislation on language and the subsequent difficulties and anomalies for speakers of different languages. Among the other topics discussed are the benefit of a marketing approach towards the development of a language, the position of language in the context of education, the impact of culture contact on language, and the threshold beyond which a language is doomed to extinction. View More...
A Dissertation Upon The Employment Of Excrementitious Remedial Agents In Religion, Therapeutics, Divination, Witchcraft, Love - Philters, Etc., In All Parts Of the Globe View More...
What to read next is every book lover's greatest dilemma. Nancy Pearl comes to the rescue with this wide-ranging and fun guide to the best reading new and old. Pearl, who inspired legions of litterateurs with What If All (name the city) Read the Same Book, has devised reading lists that cater to every mood, occasion, and personality. These annotated lists cover such topics as mother-daughter relationships, science for nonscientists, mysteries of all stripes, African-American fiction from a female point of view, must-reads for kids, books on bicycling, chick-lit, and many more. Pearl's enthusia... View More...
This is the first text on language in communication written from a social psychological perspective that sets issues in their broader biological, sociological and cultural contexts. View More...
Current primate research has yielded stunning results that not only threaten our underlying assumptions about the cognitive and communicative abilities of nonhuman primates, but also bring into question what it means to be human. At the forefront of this research, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh recently has achieved a scientific breakthrough of impressive proportions. Her work with Kanzi, a laboratory-reared bonobo, has led to Kanzi's acquisition of linguistic and cognitive skills similar to those of a two and a half year-old human child. Apes, Language, and the Human Mind skillfully combines a fascinat... View More...
