The Basque Language

Language Adaptation examines the process by which a speech community is forced to adopt an active role in making its language suitable for changing functional requirements. This wide-ranging collection of essays looks at this phenomenon from a variety of historical and synchronic perspectives, and brings together the work of a number of leading scholars in the field. Several different languages are examined at different stages of their history, including Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Kiswahili, German and Hindi. This well-informed book is a significant contribution to the existing literature on language planning, and is the first to use one theoretical concept to deal with the relationship between natural and deliberate language change. It shows that language adaptation is a particular aspect of language change, and thus establishes a link between the social and the historical study of language. It will appeal to graduate students and professionals in linguistics and the social sc

Understanding the role of language within the formation of a sense of self has been revolutionised by developments in social theory, particularly poststructuralism. There is now a new emphasis on the way in which subjects are vulnerable in the face of powerful discourses such as nation, gender, race and sexuality. This book is a clear and engaging introduction to these developments and their relevance to students of language. Using lively and often personal examples throughout, Tim McNamara explores the role of language within processes of subjectivity using the insights of conversation analysis (CA), creating an original conceptual and methodological bridge between the macro- and micro-dimensions of social discourse and everyday conversational interaction.

Language policy is an issue of critical importance in the world today. In this introduction, Bernard Spolsky explores many debates at the forefront of language policy: ideas of correctness and bad language; bilingualism and multilingualism; language death and efforts to preserve endangered languages; language choice as a human and civil right; and language education policy. Through looking at the language practices, beliefs and management of social groups from families to supra-national organizations, he develops a theory of modern national language policy and the major forces controlling it, such as the demands for efficient communication, the pressure for national identity, the attractions of (and resistance to) English as a global language, and the growing concern for human and civil rights as they impinge on language. Two central questions asked in this wide-ranging survey are of how to recognize language policies, and whether or not language can be managed at all.

"Assuming no previous linguistic knowledge, this book introduces students to Chaucer's language and the importance of reading Chaucer in the original, rather than modern translation. The book leads st

A detailed overview of the theories, concepts, research methods, and findings in the field of language policy is provided here in one accessible source. The author proposes new methodological, theoret

A detailed overview of the theories, concepts, research methods, and findings in the field of language policy is provided here in one accessible source. The author proposes new methodological, theoret

Erika Hoff's LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, 5th Edition communicates both the content and the excitement of this quickly evolving field. By presenting a balanced treatment that examines all sides of the issues

Erika Hoff's LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT communicates both the content and the excitement of this quickly evolving field. By presenting a balanced treatment that examines all sides of the issues, Hoff helps

Body Language: Writers on Sport, the second book in the Graywolf Forum Series, gathers thirteen contemporary creative writers who offer personal reflections on our public obsession: from the pool hu

The profiles in Another Language celebrate the healing bonds between service dogs and their people. Through these oral histories, and backed by the power of photographs, sixteen people who have worked

The language games described here are used around the world to teach English to speakers of other languages, and reflect many different cultures. The games have been inspired by traditional games, TV

The endangerment and death of minority languages across the world is a matter of widespread concern. In this 2002 book, a leading commentator on language issues, David Crystal asks the question, 'Why

Language and Species presents the most detailed and well-documented scenario to date of the origins of language. Drawing on "living linguistic fossils" such as "ape talk," the "two-word" stage of smal

Poetry. Tony Quagliano's contributions to Hawai'i and to the world of poetry were many and wide-ranging. His was a singular voice in poetry. He reveled in the possibilities of language, the sounds of

This book is a critique of the experiments of recent years that tried to teach language to apes. The achievements of these animals are compared with the natural development of language, both spoken a

The true biography of Shakespeare - and the only one we really need to care about - is in the plays. Sir Frank Kermode, Britain's most distinguished literary critic, has been thinking about them all h

The new novel from the best-selling author of Broken for You spins the stories of a dedicated teacher, his enigmatic son, and a wartime survivor into an affecting tale of love, loss, and handwriting.C

'Language attrition' describes the loss of, or changes to, grammatical and other features of a language as a result of declining use by speakers who have changed their linguistic environment and language habits. In such a situation there may, for example, be simplification in the tense system or in certain properties of subordinate clauses; some vocabulary items might fall into disuse and phonetic features may be restructured. These changes can be affected by features of the speaker's environment, but also by his or her attitudes and processes of identification. This book provides a detailed and up-to-date introduction to the way in which language attrition can affect language, as well as to the extra- and sociolinguistic features involved. It also familiarizes the reader with experimental approaches to attrition and data analysis techniques and provides hands-on guidelines on how to apply them.

'Language attrition' describes the loss of, or changes to, grammatical and other features of a language as a result of declining use by speakers who have changed their linguistic environment and language habits. In such a situation there may, for example, be simplification in the tense system or in certain properties of subordinate clauses; some vocabulary items might fall into disuse and phonetic features may be restructured. These changes can be affected by features of the speaker's environment, but also by his or her attitudes and processes of identification. This book provides a detailed and up-to-date introduction to the way in which language attrition can affect language, as well as to the extra- and sociolinguistic features involved. It also familiarizes the reader with experimental approaches to attrition and data analysis techniques and provides hands-on guidelines on how to apply them.

What does it mean to use language religiously? How does religious language differ from our ordinary linguistic practices? Can religious language have meaning? Among others, these questions are part of the so-called problem of religious language, which originates from the peculiar object of many religious claims, that is, the transcendent, or more precisely, God.

This book, first published in 1996, argues that language use is more than the sum of a speaker speaking and a listener listening. It is the joint action that emerges when speakers and listeners - writers and readers - perform their individual actions in coordination, as ensembles. The author argues strongly that language use embodies both individual and social processes.

This new four-volume collection, part of Routledge’s Critical Concepts in Linguistics series, assembles the most important scholarly writings concerning the biological evolution of language, particula

Child Languageis a comprehensive introduction to child language, introducing students to the key theories of language acquisition and teaching them skills for analyzing children's language covers the

This collection brings together articles which deal with the 'language isolates' of the world. 'Isolated' languages are languages without any known relatives, languages which are not demonstrably part

In this third, fully revised edition, the 10 volume Encyclopedia of Language and Education offers the newest developments, including an entirely new volume of research and scholarly content, essential

From the first moment of life, language development occurs in the context of social activities. This book emphasises how language development interacts with social and cognitive development, and shows

First published in 1988, Peculiar Language is now established as one of the most important discussions of the language of literature. This thought-provoking book challenges traditional notions of lite

Created by New Zealand counseling psychologist David Grove (1951-2008) in the 1980s, Clean Language is a set of questions using the most basic elements of human perception--space, event, category, att

Two full-length collections of prose poems contained in Body Language, one titled Body (on parts of the body) and one titled Primer (on numbers and letters), together form a diptych investigating the

This book examines the evidence relative to the idea that there is an age factor in first and second language acquisition, evidence that has sources ranging from studies of feral children to evaluatio

Why do people take offence at things that are said? What is it exactly about an offending utterance which causes this negative reaction? How well motivated is the response to the offence?Offensive Lan

A magnum opus from our finest interpreter of The BardThe true biography of Shakespeare--and the only one we need to care about--is in his plays. Frank Kermode, Britain's most distinguished scholar of

"Language Change" is a workbook. From the beginning the reader is presented with interesting data on change in English and in other languages, and is invited to consider these data carefully and to dr

How much influence can a learner's native language have in making the acquisition of a new language easy or difficult? The effect a native language can have on acquiring second language skills is exam

With revelations on every page, and sample codes and puzzles for the reader to crack, Secret Language will entertain everyone with an urge to know more about the most arcane and curious uses of langua

This is a collection of 37 of the most important, enduring, and influential essays by one of the great linguists of this century, gathered from a wide range of journals and books spanning four decades

Language contact occurs when speakers of different languages interact and their languages influence one another. Drawing on the author's own first-hand observations of child and adult bilingualism, this book combines his original research with an up-to-date introduction to key concepts, to provide a holistic, original theory of contact linguistics. Going beyond a descriptive outline of contact phenomena, it introduces a theory of contact-induced language change, linking structural change to motivations in discourse and language processing. Since the first edition was published, the field has rapidly grown, and this fully revised edition covers all of the most recent developments, making it an invaluable resource for researchers and advanced students in linguistics.

Language contact occurs when speakers of different languages interact and their languages influence one another. Drawing on the author's own first-hand observations of child and adult bilingualism, this book combines his original research with an up-to-date introduction to key concepts, to provide a holistic, original theory of contact linguistics. Going beyond a descriptive outline of contact phenomena, it introduces a theory of contact-induced language change, linking structural change to motivations in discourse and language processing. Since the first edition was published, the field has rapidly grown, and this fully revised edition covers all of the most recent developments, making it an invaluable resource for researchers and advanced students in linguistics.

Up to ninety percent of humanity's traditional languages and cultures are at risk and may disappear this century. While language endangerment has not achieved the publicity surrounding environmental change and biodiversity loss, it is just as serious, disastrously reducing the variety of human knowledge and thought. This book shows why it matters, why and how it happens, and what communities and scholars can do about it. David and Maya Bradley provide a new framework for investigating and documenting linguistic, social and other factors which contribute to languages shifting away from their cultural heritage. Illustrated with practical in-depth case studies and examples from the authors' own work in Asia and elsewhere, the book encourages communities to maintain or reclaim their traditional languages and cultures.