Kategoria BISAC: Language Arts & Disciplines >> Linguistics - Etymology

Si le franais est votre langue maternelle, vraisemblablement vous ne vous tes jamais demand pourquoi le mot bras appartient au genre masculin, alors que jambe est au fminin? Vous avez appris ces mots depuis l'enfance avec leurs genres compris, et vous les prenez comme acquis. Vous n'tes pas conscients qu'il existe des rgles tablissant leurs genres. Les rgles que vous trouverez dans ce livre constituent une tentative organiser et codifier un systme de ces rgles pour presque tous les noms de la langue, quelque chose qui n'tait jamais fait auparavant. Si vous tes intress comprendre mieux votre...

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...

Linguists and specialists on Siberia are generally familiar with the name Ket, which designates a small ethnic group on the Yenisei and their language, widely regarded as a linguistic enigma in many respects. Ket is a severely endangered language with today less than 500 native speakers. Together with Yugh, Kott, Arin, Assan and Pumpokol, all of which are completely extinct, it forms the Yeniseic family of languages, which has no known linguistic relatives. This Grammar of Ket constitutes the first book of its kind in English and is structured as follows: (1) Introduction; (2) The Kets...

The future of English linguistics as envisaged by the editors of Topics in English Linguistics lies in empirical studies which integrate work in English linguistics into general and theoretical linguistics on the one hand, and comparative linguistics on the other. The TiEL series features volumes that present interesting new data and analyses, and above all fresh approaches that contribute to the overall aim of the series, which is to further outstanding research in English linguistics.

Essentials of Mastering English: A Concise Grammar is both an ideal companion for undergraduate students wishing to acquire a high level of grammatical proficiency and a readily accessible reference work for teachers of English at all levels. It provides an introduction to basic grammatical terms and to elementary syntactic description, enabling students to analyse sentences and utterances down to word level with a specification of both the form and the function of all constituents.

The history of modern European languages has been largely determined by the range of functions they have acquired, particularly after 1500. This development necessitated a notable expansion of their syntax and lexis, but is most characteristically reflected in the conventionalization of text types.

Starting from the German concept of Textsorte as developed from the 1960s onwards, the present account is a first comprehensive attempt at charting the field for the history and present-day situation of the English language. In text types, a designation is linked with a more or...

Alte geographische Namen geben oftmals Auskunft uber die sprachlichen und kulturellen Verhaltnisse "dunkler Jahrhunderte" und sind somit von hohem Wert fur die Altertumskunde. Mit dieser erstmals publizierten Studie aus dem Jahr 1950 liegt eine sorgfaltige Sammlung aller bei den griechischen und lateinischen Schriftstellern des Altertums genannten Namen (v.a. Orts- und Flussnamen) vor. Die sprachwissenschaftliche Untersuchung ist fur Althistoriker, Germanisten und Sprachwissenschaftler ein auch heute noch unverzichtbares Referenzwerk.

Hermann Reichert veranschaulicht in seinem...

The series in German medieval studies includes central topics of current research debates in medieval studies and provides a place for groundbreaking research in the field. The series is intended to give international researchers/research teams the opportunity to effectively present innovative surveys and discussions to the scientific community. The series sees itself as a 'young' research forum with a high standard of quality and is therefore also open to excellent degree theses, should they enhance the series.

In the study of language, as in any other systematic study, there is no neutral terminology. Every technical term is an expression of the assumptions and theoretical presuppositions of its users; and in this introduction, we want to clarify some of the issues that have surrounded the assumptions behind the use of the two terms "speech acts" and "pragmatics." The notion of a speech act is fairly well understood. The theory of speech acts starts with the assumption that the minimal unit of human communica tion is not a sentence or other expression, but rather the performance of certain kinds of...

This volume offers a discussion of the phonological and morphological development of Old Irish and its Indo-European origins. The emphasis is on the relative chronology of sound changes and on the development of the verbal system. Special attention is devoted to the origin of absolute and relative verb forms, to the rise of the mutations, to the role of thematic and athematic inflexion types in the formation of present classes, preterits, subjunctives and futures, and to the development of deponents and passive forms. Other topics include infixed and suffixed pronouns, palatalization of...

This book is a collection of biographical sketches of some of the leading figures of our time, though the figures aren't people but configurations of words. Proposing that such words constitute an active force that can lead us into certain attitudes and behavior with realizing it, Rosenthal shows how our leading language acquired such power and suggests ways to escape its control.

An investigation of the developing discourses of English Language teachers in teaching and training. Showing how teachers are shaped by the discourses they participate in and how they shape these discourses. By analyzing professional development through professional discourse the book sheds light on what teachers do and why they do it.

The average contemporary English speaker knows 50,000 words. Yet stripped down to its origins, this apparently huge vocabulary is in reality much smaller, derived from Latin, French and the Germanic languages. It is estimated that every year, 800 neologisms are added to the English language: acronyms (nimby), blended words (motel), and those taken from foreign languages (savoir-faire). Laid out in an A-Z format with detailed cross references, and written in a style that is both authoritative and accessible, Word Origins is a valuable historical guide to the English language.

In Punctuation: Art, Politics, and Play, Jennifer DeVere Brody places punctuation at center stage. She illuminates the performative aspects of dots, ellipses, hyphens, quotation marks, semicolons, colons, and exclamation points by considering them in relation to aesthetics and experimental art. Through her readings of texts and symbols ranging from style guides to digital art, from emoticons to dance pieces, Brody suggests that instead of always clarifying meaning, punctuation can sometimes open up space for interpretation, enabling writers and visual artists to interrogate and...

Speakers of British and American English display some striking differences in their use of grammar. In this detailed survey, John Algeo considers questions such as: Who lives on a street, and who lives in a street? Who takes a bath, and who has a bath? Who says Neither do I, and who says Nor do I? After 'thank you', who says Not at all and who says You're welcome? Whose team are on the ball, and whose team isn't? Containing extensive quotations from real-life English on both sides of the Atlantic, collected over the past twenty years, this is a clear and highly organized guide to the...

Like its two predecessors, Aspects of Old Frisian Philology (1990) and Approaches to Old Frisian Philology (1998), Advances in Old Frisian Philology combines contributions by specialists of medieval Frisian studies with papers by international specialists from adjacent fields who have been invited for the occasion to bring their expertise to the discipline of Old Frisian. Together, the diverse approaches considerably advance our knowledge of and insight into various aspects of Old Frisian philology.

This book is a guide to the development of English syntax between the Old and Modern periods. Beginning with an overview of the main features of early English syntax, it gives a unified account of the significant grammatical changes that occurred during this period. Four leading experts demonstrate how these changes can be explained in terms of grammatical theory and the theory of language acquisition. Drawing on a wealth of empirical data, the book covers a wide range of topics including changes in word order, infinitival constructions and grammaticalization processes.

Can it really be true that 'golf' stands for 'Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden'? Or that 'rule of thumb' comes from an archaic legal principle that a man may chastise his wife, but only with a rod no thicker than his thumb? These and hundreds of other stories are commonly told and retold whenever people meet. They grow up in part because expressions are often genuinely mysterious. Why, for example, are satisfying meals 'square' rather than any other shape? And how did anyone ever come up with the idea that if you're competent at something you can 'cut the mustard'? Michael Quinion here retells...

This book is a guide to the development of English syntax between the Old and Modern periods. Beginning with an overview of the main features of early English syntax, it gives a unified account of the significant grammatical changes that occurred during this period. Four leading experts demonstrate how these changes can be explained in terms of grammatical theory and the theory of language acquisition. Drawing on a wealth of empirical data, the book covers a wide range of topics including changes in word order, infinitival constructions and grammaticalization processes.