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Arabic in Modern Hebrew Texts: The Stylistics of Exophonic Writing

Mohamed Ahmed

In the late 1950s, Iraqi Jews were either forced or chose to leave Iraq for Israel. Finding it impossible to continue writing in Arabic in Israel, many Iraqi Jewish novelists faced the literary ... More

In the late 1950s, Iraqi Jews were either forced or chose to leave Iraq for Israel. Finding it impossible to continue writing in Arabic in Israel, many Iraqi Jewish novelists faced the literary challenge of switching to Hebrew. Focusing on the literary works of the writers Shimon Ballas, Sami Michael and Eli Amir, this book examines their use of their native Iraqi Arabic in their Hebrew works. It examines the influence of Arabic language and culture and explores questions of language, place and belonging from the perspective of sociolinguistics and multilingualism. In addition, the book applies stylistics as a framework to investigate the range of linguistic phenomena that can be found in these exophonic texts, such as code-switching, borrowing, language and translation strategies. This new stylistic framework for analysing exophonic texts offers a future model for the study of other languages. The social and political implications of this dilemma, as it finds expression in creative writing, are also manifold. In an age of mass migration and population displacement, the conflicted loyalties explored in this book through the prism of Arabic and Hebrew are relevant in a range of linguistic contexts.Less

Arabic Sociolinguistics

Reem Bassiouney

The first introduction to the field of Arabic sociolinguistics, this book discusses major trends in research on diglossia, code-switching, gendered discourse, language variation and change, and ... More

The first introduction to the field of Arabic sociolinguistics, this book discusses major trends in research on diglossia, code-switching, gendered discourse, language variation and change, and language policies in relation to Arabic. In doing so, it introduces and evaluates the various theoretical approaches, and illustrates the usefulness and the limitations of these approaches with empirical data. The book shows how sociolinguistic theories can be applied to Arabic and, conversely, what the study of Arabic can contribute to our understanding of the function of language in society.Less

Bilingualism as Interactional Practices

Joseph Gafaranga

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared ... More

Research in code-switching, undertaken against the backdrop of very negative attitudes towards the concurrent use of two or more languages within the same conversation, has traditionally been geared towards rehabilitating this form of language use. From being seen as a random phenomenon reflecting the user’s lack of competence, code-switching is currently seen as sign of an advanced level of competence in the languages involved and as serving different interactional functions. However, as a result of its success, the research tradition now faces an entirely new challenge: Where to from here? How can research in code-switching continue to be relevant and interesting now it has largely achieved its original purpose? This books seeks to answer this programmatic question. The author argues that, in order to overcome this challenge, the notion of bilingualism (multilingualism) itself must be redefined. Bilingualism must be seen as consisting of multiple interactional practices. Accordingly, research in bilingualism and in code-switching in particular must aim to describe each of those practices in its own right. In other word, the aim should be an empirically based understanding of the various interactional practices involving the use of two or more languages. In the book, this new research direction is illustrated by means of three case studies: language choice and speech representation in bilingual interaction, language choice and conversational repair in bilingual interaction and language choice and appositive structures in written texts in Rwanda.Less

Computing and Language Variation: International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing Volume 2

John Nerbonne and Charlotte Gooskens (eds)

This book explores dialects and social differences in language computationally, examining topics such as how (and how much) linguistic differences impede intelligibility, how national borders ... More

This book explores dialects and social differences in language computationally, examining topics such as how (and how much) linguistic differences impede intelligibility, how national borders accelerate and direct change, how opinion and hearsay shape perceptions of language differences, the role of intonation (melody), the differences between variation in pronunciation and vocabulary, and techniques for recognising structure in larger collections of linguistic data. The computational investigations engage more traditional work deeply, and a panel discussion focuses on the opportunities and risks of pursuing humanities research using computational science. There is also an introduction that attempts to sketch perspectives from which to approach the individual contributions.Less

Contact: The Interaction of Closely Related Linguistic Varieties and the History of English

Robert McColl Millar

Contact discusses the ways in which linguistic contact between closely related varieties differs from contact between fully discrete varieties. Particular focus is given to the development of ... More

Contact discusses the ways in which linguistic contact between closely related varieties differs from contact between fully discrete varieties. Particular focus is given to the development of English. Case studies are taken from recent contact of this type – such as the creation of New Zealand and Australian English. These are then compared with similar contact areas, such as Irish English, Ulster Scots and the Scots dialects of Orkney and Shetland. Finally, the rapid breakdown of inflection in late Old English and early Middle English will be considered as an example of near-relative contact. Throughout, the concept of koine is used as a means by which near-relative contact can be understood. Near-relative contact between varieties perceived to be dialects of the same language and similar contacts between closely related varieties perceived as being discrete languages are postulated to be of highly similar types.Less

Corpora: Corpus-based Language Learning, Language Processing and Linguistics

Alan Partington (ed.)

This volume contains one of the first ever collections of studies pertaining to the novel discipline of Modern Diachronic Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (MD-CADS). This discipline is characterised ... More

This volume contains one of the first ever collections of studies pertaining to the novel discipline of Modern Diachronic Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (MD-CADS). This discipline is characterised by the novelty both of its methodology and the topics it is, consequently, in a position to treat. Until relatively recently, corpus-assisted modern diachronic studies have used relatively small corpora mainly to study developments in grammar. The MD-CADS described here instead employs relatively large corpora of a parallel structure and content from different moments of contemporary time in order to analyse and evaluate changes in modern language usage but also social, cultural and political changes as reflected in language, which is only possible with sizeable data-sets. Each chapter outlines a linguistic or sociolinguistic case-study and considerable attention is paid to describing the methodologies which might be fruitful for this sort of research.Less

Creating Worldviews: Metaphor, Ideology and Language

James W. Underhill

Encouraging readers to reflect upon language and the role metaphor plays in patterning ideas and thought, this book first offers a critical introduction to metaphor theory as it has emerged over the ... More

Encouraging readers to reflect upon language and the role metaphor plays in patterning ideas and thought, this book first offers a critical introduction to metaphor theory as it has emerged over the past thirty years in the States. The book then widens the scope of metaphor theory by investigating not only the worldview our language offers us, but also the worldviews that we adapt in our own ideological and personal interpretations of the world. The book explores new avenues in metaphor theory in the work of contemporary French, German, and Czech scholars. Detailed case studies marry metaphor theory with discourse analysis in order to investigate the ways the Czech language was reshaped by communist discourse, and the way fascism emerged in the German language. The third case study turns metaphor theory on its head: instead of looking for metaphors in language, it describes the way language systems (French and English) are understood in terms of metaphorically framed concepts evolving over time.Less

Discourse Analysis: An Introduction

Alexandra Georgakopoulou and Dionysis Goutsos

The book provides an accessible state-of-the-art discussion of current trends in the theory, method and tools for the language-focused analysis of text and discourse. The exposition is combined with ... More

The book provides an accessible state-of-the-art discussion of current trends in the theory, method and tools for the language-focused analysis of text and discourse. The exposition is combined with close analyses of a wide range of texts, e.g. narrative and non-narrative, spoken and written, from a variety of communication contexts and discourse types. The presentation is based on the fundamental distinction of two discourse modes, namely the narrative and non-narrative modes. The book is suitable for students and teachers of linguistics, including discourse analysis, textlinguistics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics, as well as for students across humanities and social science disciplines with an interest in the linguistic methods of discourse analysis. It includes guided activities for self-study or use in a classroom and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter.Less

Fundamental Concepts in Phonology: Sameness and Difference

Ken Lodge

An investigation of the criteria needed to determine sameness and difference in the classification of items of phonological relevance. Reliance on phonetic substance and meaningful contrast as the ... More

An investigation of the criteria needed to determine sameness and difference in the classification of items of phonological relevance. Reliance on phonetic substance and meaningful contrast as the criteria for phonological analysis is insufficient; an appeal to the function of the items to be classified is also necessary in many cases. A declarative account of phonology is proposed which is nonsegmental and polysystemic; derivation is excluded from the grammar. What counts as the same phonological item is investigated in a number of phenomena in different languages. Separate chapters are devoted to the issues of biuniqueness and monosystemicity, segmentation, and phonetic implementation and abstractness; a final chapter deals with panlectal grammars.Less

The Henri Meschonnic Reader: A Poetics of Society

Henri Meschonnic

Marko Pajevic (ed.)

Henri Meschonnic was a linguist, poet, translator of the Bible and one of the most original French thinkers of his generation. He strove throughout his career to reform the understanding of language ... More

Henri Meschonnic was a linguist, poet, translator of the Bible and one of the most original French thinkers of his generation. He strove throughout his career to reform the understanding of language and all that depends on it. His work has had a shaping influence in various fields and its importance is growing. Here, for the first time, some of the key texts are made available in English for a new generation of scholars in the humanities. By introducing key works of Henri Meschonnic, this Reader will enrich, enhance and challenge your understanding of language. This book includes fourteen key texts which cover the core concepts and topics of Meschonnic’s theory. It explores his key ideas on poetics, the poem, rhythm, discourse and his critique of the sign. Meschonnic’s vast oeuvre was continuously preoccupied with the question of a poetics of society; he constantly connected the theory of language to its practice in various fields and interrogated what that means for the individual and society. In exploring this fundamental question, this book is central to the study and philosophy of language, with rich repercussions in fields such as translation studies, poetics and literary studies, and in redefining notions such as rhythm, modernity, the poem and the subject. The Reader is accompanied by introductory texts to Meschonnic, his key concepts and his poetics of society, as well as by a glossary, index and bibliography.Less

Historical Dialectology in the Digital Age

Rhona Alcorn, Joanna Kopaczyk, Bettelou Los, and Benjamin Molineaux (eds)

Drawing on the resources created by the Institute of Historical Dialectology at the University of Edinburgh (now the Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics), such as eLALME (the electronic ... More

Drawing on the resources created by the Institute of Historical Dialectology at the University of Edinburgh (now the Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics), such as eLALME (the electronic version A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English), LAEME (A Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English) and LAOS (A Linguistic Atlas of Older Scots), this volume illustrates how traditional methods of historical dialectology can benefit from new methods of corpus data-collection to test out theoretical and empirical claims. In showcasing the results that these digital text resources can yield, the book highlights novel methods for presenting, mapping and analysing the quantitative data of historical dialects, and sets the research agenda for future work in this field. Bringing together a range of distinguished researchers, the book sets out the key corpus-building strategies for working with regional manuscript data at different levels of linguistic analysis including syntax, morphology, phonetics and phonology. The chapters also show the ways in which the geographical spread of phonological, morphological and lexical features of a language can be used to improve our assessment of the geographical provenance of historical texts.Less

The History of the Present English Subjunctive: A Corpus-based Study of Mood and Modality

Lilo Moessner

Based on the definition of the subjunctive as a realisation of the grammatical category mood and an expression of the semantic/pragmatic category modality the book presents the first comprehensive ... More

Based on the definition of the subjunctive as a realisation of the grammatical category mood and an expression of the semantic/pragmatic category modality the book presents the first comprehensive and consistent description of the history of the present English subjunctive. It covers the periods Old English (OE), Middle English (ME), and Early Modern English (EModE), and it considers all contruction types in which the subjunctive is attested, namely main clauses, noun clauses, relative clauses, and adverbial clauses. Besides numerically substantiating the well-known hypothesis that the simplification of the verbal syntagm led to a long-term frequency decrease of the subjunctive, it explores the factors which governed its competition with other verbal expressions. The data used for the analysis come from The Helsinki Corpus of English Texts; they comprise nearly half a million words in 91 files. Their analysis was carried out by close reading, and the results of the analysis were processed with the statistical program SPSS. This combined quantitative-qualitative method offers new insights into the research landscape of English subjunctive use and into the fields of historical English linguistics and corpus linguistics.Less

Humboldt, Worldview and Language

James Underhill

This book investigates the vigorous and inspiring linguistic philosophy of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Many English-speaking authors speak of a ‘Humboldtian tradition’ and associate Humboldt's name with ... More

This book investigates the vigorous and inspiring linguistic philosophy of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Many English-speaking authors speak of a ‘Humboldtian tradition’ and associate Humboldt's name with research into linguistic relativism and the work of Whorf. But few scholars quote Humboldt's writings, and those who do, often prove only that they fail to perceive the great scope of his work and that they are incapable of seizing the essential principles of Humboldt's ethnolinguistic project. Hegel, Chomsky, Crystal and Habermas all try understand Humboldt through the prism of their own approach to language and ideas. The present work, tries to set the record straight, and to demonstrate why Humboldt's linguistic philosophy will take us much farther than the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Humboldt's work lays down a challenge to philosophy, which has difficulty in taking into account language as it is created and maintained in the world. At the same time, it represents no less of a challenge to approaches to language which seek to step over individual writing and speech, and speak of ‘language’ in abstraction, or seek the deeper structures of cognition. Humboldt takes us back to the origin of language, speech. His concept of language is supra-subjective. Individuals become individuals through language, through conversation in linguistic communities. At the same time Humboldt takes us back to languages in all their diversity. Finding something universal in that diversity, and something essentially specific in each facet of the universal faculty of language is the twin force of Humboldt's vast synthesis of empirical findings.Less

Indian English

Sailaja Pingali

This volume is a description of English as it is used in India. The complex nature of Indian English, which is a second language to most of its speakers, is discussed in the book. Even though the ... More

This volume is a description of English as it is used in India. The complex nature of Indian English, which is a second language to most of its speakers, is discussed in the book. Even though the variety is not monolithic, there are still several common features across the country. The volume focuses mostly on pan-Indian features and regional variations are touched upon wherever relevant. Indian English is classified in this book as standard, non-standard and informal, and features of these, often relating them to sociolinguistic and cultural factors, form the core of the book. At the same time, the attempt has been to cover standard Indian English as much as possible. Three chapters deal with linguistic features—phonetics and phonology, morphosyntax, lexis and discourse. The first chapter provides the context and current position of English especially in relation to the cultural factors of the country and provides some statistical details and demographics. One chapter deals with history in relation to the institutionalisation of English in India, bringing it up to modern times. One chapter provides an annotated bibliography of select works. Several samples of written and spoken Indian English are provided in the last chapter.Less

The Interaction of Borrowing and Word Formation

Pius ten Hacken and Renáta Panocová (eds)

When a new name is necessary for a concept, word formation and borrowing are possible ways to produce one. As such, they are in competition for the creation of neologisms. However, borrowings can ... More

When a new name is necessary for a concept, word formation and borrowing are possible ways to produce one. As such, they are in competition for the creation of neologisms. However, borrowings can also interact with existing word formation rules. The reanalysis of a borrowing can result in its attribution to an existing word formation rule. The reanalysis of a number of formally similar borrowings can even result in a new word formation rule. Word formation and borrowing both have an inherently diachronic component to them. Historically, Latin was an important source language for borrowing. The effects are found in neoclassical word formation and in many internationalisms. Nowadays, anglicisms have become the most frequent kind of borrowings. Word formation rules may be activated to counter the prevalence of borrowing by creating alternative designations, but they may also be used to integrate borrowings into the lexical and grammatical system of the borrowing language. After an introduction with some theoretical background, twelve case studies present particular situations illustrating different types of interaction of word formation and borrowing in a range of European languages. The concluding chapter describes some general trends that emerge from these case studies.Less

Irish English, Volume 1 - Northern Ireland

Karen Corrigan

This book focuses on the sociolinguistic consequences of historical contact between indigenous Irish peoples and newer English and Scottish settlers in what is now the territory of Northern Ireland ... More

This book focuses on the sociolinguistic consequences of historical contact between indigenous Irish peoples and newer English and Scottish settlers in what is now the territory of Northern Ireland (NI). The contact varieties that resulted represent the oldest L2 ‘Englishes’ globally. Moreover, the degree of admixture from English, Irish and Scots in the contemporary dialects of NI reflects various external forces. Naturally, these varieties share certain structural features with sister Celtic Englishes and indeed with other vernacular Englishes globally (partly because of extensive emigration from NI post-1700 and partly due to universal tendencies of various types). However, there are other linguistic traits that seem to be unique and therefore essentially local. Irish English, Volume 1: Northern Ireland aims to provide insights into the evolution of language in 21st century NI and to promote an understanding of linguistic diversity in this region in the context of World Englishes.Less

Language Acquisition and Change: A Morphosyntactic Perspective

Jurgen Meisel, Martin Elsig, and Esther Rinke

This book discusses diachronic change of languages in terms of restructuring of speakers’ internal grammatical knowledge: Under which circumstances does grammatical change come about? One answer in ... More

This book discusses diachronic change of languages in terms of restructuring of speakers’ internal grammatical knowledge: Under which circumstances does grammatical change come about? One answer in historical linguistics has been to invoke the child as principal agent of change. But efforts to construct a theory of diachronic change consistent with findings from psycholinguistics are scarce. Here, these questions are therefore addressed against the background of insights from research on monolingual and bilingual acquisition. Given that children are remarkably successful in reconstructing the grammars of their ambient languages, commonly held views need to be reconsidered according to which language change is primarily triggered by structural ambiguity in the input and in settings of language contact. In an innovative take on this matter, the authors argue that morphosyntactic change in core areas of grammar, especially where parameters of Universal Grammar are concerned, typically happens in settings involving second language acquisition. The children acting as agents of restructuring are either second language (L2) learners themselves or are continuously exposed to the speech of L2 speakers of their target languages. Based on a variety of case studies from Romance languages, this discussion sheds new light on phenomena of change which have occupied historical linguists since the XIXth century.Less

Language and Dialect Contact in Ireland: The Phonological Origins of Mid-Ulster English

Warren Maguire

This book presents an investigation into the phonological origins of Mid-Ulster English (MUE), one of the primary dialects of English in Ireland. Specifically it is an analysis of the development of ... More

This book presents an investigation into the phonological origins of Mid-Ulster English (MUE), one of the primary dialects of English in Ireland. Specifically it is an analysis of the development of the segmental phonology of the dialect and the input to this from English, Scots and Irish. Like other varieties of Irish English, MUE is an extra-territorial, new dialect of English, albeit one which has a history of over 400 years, making it one of the oldest ‘new’ dialects of the language. It developed in a context of contact between English, Scots and Irish in Ulster, the northernmost province of Ireland, as a result of English and Scottish migration to the island during the Plantation of Ulster and its associated settlements in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Understanding the phonological development of MUE requires us to take into account the nature of the contact that occurred between English, Scots and Irish in Ulster as this has determined the kind of dialect that evolved in this part of Ireland. In turn, an analysis of the phonological origins of MUE can help us to clarify aspects of this linguistic history, since the dialect which developed is one of the chief witnesses of this history. This study seeks to determine the phonological origins of MUE, and to understand why the dialect developed the way it did and what the phonology of the dialect can tell us about the nature of contact between the input language varieties.Less

Language and Meaning in the Age of Modernism: C.K. Ogden and His Contemporaries

James McElvenny

This book is a historical study of influential currents in the philosophy of language and linguistics of the first half of the twentieth century, explored from the perspective of the English scholar ... More

This book is a historical study of influential currents in the philosophy of language and linguistics of the first half of the twentieth century, explored from the perspective of the English scholar C. K. Ogden (1889–1957). Although no ‘Great Man’ in his own right, Ogden had a personal connection, reflected in his work, to several of the most significant figures of the age. The background to the ideas espoused in Ogden’s book The Meaning of Meaning, co-authored with I.A. Richards (1893–1979), is examined in detail, along with the application of these ideas in his international language project Basic English. A richly interlaced network of connections is revealed between early analytic philosophy, semiotics and linguistics, all inevitably shaped by the contemporary cultural and political environment. In particular, significant interaction is shown between Ogden’s ideas, the varying versions of ‘logical atomism’ of Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) and Ludwig Wittgensten (1889–1951), Victoria Lady Welby’s (1837–1912) ‘significs’, and the philosophy and political activism of Otto Neurath (1882–1945) and Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970) of the Vienna Circle. Amid these interactions emerges a previously little known mutual exchange between the academic philosophy and linguistics of the period and the practically oriented efforts of the international language movement.Less

Language and Politics

John Joseph

Language, this book argues, is political from top to bottom, whether considered at the level of an individual speaker's choice of language or style of discourse with others (where interpersonal ... More

Language, this book argues, is political from top to bottom, whether considered at the level of an individual speaker's choice of language or style of discourse with others (where interpersonal politics are performed), at the level of political rhetoric, or indeed all the way up to the formation of national languages. By bringing together this set of topics and highlighting how they are interrelated, the book functions as a textbook on any applied or sociolinguistic course in which some or all of these various aspects of the politics of language are covered. The chapter headings include: how politics permeates language (and vice-versa); language and nation; the social politics of language choice and linguistic correctness; politics embedded in language; taboo language and its restriction; rhetoric, propaganda and interpretation; and power, hegemony and choices.Less