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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

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

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 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

Language and Social Change in Central Europe: Discourses on Policy, Identity and the German Language

Patrick Stevenson and Jenny Carl

This book explores the dynamics of language and social change in central Europe. One of the outcomes of the profound social transformations that this region has witnessed since the Second World War ... More

This book explores the dynamics of language and social change in central Europe. One of the outcomes of the profound social transformations that this region has witnessed since the Second World War has been the reshaping of the relationship between particular languages and linguistic varieties, especially between ‘national’ languages and regional or ethnic minority languages. Previous studies have investigated these changed relationships from the macro perspective of language policies, while others have taken an ethnographic approach to individual experiences with language. This book brings together these two perspectives for the first time, with a focus on the German language, which has a uniquely complex and problematic history in this region. By drawing on a range of theoretical, conceptual and analytical approaches – language ideologies, language policy, positioning theory, discourse analysis, narrative analysis and linguistic ethnography – and a wide range of data sources (from European and national language policies to individual language biographies) the authors show how the relationship between German and other languages has played a crucial role in the politics of language and processes of identity formation in the recent history of central Europe.Less

Language on Display: Writers, Fiction and Linguistic Culture in Post-Soviet Russia

Ingunn Lunde

This volume spans a number of theoretical fields including language variation, language policy and literary stylistics and provides a coherent way of triangulating these fields by the introduction ... More

This volume spans a number of theoretical fields including language variation, language policy and literary stylistics and provides a coherent way of triangulating these fields by the introduction and elaboration of the notion of performative metalanguage. This volume as a whole offers insight into the role of writers in the broader social and political context of language culture in contemporary Russia and into the various ways in which the linguistic and aesthetic practices of literary art can engage in questions related to the negotiation of linguistic norms.Less

Language Planning as a Sociolinguistic Experiment: The Case of Modern Norwegian

Ernst Jahr

This book conveys insights into the social and political motivations and driving forces behind Norwegian language planning. Norwegian language development from 1814 has, since Einar Haugen’s book ... More

This book conveys insights into the social and political motivations and driving forces behind Norwegian language planning. Norwegian language development from 1814 has, since Einar Haugen’s book Language conflict and language planning: the case of modern Norwegian (1966), been one of the most celebrated examples of language planning in the world. This book not only tells the rest of the story till 2014, but also introduces a new analysis of the Norwegian development altogether, drawing heavily on the development and results of sociolinguistic and language contact research. The year 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Norwegian nation following centuries of Danish rule. This book thus gives an account of that entire 200-year period, and analyses how Norwegians defined, fought over and developed their own independent Scandinavian language (with two written standard varieties, Bokmål and Nynorsk), differentiating it from Danish and Swedish, through language planning. Nearly two centuries of Norwegian language planning and conflict have encompassed an extraordinary and politically motivated sociolinguistic experiment (1938) which led to decades of intense linguistic struggle and which has had no parallel anywhere in the world. It contributes to language planning theory as well as to the rapidly emerging field of historical sociolinguistics.Less

Language Revitalisation in Gaelic Scotland: Linguistic Practice and Ideology

Stuart Dunmore

Situated within the interrelated disciplines of applied sociolinguistics and the sociology of language, this book explores the language use and attitudinal perceptions of a sample of 130 adults who ... More

Situated within the interrelated disciplines of applied sociolinguistics and the sociology of language, this book explores the language use and attitudinal perceptions of a sample of 130 adults who received Gaelic-medium education (GME) at primary school, during the first years of that system’s availability in Scotland. The school is viewed by policymakers as a crucial site for language revitalisation in such diverse contexts as Hawai’i, New Zealand and the Basque Country – as well as throughout the Celtic-speaking world. In Scotland, GME is seen as a key area of language development, regarded by policymakers as a strategic priority for revitalising Gaelic, and maintaining its use by future generations of speakers. Yet theorists have stressed that school-based policy interventions are inadequate for realising this objective in isolation, and that without sufficient support in the home and community, children are unlikely to develop strong identities or supportive ideologies in the language of their classroom instruction. For the first time, this book provides an in-depth assessment of language use, ideologies and attitudes among adults who received an immersion education in a minority language, and considers subsequent prospects for language revitalisation in contemporary society. Based on detailed analyses using mixed methods, the book offers empirically grounded suggestions for individuals and policymakers seeking to revitalise languages internationally. Less