The Historical Evolution of Earlier African American English

The Historical Evolution of Earlier African American English

Author: Alexander Kautzsch

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2012-05-02

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 3110907976

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Based on a 500,000 word corpus of early sources collected from ex-slave narratives, ex-slave recordings, and interviews with hoodoo priests, this book reconstructs the English spoken by African Americans between 1830 and 1920. By means of detailed quantitative analyses, three linguistic features (negation patterns, copula usage, and relative marker choice) are interpreted along the lines of temporal change, regional diversity, and variation across gender. Additionally, some 300 non-standard letters written by African Americans in the 19th century are compared to the main corpus in order to identify differences between speech and writing.


Frequency Effects in Language Learning and Processing

Frequency Effects in Language Learning and Processing

Author: Stefan Th. Gries

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2012-08-31

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 3110274051

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The volume contains a collection of studies on how the analysis of corpus and psycholinguistic data reveal how linguistic knowledge is affected by the frequency of linguistic elements/stimuli. The studies explore a wide range of phenomena , from phonological reduction processes and palatalization to morphological productivity, diachronic change, adjective preposition constructions, auxiliary omission, and multi-word units. The languages studied are Spanish and artificial languages, Russian, Dutch, and English. The sister volume focuses on language representation.


The Americas and the Caribbean

The Americas and the Caribbean

Author: Edgar W. Schneider

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2008-12-10

Total Pages: 833

ISBN-13: 3110208407

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume gives a detailed overview of the varieties of English spoken in the Americas and the Caribbean, including regional, social and ethnic dialects (such as Southern US, Canadian or Chicano English) as well as Caribbean creoles from the Bahamas to Suriname. The chapters, written by widely acclaimed specialists, provide concise and comprehensive information on the phonological, morphological and syntactic characteristics of each variety discussed. The articles are followed by exercises and study questions. The exercises are geared towards students and can be used for classroom assignments as well as for self study in preparation for exams. Instructors can use the exercises, sound samples and interactive maps to enhance their classroom presentations and to highlight important language features.


Mexican American English

Mexican American English

Author: Erik R. Thomas

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-02-21

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 1107098564

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A comprehensive linguistic analysis of Mexican American English, introducing a model of the language shift that results within immigrant groups.


Aspects of the Theory of Morphology

Aspects of the Theory of Morphology

Author: Igor Mel'cuk

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2008-08-22

Total Pages: 633

ISBN-13: 3110199866

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The book is dedicated to linguistic morphology and it contains a sketch of a complete morphological theory, centered around a discussion of fundamental concepts such as morph vs. morpheme, inflectional category, voice, grammatical case, agreement vs. government, suppletion, relationships between linguistic signs, etc.: the hottest issues in modern linguistics! The book introduces rigorous and clear concepts necessary to describe morphological phenomena of natural languages. Among other things, it offers logical calculi of possible grammemes in a given category. The presentation is developed in a typological perspective, so that linguistic data from a large variety of languages are described and analyzed (about 100 typologically very different languages). The main method is deductive: the concepts proposed in Aspects of the Theory of Morphology are based on a small set of indefinibilia and each concept is defined in terms of these indefinibilia and/or other concepts defined previously; as a result, logical calculi can be constructed (similar to Mendeleev's Periodical Table of Elements in chemistry). Then the concept is applied to the actual linguistic data to demonstrate its validity and advantages. Thus, Aspects of the Theory of Morphology combines metalinguistic endeavor (a system of concepts for morphology) with typological and descriptive orientation. It reaches out to all students of language, including the border fields and applications.


World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition

World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition

Author: Michael Percillier

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2016-09-07

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 9027266654

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Bridging the gap between the fields of World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition, this volume offers an in-depth comparative analysis of two postcolonial varieties of English (Singapore and Malaysian English) and neighbouring Indonesian learner English in order to examine the Outer/Expanding Circle distinction and shed light on the genesis of postcolonial varieties of English. The study identifies and analyses more than thirty linguistic features in the categories phonology, morphology, syntax, and discourse, concluding that in spite of clear syntactic differences, the distinction between the Outer and Expanding Circles is gradual rather than strictly categorical, and should rely on current sociolinguistic realities rather than on historical criteria. The volume will be highly relevant for researchers interested in the dynamics of Outer Circle and Expanding Circle Englishes, the structural and sociolinguistic aspects of English in Southeast Asia, or the integration of the paradigms of World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition. World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition received honourable mention at the 2018 ESSE Book Awards.


Exploring the Lexis–Grammar Interface

Exploring the Lexis–Grammar Interface

Author: Ute Römer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2009-03-11

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 9027289808

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume showcases studies that recognize and provide evidence for the inseparability of lexis and grammar. The contributors explore in what ways these two areas, often treated separately in linguistic theory and description, form an organic whole. The papers in Section I (Setting the Scene) introduce some of the key methodological approaches and theoretical positions at the lexis-grammar interface, while Section II (Considering the Particulars) contains papers that report on case studies and show concrete applications of the central methods and theories. Exploring the Lexis-Grammar Interface is a stimulating collection of papers for anyone who wishes to learn more about and get fresh state-of-the-art perspectives on language patterning.


Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region, Volume 6: A Grammar of the Thangmi Language (2 vols)

Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region, Volume 6: A Grammar of the Thangmi Language (2 vols)

Author: Mark Turin

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2011-12-09

Total Pages: 1002

ISBN-13: 9004223762

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This monograph is a grammar of Thangmi, an endangered Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the districts of Dolakha and Sindhupalcok in central-eastern Nepal. The language is spoken by upwards of 30,000 people belonging to an ethnic group of the same name. The Thangmi are one of Nepal’s least documented communities. These two volumes include a grammatical description of the Dolakha dialect of Thangmi, a collection of glossed oral texts and a comprehensive lexicon with relevant examples. In addition, the reader will find an extensive ethnolinguistic introduction to the speakers and their culture. For students and scholars of anthropology and linguistics, this study is a compelling illustration of the interweaving of these disciplines in the context of Himalayan studies. With financial support of the International Institute for Asian Studies (www.iias.nl).


Halloween Party (superhero paranormal mashup series book 2)

Halloween Party (superhero paranormal mashup series book 2)

Author: P.A. Ross

Publisher: P.A Ross

Published:

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 1301315036

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Sarah Hargreaves is walking through the emerging dawn streets after another night’s work, when she is bundled into the back of a van by six figures dressed in black. She is taken to an underground location, where she is interviewed by a smartly dressed woman and a man from a secret organisation. They have one question: ‘What really happened at the Halloween Party three weeks ago?’