English Grammar Book
Borne from interviews with people from around the globe, this book is designed as a practical aid to help non-native English speakers find solutions to common problems and resolve misunderstandings they face while trying to learn the language. With chapters that break-down sentence structures, others focusing on the application of nouns, verbs, and more, the English Grammar Book is a one-stop-shop for grammarians and a great resource for any wanting to learn the basic rules of the English language.
About Writing Right
The first complete print book in the "Writing Right" series offers one of the least tapped and most helpful sources of information on writing, editing, and publishing in the world: the author's personal experience. When someone sets out to be an author at the age of 14 and makes a go of it for the next half-century, he has some stories to tell. And some information to impart. And some inspiration to share. In this book, D. J. Herda offers all that and more. Based upon his years of teaching various writing courses and Creative Writing Workshop, plus his publishing, editing, and ghostwriting experiences, he is the ultimate source of information ... now available in this book for the first time ever. Here you'll find tips on writing, editing, publishing, marketing, POD processes, landing a top literary agent, and much more from a ninety-book author who has spent half a century in the industry. Are there really secrets in the pages to come? Yes-some never revealed before. And everything you read about here, as well as in the author's eBook "About Writing Right" series, is one hundred percent accurate and based upon first-hand experience and relentless investigation. No hunches masquerading as truths. No realities hiding behind suppositions. As Sgt. Joe Friday used to say on the classic television series, Dragnet: "Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts." Learn what the author has to share based upon some of the thousands of questions asked of him over the years. Read, enjoy, and prosper. And then pass that information along to a friend.
Essentials of Grammatical Theory: Volume 2
The grammar of a natural language is a group of structural constraints on the speaker's or writer's construction of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such restraints, a field that includes domains such as phonology, morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, semantics and pragmatics. Theoretical linguistics has developed grammatical structures that seek to give an accurate scientific theory of the syntactic rules of grammar and their function. Functional grammar, dependency grammar and Montague grammar are some examples of such frameworks. Other frameworks, such as generative grammar, cognitive grammar and stochastic grammar, are based on an inherent universal grammar, where the object is placed into the verb phrase. This book is compiled in such a manner, that it will provide in-depth knowledge about the essentials of grammatical theory. It provides comprehensive insights into this field. This book is an essential guide for both academicians and those who wish to pursue this discipline further.
Introduction to Formal Grammar
Grammar is the description of language in terms of its form and structure, as opposed to its function and meaning. Formal grammar describes the formation of strings from a language's alphabet that are valid according to the syntax of the language. It consists of a set of rules used to identify correct or incorrect strings of tokens in a language. It is also used to generate all possible strings over the alphabet that is syntactically correct in the language. Formal grammar is studied under the umbrella of applied mathematics, within a sub-discipline termed as formal language theory. Its applications are found in theoretical computer science, theoretical linguistics, formal semantics, mathematical logic and other fields. Most of the topics introduced in this book cover new techniques and the applications of formal grammar. It provides significant information of this discipline to help develop a good understanding of this field. Coherent flow of topics, student-friendly language and extensive use of examples make this book an invaluable source of knowledge.
Rhyme Over Reason
We are fascinated by what words sound like. This fascination also drives us to search for meaning in sound - thereby contradicting the principle of the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign. Phonesthemes, onomatopoeia or rhyming compounds all share the property of carrying meaning by virtue of what they sound like, simply because language users establish an association between form and meaning. By drawing on a wide array of examples, ranging from conventionalized words and expressions to brand names and slogans, this book offers a comprehensive account of the role that sound symbolism and rhyme/alliteration plays in English, and by doing so, advocates a more relaxed view of the category 'morpheme' that is able to incorporate less regular word-formation processes.
Phonological Tone
From the physiology and acoustics to their patterning across human languages, tone is one of the fundamental constructs in human languages that is also among the hardest to apprehend. Drawing upon a large number of languages around the world, this volume explores the concept of tone starting from its physical properties of articulation and acoustics to its manifestation in phonology. Designed as a comprehensive study accessible to the novice and useful for the expert, each chapter covers a particular aspect of tone in increasing depth and complexity, weaving together key concepts and theories that provide complementing or competing accounts of tone's phonological intricacies. In the process, one uncovers the underlying laws and principles that inform today's understanding of the subject to form a more synthesized view that also allows us to explore the relation of tone to other important areas of humanity such as literature, history, music and cognition.
Trends in South Asian Linguistics
The field of South Asian linguistics has undergone considerable growth and advancement in recent years, as a wider and more diverse range of languages have become subject to serious linguistic study, and as advancements in theoretical linguistics are applied to the rich linguistic data of South Asia. In this growth and diversity, it can be difficult to retain a broad grasp on the current state of the art, and to maintain a sense of the underlying unity of the field. This volume brings together twenty articles by leading scholars in South Asian linguistics, which showcase the cutting-edge research currently being undertaken in the field, and offer the reader a comprehensive introduction to the state of the art in South Asian linguistics. The contributions to the volume focus primarily on syntax and semantics, but also include important contributions on morphological and phonological questions. The contributions also cover a wide range of languages, from well-studied Indo-Aryan languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi, Bangla and Panjabi, through Dravidian languages to endangered and understudied Tibeto-Burman languages. This collection is a must-read for all scholars interested in current trends and advancements in South Asian linguistics.
Everything You Need to Know About Commas
Of all the punctuation marks, the lowly comma may be the most misunderstood and most misused. Some writers use too many, some not enough, and some just place them in the wrong place. This book will help. It explains where to use commas and how to use them, and in many cases even why to use them. It also explains when you can break the so-called rules and use commas the way you want. Best of all, it does all this without resorting to complex grammatical terms. Everything is explained in plain English.
The English Phrasal Verb, 1650-Present
Providing a detailed and comprehensive account of the development of phrasal verbs from early modern to present-day English, this study covers almost 400 years in the history of English, and provides both a diachronic and synchronic account based on over 12,000 examples extracted from stratified electronic corpora. The corpus analysis provides evidence of how registers can inform us about the history of English, as it traces and compares the usage and stylistic drifts of phrasal verbs across ten different genres - drama, fiction, journals, diaries, letters, medicine, news, science, sermons, and trial proceedings. The study also sheds new light on the morpho-syntactic and semantic features of phrasal verbs, proposing a new approach to the category, considering not only on their grammatical features, but also their historical development, by discussing the category in terms of a number of central mechanisms of language change.
Grammaticality Judgements: A Linguistic Perspective
Grammaticality in linguistics is decided by the conformity to language usage corresponding to the grammar of a particular speech variety. The concept of grammaticality grew along with the theory of generative grammar, which aims to construct rules that define well-formed, grammatical, sentences. A grammaticality judgement is a speaker's assessment of the extent to which a linguistic string is well formed. It is based on whether the sentence is interpreted according to the rules and constraints of the relevant grammar. If the rules and constraints of the particular variety are followed, the sentence is considered to be grammatical. Linguists use grammaticality judgements to examine the syntactic structure of sentences. This book provides significant information of this discipline to help develop a good understanding of grammaticality judgements and related fields. It aims to give a general view of the different areas of this field, and its applications. The extensive content of this book provides the readers with a thorough understanding of the subject.
English Grammar in Familiar Lectures
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The Frameworks of English
How does English work? What are the different elements? How do they all fit together?The fourth edition of this popular textbook takes the reader on a step-by-step journey through the various levels of language, covering all the linguistic frameworks in a single volume. Beginning with words as the building blocks of language, Ballard investigates their internal structure before moving on to larger and larger units, from phrases to sentences and beyond. The sound system of English is also explored in detail, from individual segments to connected speech. Lastly, some broader perspectives are offered, looking at regional, global and historical variation in English. Fully revised and refreshed, this edition includes an engaging new chapter exploring how the frameworks of the language have changed over time, from Old English to the present day, provides a selection of exercises at the end of every chapter allowing readers to consolidate and develop their understanding, and introduces 'point of comparison' boxes offering opportunities to compare features of English with those found in other languages. Supported by plenty of examples, helpful cross-referencing and a detailed glossary, The Frameworks of English is the perfect reader-friendly guide for all students of English language and linguistics.Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsbury.pub/frameworks-of-english. These resources are designed to support learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost.
Samskrutarambh - A beginner book for learning Sanskrit
Samskrutaramb is a beginner's (level 1) book for Sanskrit which uses hybrid approach to teaching the language. The book contains spoken themes as well as Devanagari recognition at same time. As with most books from Vedic Vidyalay this book is most effective if used in classroom setting and students are encouraged to interact in Sanskrit.
Mysteries of English Grammar
This book illuminates some of the complexities of the grammar of English, the areas where new discoveries await and why it matters. Both aimed at the interested general reader and the beginning student of English language and linguistics, this is a fresh take on grammar.
Mysteries of English Grammar
This book illuminates some of the complexities of the grammar of English, the areas where new discoveries await and why it matters. Both aimed at the interested general reader and the beginning student of English language and linguistics, this is a fresh take on grammar.
Universal Semantic Syntax
Syntactic theory has been dominated in the last decades by theories that disregard semantics in their approach to syntax. Presenting a truly semantic approach to syntax, this book takes as its primary starting point the idea that syntax deals with the relations between meanings expressed by form-meaning elements and that the same types of relations can be found cross-linguistically. The theory provides a way to formalize the syntactic relations between meanings so that each fragment of grammar can be analyzed in a clear-cut way. A comprehensive introduction into the theoretical concepts of the theory is provided, with analyzes of numerous examples in English and various other languages, European and non-European, to illustrate the concepts. The theory discussed will enable linguists to look for similarities between languages, while at the same time acknowledging important language specific features.
Numeraci籀n actual en espa簽ol
聶Sab穩a que entre las cifras de un n繳mero solo se usa un punto o una coma, que ser獺 el marcador decimal, o bien un espacio? As穩, 6734-2876 debe escribirse 6734 2876, y 1,100,000.00 euros significa un euro con diez cent矇simos.聶Sab穩a que cuando decimos que nuestro hijo est獺 en doceavo a簽o aseguramos que est獺 en 1/12? Lo correcto ser穩a 12.簞, decimosegundo o d矇cimo segundo a簽o, y el femenino de este ordinal ser穩a 12.a, decimasegunda o d矇cima segunda. 聶Sab穩a usted que el s穩mbolo de balboa es ฿, no B/., y se escribe, como todos los s穩mbolos menos los de grados angulares, detr獺s de la cantidad y tras un espacio? 聶Y que .00 detr獺s de los enteros no significa nada? Escribiremos 25 $ y no $ 25.00. 聶Cu獺ndo se usan letras y cu獺ndo cifras en un escrito? 聶C籀mo se indican las horas? 聶Y las fechas? 聶Se escribe punto tras la fecha en una carta? 聶C籀mo se numeran los documentos? 聶Para qu矇 sirven y c籀mo se usan los n繳meros romanos? La numeraci籀n se est獺 unificando en todo el mundo. Desde la ortograf穩a de 2010, en espa簽ol hay unas normas que no debemos desconocer si no queremos malinterpretar o ser malinterpretados. Tambi矇n ISO y otros sistemas de normalizaci籀n han impuesto sus normas, no siempre acordes con esta ortograf穩a.Aqu穩 presentamos una recopilaci籀n sencilla y bastante completa de la moderna numeraci籀n en espa簽ol.
The Guide Book for the Use of National Taiwan Normal University Department of English Students Whose Work Frequently Requires Them to Use Nouns That Are Not ’Common Nouns’ in English Grammar
The Guide Book for the Use of National Taiwan Normal University Department of English Students Whose Work Frequently Requires Them to Use Nouns That Are Not 'Common Nouns' in English GrammarBy: Chiu Yong PoonThe Pinsin Chinese-English Dictionary was compiled by the Chinese-English editorial committee of the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute over the course of eight years, from 1971 to 1978. More than fifty people took part in the compilation and editing. A Practical English Grammar was written by A. J. Thompson and A.V. Martinet and printed by the Oxford University Press. Together these two sources take up little shelf space and complement each other perfectly. Under the shelter of A Practical English Grammar, the Pinsin Chinese-English Dictionary carries within it the seeds at the contents of this book. In fertile soil, the seed sprouted and produced The Guide Book for the Use of National Taiwan Normal University Department of English Students Whose Work Frequently Requires Them to Use Nouns That Are Not 'Common Nouns' in English Grammar.About the AuthorChiu Yong Poon has a B.A. in English from Taiwan Normal University in Taiwan and an M.A. in Education, Shippensburg State College in Shippensburg Pennsylvania. Additionally he has written Folktales of Love from China, a translation from Chinese into English.
Smarten the F*ck Up!
"Smarten the F*ck Up!" is the result of 4 years of documenting the most common mistakes people make when speaking and writing - and it goes well beyond grammar. Many of the smartest and most educated people I know make these mistakes. You probably do, too. Most are mistakes we've unknowingly made our entire lives, and this book will help you find yours. It's more of a self-help book, although much of what it conveys is grammar-related... just without the grammar-nerd language! It was written to be both informative and entertaining, with a sometimes-offbeat sense of humor, a bit of sarcasm, a touch of crudeness, a dose of politics, a little cursing here and there, an occasional expression of humanity, as well as a tongue-in-cheek irreverence toward grammar nerds. You'll also see an occasional rant... just for the sake of entertainment, of course. It's truly a book the average person can relate to, learn from, and laugh with. It's also a great conversation starter when placed on your coffee table or in your bathroom... just check for missing pages every now and then.;-) It's time to fix the embarrassing mistakes you've been (unknowingly) making your entire life!
Reflections on Syntax; Lectures in General Linguistics, Syntax, and Child Language Acquisition
The lectures in this book are immensely Chomskyan in spirit, recursive-syntactic in nature, and tethered to a framework which takes as the null hypothesis the notion that language is an innate, pre-determined biological system--a system which by definition is multi-complex, human-specific, and analogous to a philosophy highly commensurate of Descartes' great proverbial adage which announces the calling for a 'ghost-in-the-machine'. The book begins with a gradual assessment of the kinds of complex constructs students of syntax need to work-up. Leading to the classic 'Four-Sentences'--each of which bears as a kind of post-mark its own decade of Chomskyan analysis--we trace the origins of generative grammar from the fields of child language acquisition (of the 1960s), to psycholinguistics (of the 1970s), to where we stand today within the Minimalist Program. Various spin-off proposals have been spawned by envisioned analyses which treat syntactic movement as the quintessential human processing--a processing which would give rise to human language. Such spin-offs include 'Proto-language' and a new treatment of the so-called morpho-syntactic 'Dual Mechanism Model'.
Just a Grammar Workbook - Middle Grades
This book is a bare bones workbook with worksheets for elementary or middle school English students as well as ESL students. It is designed as a compliment to a live or online course in English grammar. It contains practice and exercises for a variety of topics, but there are no lessons or instruction of any kind. Space is provided for notes so that each educator can convey the necessary concepts in their own way. Contents include: 1. Grammar Basics (Review) - Nouns, Verbs- Adjectives, Adverbs- Pronouns2. Sentences- Subject/Verb Agreement- NOTES- Subject/ Predicate- Clauses - Independent/Dependent- NOTES- Simple/Compound Sentences- NOTES- LIST of Subordinating Conjunctions- Complex/Compound-Complex- NOTES- Sentence Types3. Prepositions- LIST of Prepositions- NOTES- Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases4. Compounds- Subjects and Verbs- Objects of Prepositions5. Nouns- NOTES- Common/Proper- Concrete/Abstract- Subjects and Objects- Pronouns (intro)6. Adjectives- NOTES- Descriptive Adjectives- NOTES- Limiting Adjectives (Noun Determiners)- NOTES- Predicate Adjectives7. Verbs- NOTES- Verb Tenses (Past, Present, Future)- NOTES- Action Verbs/Linking Verbs- NOTES- Predicate Adjectives - Predicate Nominatives- NOTES- Transitive Verbs/Intransitive Verbs- Direct Objects- NOTES- Indirect Objects- LIST of Helping (Auxiliary) Verbs- NOTES- Helping Verbs and Verb Phrases- Infinitives- NOTES- Contractions- NOTES- Irregular Past Tense- Irregular Past Participle8. Adverbs- NOTES- Descriptive ("How") Adverbs- NOTES- "When" Adverbs- "Where" Adverbs- "To What Extent" Adverbs9. Pronouns- NOTES- Nominative (Subjective) Pronouns - Objective Pronouns- NOTES- Possessive Pronouns- Reflexive Pronouns- Pronoun or Adjective?10. Appositives- NOTES- Appositives11. Verbals- NOTES- Verbals
The Grammar You Missed in High School
End Your Grammar Insecurity Forever! Are you the student going back to school after some time away and finding yourself anxious about grammar, usage and punctuation? Are you the business professional who has to get the grammar right-and who's been embarrassed once or twice when you didn't? Maybe you are the tired mom or dad trying to help your child with homework-and worried about your ability to do that. Or maybe you are a high school student who doesn't want to graduate without being sure you are ready for college English classes. If you fit any of those categories, The Grammar You Missed in High School is the perfect book for you. Its friendly style, lean definitions, and common-sense examples-many of them hilarious-make this book different from the dry, boring textbooks of the past. It has fun with the subject, takes a poke at "snob English," and dispels some grammar myths. You definitely will feel better when you read the numerous examples of language mistakes published and broadcast by "professionals." The Grammar You Missed in High School provides the ideal refresher for the student who should have paid a little closer attention back in school-or for the student who never received instruction in the fundamentals in the first place. It's suitable to be used in class with other students or at home for learners working on their own. Each topic is clarified with examples and supplemented with review exercises, and the answer key provides explanations for the correct responses. It's a book that will help you become a better writer, reader, and thinker.
Introducci籀n a Las Variedades Lingue穩sticas del Espa簽ol
Este libro ofrece una introducci籀n a la diversidad ling羹穩stica del mundo hispano. Viajamos de manera virtual desde Espa簽a a Am矇rica para conocer los principales rasgos ling羹穩sticos de cada regi籀n y pa穩s. En cada cap穩tulo, el lector puede aprender sobre la pronunciaci籀n, la gram獺tica, algunas palabras t穩picas y todo lo que hace, ling羹穩sticamente hablando, diferente a cada pa穩s hispano. Generalmente, el espa簽ol se ve como una sola entidad, destac獺ndose mayormente el espa簽ol de Espa簽a, y olvid獺ndose de la enorme riqueza ling羹穩stica que ofrece cada pa穩s y regi籀n hispana. Asimismo, en este libro introducimos algunos t矇rminos b獺sicos del estudio de la variaci籀n ling羹穩stica, la dialectolog穩a y la socioling羹穩stica. Adem獺s de la parte te籀rica, este libro incluye una variedad de ejercicios pr獺cticos e informaci籀n sobre recursos adicionales disponibles en la red. Est獺 escrito en un espa簽ol apropiado para hablantes de espa簽ol intermedio alto, avanzado o superior (idealmente de tercer a簽o de carrera en EE. UU.) y para aquellos con o sin conocimientos previos de ling羹穩stica.Este libro es el perfecto compa簽ero de viaje a Espa簽a o cualquier pa穩s de Hispanoam矇rica.
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary English Pronunciation
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary English Pronunciation provides a comprehensive survey of this field covering both theoretical and practical perspectives on pronunciation. In 35 chapters contributed by leading scholars from around the world, this Handbook examines: linguistic and historical background of sound systems and theoretical issues linked to sound changes;pronunciation acquisition and factors related to speech production;pronunciation research and applications to second language pronunciation;the link between pronunciation and other language skills including perception and other socio-cultural factors;pronunciation and its relation to World Englishes. The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary English Pronunciation will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in pronunciation.
The Routledge Handbook of Phonological Theory
The Routledge Handbook of Phonological Theory provides a comprehensive overview of the major contemporary approaches to phonology. Phonology is frequently defined as the systematic organisation of the sounds of human language. For some, this includes aspects of both the surface phonetics together with systematic structural properties of the sound system; for others, phonology is seen as distinct from, and autonomous from, phonetics. The Routledge Handbook of Phonological Theory surveys the differing ways in which phonology is viewed, with a focus on current approaches to phonology. Divided into two parts, this handbook: covers major conceptual frameworks within phonology, including: rule-based phonology; Optimality Theory; Government Phonology; Dependency Phonology; and connectionist approaches to generative phonology; explores the central issue of the relationship between phonetics and phonology; features 23 chapters written by leading academics from around the world. The Routledge Handbook of Phonological Theory is an authoritative survey of this key field in linguistics, and is essential reading for students studying phonology.
Introducci籀n a Las Variedades Lingue穩sticas del Espa簽ol
Este libro ofrece una introducci籀n a la diversidad ling羹穩stica del mundo hispano. Viajamos de manera virtual desde Espa簽a a Am矇rica para conocer los principales rasgos ling羹穩sticos de cada regi籀n y pa穩s. En cada cap穩tulo, el lector puede aprender sobre la pronunciaci籀n, la gram獺tica, algunas palabras t穩picas y todo lo que hace, ling羹穩sticamente hablando, diferente a cada pa穩s hispano. Generalmente, el espa簽ol se ve como una sola entidad, destac獺ndose mayormente el espa簽ol de Espa簽a, y olvid獺ndose de la enorme riqueza ling羹穩stica que ofrece cada pa穩s y regi籀n hispana. Asimismo, en este libro introducimos algunos t矇rminos b獺sicos del estudio de la variaci籀n ling羹穩stica, la dialectolog穩a y la socioling羹穩stica. Adem獺s de la parte te籀rica, este libro incluye una variedad de ejercicios pr獺cticos e informaci籀n sobre recursos adicionales disponibles en la red. Est獺 escrito en un espa簽ol apropiado para hablantes de espa簽ol intermedio alto, avanzado o superior (idealmente de tercer a簽o de carrera en EE. UU.) y para aquellos con o sin conocimientos previos de ling羹穩stica.Este libro es el perfecto compa簽ero de viaje a Espa簽a o cualquier pa穩s de Hispanoam矇rica.
Semantics of Complex Words
This volume offers a valuable overview of recent research into the semantic aspects of complex words through different theoretical frameworks. Contributions by experts in the field, both morphologists and psycholinguists, identify crucial areas of research, present alternative and complementary approaches to their examination from the current level of knowledge, and indicate perspectives of research into the semantics of complex words by raising important questions that need to be investigated in order to get a more comprehensive picture of the field. Recent decades have seen both extensive and intensive development of various theories of word-formation, however, the semantic aspects of complex words have, with a few notable exceptions, been rather neglected. This volume fills that gap by offering articles written by leading experts in the field from various theoretical backgrounds.
The History of Modern Chinese Grammar Studies
Preface of the revised edition.- Acknowledgements.- Introduction.- The Mashi Wentong.- The period of Imitation (1898-1930).- Innovation and Maturation (1930 - 1949).- The discussion on 'Innovation of Grammar'.- The Age of Standardization.- Summary and Conclusions.- APPENDIX.
On the Origins of Speaking
"On the Origins of Speaking" is a book about etymology, that is the origins of words and their meanings, a book on the relatively new science of Linguistics, which reveals why they mean what they mean. The last fifty years of Linguistics have been in thrall to Professor Noam Chomsky of Massachussets Institute of Technology, MIT, and his Transformational Grammar, which he put together when he was still an undergraduate at MIT himself. The etymology has taken a back seat for the last fifty years and more, while language studies have been conducted in terms of symbolic logic, with logical terms treated as equivalent to mathematical ones. This originated with Gotfried Frege in Austria, in the eighteenth century, but had little influence until Bertrand Russell's "Principia Mathematica" (copying Newton) in the last century. It is perhaps more philosophy than science. Unthinking people think meanings are random. But few scientific theories last unchanged for ever, and the pendulum is swinging the other way. Many more primitive languages have been researched in the two nests of hundreds of primitive languages in the Amazon Basin and the island of New Guinea, where different speakers are apt to exchange poisoned blowpipe darts when they meet rather than conversation. It keeps societies with the same language small and many of them, and their grammars, as well as undeveloped, are various; and most importantly are quite different from the grammars of the west. Their language genes are different from our language genes, if there actually are any genes involved in language. But when we address the actual circumstances of how we learned to speak it is clear we were only able to share our meanings as we learned to utter the single phonemes one by one by giving them meanings which were echoic, never mind our genes. So cucu meant a cuckoo; but generally the echoism was much more whimsical. The sharpest tone was ka and the sharpest job was flaking flints. The sound of flint on flint could be thought of as ka. Once the bare bottomed naming committees hunkered around their hearths had picked a meaning, then those in the know would repeat the action or point to the object while saying the consonant until everyone got it. It worked. This is some way from speech today. Until the Tower of Babel (the Tau of Bab El, the change of the mouth of the Lord, that is to say of God's original language) - when, comparatively recently, (say some eight thousand years ago) we abandoned compiling our words from their constituent phonemes as we went along and just learned them by heart, like parrots, with their meanings as well} we spoke with single phonemes (mostly the consonants with three vowels to aid pronunciation, a, i and u (aa, ee and oo) and we soon learned to string them together for more meanings, derived from their first ones. It took hundreds of thousands of years, but eventually we abandoned Babel. We are much better at remembering single meanings than the meanings of all the individual phonemes and the composite meaning derived from each string. The heavy work is discovering all the original meanings of the phonemes (letters) and how they developed from there, by metaphor, one after the other; and it is largely done for you in this book. It took me forty years. Nothing like it before.
From Far and Wide
This volume contains the refined proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of University Teachers of German (CAUTG), which took place at Ryerson University, Toronto, as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in May 2017.
The Elements of Syriac Grammar
Published in 1866, this is a treatise on the Syriac language.
English Grammar
English Grammar: The Basics offers a clear, non-jargonistic introduction to English grammar and its place in society. Rather than taking a prescriptive approach, this book helps the reader become aware of the social implications of choices they make to use standard or non-standard (regional/dialect) forms. Readers will consider: - what grammar is and how it fits into the structure of language;- how grammar functions in the school curriculum, the press, broadcasting and social media, as well as how these outlets reflect and reinforce our attitudes towards grammar;- differences between speech and writing, as well as between formality and informality;- major different approaches to theorising and describing grammar from important grammarians, including Noam Chomsky and Michael Halliday. Featuring a glossary of key terms and practical tips and insights from the author's 50+ years of language teaching experience around the world, this book is for anyone who has ever found themselves questioning the 'rules' of the English language.
Anglo-American and Polish Proverbs
The main purpose of the publication is to present a linguo-cultural picture of traditional values (such as the value of life, freedom, dignity, family, religion, community, truth, good, beauty, and God) reflected in Anglo-American and Polish paremiology. The author analyzes the proverbs with the use of semantic approach and divides them into several thematic categories and subcategories related to the sphere of values. The paremiological analysis carried out from a contrastive perspective provides additional evidence to support the claim that, despite some widespread axiological views common to languages, there exist distinct differences characteristic only of a given linguo-culture, naturally caused by different, among others, geographical, historical, social, and cultural environments.
Grammar Saves Lives
This is a short, concise, down and dirty guide for professional writing. Whether you are a police officer, security guard or just about any type of law enforcement officer, this book will give you a no nonsense education in how to write coherently and with clarity. Improve your writing overnight with this book. Before you spend a lot more money for a much bigger book, check this one out! August update: Volume 2 will hit the shelves any day now!
Smarten the F*ck Up!
"Smarten the F*ck Up!" is the result of 4 years of documenting the most common mistakes people make when speaking and writing - and it goes well beyond grammar. Many of the smartest and most educated people I know make these mistakes. You probably do, too. Most are mistakes we've unknowingly made our entire lives, and this book will help you find yours. It's more of a self-help book, although much of what it conveys is grammar-related... just without the grammar-nerd language! It was written to be both informative and entertaining, with a sometimes-offbeat sense of humor, a bit of sarcasm, a touch of crudeness, a dose of politics, a little cursing here and there, an occasional expression of humanity, as well as a tongue-in-cheek irreverence toward grammar nerds. You'll also see an occasional rant... just for the sake of entertainment, of course.It's truly a book the average person can relate to, learn from, and laugh with. It's also a great conversation starter when placed on your coffee table or in your bathroom... just check for missing pages every now and then.;-) It's time to fix the embarrassing mistakes you've been (unknowingly) making your entire life!
Common Phonology of the Chinese Dialects
This book presents a comparative reconstruction of the common phonology of the Chinese dialects using representative data from living dialects. The resulting phonology includes all categories and phonological distinctions that are represented in the dialect data. It departs from the tradition of using philological sources and non-Chinese borrowings as the basis for a reconstructed system. Based on a strict comparative methodology, the phonology presented encapsulates the shared phonology of the dialects and reflects the real-world distinctions and categories found in the living dialects. For example, the initials preserve the tripartite division that includes voiced obstruents seen in W繳 dialects; the finals are comparatively drawn based on the collective dialect data; and the syllable codas preserve the three-way contrasts of consonant stop endings seen in the Cantonese dialects. The data presented allows readers to observe the basis for all of the distinction and categories includedin the common phonology and the relationship of that phonology to all of the dialects, and as a result to identify the dialects' disparate developments and evolution. The English translation also includes innovative elements that render it even more useful for researchers than the Chinese original. The book is primarily intended for scholars and researchers investigating the Chinese dialects and their relationships, and the history of Chinese. It is also useful for scholars of Chinese history and literature who need a handy resource providing essential information on the historical phonology of Chinese.
Structural and Typological Variation in the Dialects of Kurdish
This book offers the first comparative discussion of variation in selected areas of structure in the dialects of Kurdish. The contributions draw on data collected as part of the project on Structural and Typological Variation in Kurdish and stored in the Manchester Database of Kurdish Dialects online resource, as well as on additional data sources. The chapters address issues in lexicon, phonology, and morpho-syntax including nominal case, tense and aspect categories, pronominal clitics, adpositions, word order (with special reference to post-predicate constituents) and connectivity and complex clauses. The materials that inform the analysis consist of a systematic questionnaire-based elicitation covering key features of variation in lexicon and morpho-syntax, and an accompanying corpus of free speech recordings, collected in over 120 locations across the Kurdish-speaking regions in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran and covering mainly the dialects of Northern and Central Kurdish (Kurmani-Bahdini and Sorani), with some consideration of Southern Kurdish. The book will be of interest to students and scholars in fields such as linguistics, linguistic typology, Iranian linguistics and linguistics of the Middle East, and dialectology.
Comma Sense
Comma Sense by Ellen Feld is your go-to book for all things grammar. Understand the rules of adverbs, punctuation, abbreviations, prepositions, and much more. Learn how to write technically, professionally, and personally.
Prolegomenon to a Theory of Argument Structure
This work is the culmination of an eighteen-year collaboration between Ken Hale and Samuel Jay Keyser on the study of the syntax of lexical items. It examines the hypothesis that the behavior of lexical items may be explained in terms of a very small number of very simple principles. In particular, a lexical item is assumed to project a syntactic configuration defined over just two relations, complement and specifier, where these configurations are constrained to preclude iteration and to permit only binary branching. The work examines this hypothesis by methodically looking at a variety of constructions in English and other languages.
Local Economy
Any theory of grammar must contain a lexicon, an interface with the mechanisms of production and perception (PF), and an interface with the interpretational system of semantics (LF). A traditional way to relate these three components in generative theory is through a derivation. Noam Chomsky's Minimalist Program postulates that grammatical derivations are constrained by economy conditions, requiring that derivations be minimal. One of the most important questions of syntax is what the economy conditions are and how they operate. In Local Economy, Chris Collins proposes that economy conditions are local. According to this theory, evaluating economy conditions does not involve comparing whole derivations. Rather, economy conditions are evaluated at each step in the derivation. Collins shows that locative inversion and quotative inversion provide strong arguments for local economy. In addition, he explores the far-reaching consequences of this proposal for other areas of syntax, including the strict cycle, binary branching, successive cyclicity, and expletive constructions. He demonstrates that local economy is superior to global economy on conceptual as well as empirical grounds. Local Economy is one of the first books other than Chomsky's The Minimalist Program (MIT, 1995) to deal in a general way with economy of derivation and Minimalism. Linguistic Inquiry Monograph No. 29
Vasishtha Shiksha
Vasishtha Shiksha is an ancient manual of the Sanskrit alphabet, written by a celebrated sage, and completely lost to the world, but for one handwritten manuscript in Tirupati, India. Here is the revival of this comprehensive knowledge of pronunciation of Sanskrit. Systematic and concise, there are chapters on the 1) The letters of the Alphabet; 2) The places of articulation in the mouth of the different letters; 3) The degrees of contact of the different classes of letters, vowels, consonants, etc.; 4) Voiced and unvoiced letters, aspirated and unaspirated letters, and the duration of different letters; 5) The rules of the application of Vedic pitch accents in letters, words, and verses; and 6) The organs of articulation for the different letters. Authoritative and complete, the original Sanskrit text is presented with an English translation, and an extensive commentary to clarify and make accessible all the fine details of this ancient science of pronunciation. A pervading theme of the ancient Vedic system of education, Shiksha, is to provide total knowledge and complete enlightenment to the student in the first lesson. The wise founders of the various recensions of Vedic recitation wrote treatises on the alphabet in order put every student on the path to complete unfoldment of his infinite inner potential. Vasishtha's alphabet primer is also a manual for enlightenment, unfolding the seven states of consciousness, and expounding the complete integration of life in unity consciousness. The commentary makes this undercurrent explicit and connects these two themes, the physical details of pronunciation and the program of education for enlightenment. This brings into focus the goal of Vasishtha's teaching presented in his final chapter, how by learning and reciting Sanskrit, one achieves the aim of the study of Shiksha, outer worldly fame, and inner life of eternal bliss in Brahman consciousness. Here is a modern revival of the ancient teaching of perfection in life through education.
Transitivity
No detailed description available for "Transitivity".
Vol. 2
Keine ausf羹hrliche Beschreibung f羹r "Vol. 2" verf羹gbar.
Syllable Structure and Stress in Dutch
No detailed description available for "Syllable Structure and Stress in Dutch".
The Phonetic Basis of Perceptual Ratings of Running Speech
No detailed description available for "The Phonetic Basis of Perceptual Ratings of Running Speech".
Speech Sounds and Features
This is a representative collection of the work of one of the world'sleading scholars in the area of speech acoustics. It follows the development overthe past 15 years of research presented in the author's previous publications onspeech analysis, feature theory, and applications to language descriptions. Most ofthe articles have had very restricted distribution -- many appearing only in theQuarterly Progress Reports issued by Dr. Fant's laboratory.The first part of thebook covers manifold aspects of speech analysis such as instrumental techniques, spectrum data, formant statistics with an emphasis on Swedish vowels and stops, speaker dependencies, normalization procedures, production theory, andcoarticulation. The second part analyzes established feature systems and suggestsrevisions and general discussions on the concept of distinctive features, perception, and the applicability of feature theory to automatic speech recognition.Articles in this part of the book are especially valuable because they represent Dr.Fant's work on "inherent" features and their phonetic correlates as it has evolvedsince his collaboration in 1952 with Roman Jakobson and Morris Halle.Speech Soundsand Features is the fourth volume in the series Current Studies inLinguistics.
