Sound Patterns of Spoken English is a concise, to-the-point compendium of information about the casual pronunciation of everyday English as compared to formal citation forms. The book examines changes that occur to certain sounds and in certain parts of words and syllables in the casual, unmonitored speech of native English speakers. It outlines major phonological processes found in conversational English; reviews and criticizes attempts to include these processes in phonological theory; and surveys experimental approaches to explaining casual English pronunciation. Among the varieties of English covered are General American and Standard Southern British, but many other accents are mentioned, especially those of mainland Britain. Sound Patterns of Spoken English is of interest to students and scholars in a wide variety of fields, including sociolinguistics, lexicography, rhetoric, language learning and speech sciences, and has an accompanying website - http://www. blackwellpublishing. com/shockey - with examples from different accents.

This introduction is tailored for a one or two term undergraduate course on North American English pronunciation. The book assumes no prior knowledge of the study of speech sounds, but guides the reader step-by-step through the main concepts and methods of a phonetic and phonological analysis of a representative North American English variety. After a brief introduction to the history of English in North America, the first of the books three parts deals with the classification and description of individual consonants and vowels. The second part is concerned with issues such as word stress, syllables, rhythm and intonation. The third part has variation and change as topics, both optional present-day and historical variations, and concludes with an outline of the main regional dialects in North America. Each of the ten chapters is aided by a concise summary followed by a list of further reading, and an index helps the reader finding all the important terms. Offering comprehensive knowledge on all aspects of North American English pronunciation, the books aims to fill a gap in the study of English pronunciation, which for some time has lacked a thorough and updated introduction to the variety spoken in North America.

Discussion on the Web is mediated through layers of software and protocols. As scholars increasingly study communication and learning on the Internet, it is essential to consider how site administrators, programmers, and designers create interfaces and enable functionality. The managers, administrators, and designers of online communities can turn to more than 20 years of technical books for guidance on how to design online communities toward particular objectives. Through analysis of this "how-to" literature, Designing Online Communities explores the discourse of design and configuration that partially structures online communities and later social networks. Tracking the history of notions of community in these books suggests the emergence of a logic of permission and control. Online community defies many conventional notions of community. Participants are increasingly treated as "users", or even as commodities themselves to be used. Through consideration of the particular tactics of these administrators, this book suggests how researchers should approach the study and analysis of the records of online communities.

The Singer's Guide to German Diction is the essential foundation for a complete course in German diction for singers, vocal coaches, choral conductors, and anyone wishing to learn to learn the proper pronunciation of High German. Written by Valentin Lanzrein and Richard Cross, who each have years of experience on stage, in the voice studio, and in the diction classroom, it provides an all-encompassing and versatile reference for the rules of German diction and their exceptions. Featuring an easily navigable format that uses tables and charts to support a visual understanding of the text, this guide allows the reader to find information on diction rules and quick help with the formation of each sound. It also places an emphasis on exceptions to the rules, which are crucial in learning the proper pronunciation of any language. Exceptions are not only provided with the diction rules, but are also gathered in a specific section for ease of reference. A glossary of difficult words, names, and exceptions is provided in the appendix, along with a section on Latin pronounced in the German manner. Extensive pronunciation exercises, as well as IPA transcription worksheets and short examples from the vocal literature, are used for practical application of the diction rules, and feature musical exercises drawn from art song, opera, and oratorio. The book's companion website supplements these musical exercises with high-quality audio clips recorded by leading professional singers, providing an invaluable resource for independent study. A comprehensive companion for teachers, students, and singers alike, The Singer's Guide to German Diction brings German diction to life through its well-structured system of practice and reference materials.

'The thrill is that you're actually figuring it out on your own. You're engaging with another language, not just parroting it... It's an excellent way to start, and leaves the listener thinking, Hey, Ich kann do dis.' - New Yorker, David Sedaris, humorist and author, on learning German with the Michel Thomas Method Looking for a convenient language course that fits your lifestyle and gets you speaking a new language in a matter of weeks, not years? The original no-books, no-homework, no-memorizing method is in tune with the way the brain prefers to receive, store and retrieve information. You'll stick with it because you'll love it. * Pick up Japanese naturally and unforgettably without strain or stress * Learn from listening and speaking, without the pressure of writing or memorizing * Build up your Japanese in manageable steps by thinking out answers for yourself * Progress to the full Foundation Japanese course with confidence in the method. WHY IS THE METHOD SO SUCCESSFUL? 'What you understand, you know; and what you know, you don't forget.' - Michel Thomas Before there was machine learning, there was Michel Thomas. For over 50 years he worked on decoding languages by breaking them down into their most essential component parts. These 'building blocks' are introduced to the learner sequentially in such a way that you reconstruct the language for yourself - to form your own sentences, to say what you want, when you want. This unique method draws on the principles of instructional psychology and works with the way your brain prefers to receive, store and retrieve information. Knowledge is structured and organized so that you absorb the language easily and don't forget it. The method is designed to eliminate the stress which prevents you from relaxing and allowing the brain to work in the way which accepts learning in a seemingly painless, very exciting and highly motivating way. HOW DO THE COURSES WORK? 'All stress inhibits true and effective learning' - Michel Thomas During the course, you will join Michel Thomas Method Teachers Helen Gilhooly and Niamh Kelly, and two students in a live lesson, learning from both their successes and their mistakes to keep you motivated and involved throughout the course. You, as the learner, become the third student and participate actively in the class. Within the very first hour you will be able to construct simple phrases by listening and thinking out answers for yourself without the pressure of writing or stress of having to memorize. You will learn at your own pace, pausing and repeating where necessary, and complete the course in about 3-5 hours. WHAT WILL I ACTUALLY ACHIEVE? 'I am the architect who builds the house. It's up to you to decorate it.' - Michel Thomas The Michel Thomas Method will help you kick-start, continue, and flourish in your Japanese language learning journey. It is not intended to get you perfectly fluent, but it will get you speaking and using Japanese, with proper pronunciation, faster than most any other method. It is designed to give you a strong foundation and good working knowledge of a language from which you can expand and later 'add decoration' to. It is a rapid method for learning, but still requires effort and concentration on the part of the learner. WHAT'S INCLUDED IN THE COURSE?* Start Japanese includes one audio CD. The booklet is available to download from www.michelthomas.com. LEARN ANYWHERE AND ANYTIME! Reclaim your pockets of free time to learn a new language! Don't be tied to chunky books or your computer, Michel Thomas Method audio courses let you learn whenever and wherever you want, in as little or as much time as you have. WHERE DO I GO NEXT? Foundation Japanese follows on from the Start course.

'The thrill is that you're actually figuring it out on your own. You're engaging with another language, not just parroting it... It's an excellent way to start, and leaves the listener thinking, Hey, Ich kann do dis.' - New Yorker, David Sedaris, humorist and author, on learning German with the Michel Thomas Method Looking for a convenient language course that fits your lifestyle and gets you speaking a new language in a matter of weeks, not years? The original no-books, no-homework, no-memorizing method is in tune with the way the brain prefers to receive, store and retrieve information. You'll stick with it because you'll love it. * Pick up Hindi naturally and unforgettably without strain or stress * Learn from listening and speaking, without the pressure of writing or memorizing * Build up your Hindi in manageable steps by thinking out answers for yourself * Progress to the full Foundation Hindi course with confidence in the method. WHY IS THE METHOD SO SUCCESSFUL? 'What you understand, you know; and what you know, you don't forget.' - Michel Thomas Before there was machine learning, there was Michel Thomas. For over 50 years he worked on decoding languages by breaking them down into their most essential component parts. These 'building blocks' are introduced to the learner sequentially in such a way that you reconstruct the language for yourself - to form your own sentences, to say what you want, when you want. This unique method draws on the principles of instructional psychology and works with the way your brain prefers to receive, store and retrieve information. Knowledge is structured and organized so that you absorb the language easily and don't forget it. The method is designed to eliminate the stress which prevents you from relaxing and allowing the brain to work in the way which accepts learning in a seemingly painless, very exciting and highly motivating way. HOW DO THE COURSES WORK? 'All stress inhibits true and effective learning' - Michel Thomas During the course, you will join Michel Thomas Method Teacher Akshay Bakaya and two students in a live lesson, learning from both their successes and their mistakes to keep you motivated and involved throughout the course. You, as the learner, become the third student and participate actively in the class. Within the very first hour you will be able to construct simple phrases by listening and thinking out answers for yourself without the pressure of writing or stress of having to memorize. You will learn at your own pace, pausing and repeating where necessary, and complete the course in about 3-5 hours. WHAT WILL I ACTUALLY ACHIEVE? 'I am the architect who builds the house. It's up to you to decorate it.' - Michel Thomas The Michel Thomas Method will help you kick-start, continue, and flourish in your Hindi language learning journey. It is not intended to get you perfectly fluent, but it will get you speaking and using Hindi, with proper pronunciation, faster than most any other method. It is designed to give you a strong foundation and good working knowledge of a language from which you can expand and later 'add decoration' to. It is a rapid method for learning, but still requires effort and concentration on the part of the learner. WHAT'S INCLUDED IN THE COURSE?* Start Hindi includes one audio CD. The booklet is available to download from www.michelthomas.com. LEARN ANYWHERE AND ANYTIME! Reclaim your pockets of free time to learn a new language! Don't be tied to chunky books or your computer, Michel Thomas Method audio courses let you learn whenever and wherever you want, in as little or as much time as you have. WHERE DO I GO NEXT? Foundation Hindi follows on from the Start course.

'The thrill is that you're actually figuring it out on your own. You're engaging with another language, not just parroting it... It's an excellent way to start, and leaves the listener thinking, Hey, Ich kann do dis.' - New Yorker, David Sedaris, humorist and author, on learning German with the Michel Thomas Method Looking for a convenient language course that fits your lifestyle and gets you speaking a new language in a matter of weeks, not years? The original no-books, no-homework, no-memorizing method is in tune with the way the brain prefers to receive, store and retrieve information. You'll stick with it because you'll love it. * Pick up Swedish naturally and unforgettably without strain or stress * Learn from listening and speaking, without the pressure of writing or memorizing * Build up your Swedish in manageable steps by thinking out answers for yourself * Progress to the full Foundation Swedish course with confidence in the method. WHY IS THE METHOD SO SUCCESSFUL? 'What you understand, you know; and what you know, you don't forget.' - Michel Thomas Before there was machine learning, there was Michel Thomas. For over 50 years he worked on decoding languages by breaking them down into their most essential component parts. These 'building blocks' are introduced to the learner sequentially in such a way that you reconstruct the language for yourself - to form your own sentences, to say what you want, when you want. This unique method draws on the principles of instructional psychology and works with the way your brain prefers to receive, store and retrieve information. Knowledge is structured and organized so that you absorb the language easily and don't forget it. The method is designed to eliminate the stress which prevents you from relaxing and allowing the brain to work in the way which accepts learning in a seemingly painless, very exciting and highly motivating way. HOW DO THE COURSES WORK? 'All stress inhibits true and effective learning' - Michel Thomas During the course, you will join Michel Thomas Method Teachers Roger Nyborg, Hakan Rosenqvist and two students in a live lesson, learning from both their successes and their mistakes to keep you motivated and involved throughout the course. You, as the learner, become the third student and participate actively in the class. Within the very first hour you will be able to construct simple phrases by listening and thinking out answers for yourself without the pressure of writing or stress of having to memorize. You will learn at your own pace, pausing and repeating where necessary, and complete the course in about 3-5 hours. WHAT WILL I ACTUALLY ACHIEVE? 'I am the architect who builds the house. It's up to you to decorate it.' - Michel Thomas The Michel Thomas Method will help you kick-start, continue, and flourish in your Swedish language learning journey. It is not intended to get you perfectly fluent, but it will get you speaking and using Swedish, with proper pronunciation, faster than most any other method. It is designed to give you a strong foundation and good working knowledge of a language from which you can expand and later 'add decoration' to. It is a rapid method for learning, but still requires effort and concentration on the part of the learner. WHAT'S INCLUDED IN THE COURSE?* Start Swedish includes one audio CD. The booklet is available to download from www.michelthomas.com. LEARN ANYWHERE AND ANYTIME! Reclaim your pockets of free time to learn a new language! Don't be tied to chunky books or your computer, Michel Thomas Method audio courses let you learn whenever and wherever you want, in as little or as much time as you have. WHERE DO I GO NEXT? Foundation Swedish follows on from the Start course.

Trotz der allgemeinen Akzeptanz der Konstruktionsgrammatik fur die Beschreibung sprachlicher Phanomene im englischen und deutschen Sprachraum hat das Modell der Konstruktionsgrammatik bislang wenig Interesse in der Romanistik gefunden. Dieser Band bietet zwoelf konkrete Untersuchungen zu Konstruktionen unterschiedlicher Komplexitatsgrade aus der Morphologie, der Syntax und der Textlinguistik und zwar fur die romanischen Sprachen Franzoesisch, Italienisch, Spanisch, und Katalanisch, sowie fur Latein, und zeigt dabei den Nutzen konstruktionsgrammatischer Beschreibungsansatze auf.

'The thrill is that you're actually figuring it out on your own. You're engaging with another language, not just parroting it... It's an excellent way to start, and leaves the listener thinking, Hey, Ich kann do dis.' - New Yorker, David Sedaris, humorist and author, on learning German with the Michel Thomas Method Looking for a convenient language course that fits your lifestyle and gets you speaking a new language in a matter of weeks, not years? The original no-books, no-homework, no-memorizing method is in tune with the way the brain prefers to receive, store and retrieve information. You'll stick with it because you'll love it. * Pick up Egyptian Arabic naturally and unforgettably without strain or stress * Learn from listening and speaking, without the pressure of writing or memorizing * Build up your Egyptian Arabic in manageable steps by thinking out answers for yourself WHY IS THE METHOD SO SUCCESSFUL? 'What you understand, you know; and what you know, you don't forget.' -Michel Thomas Before there was machine learning, there was Michel Thomas. For over 50 years he worked on decoding languages by breaking them down into their most essential component parts. These 'building blocks' are introduced to the learner sequentially in such a way that you reconstruct the language for yourself - to form your own sentences, to say what you want, when you want. This unique method draws on the principles of instructional psychology and works with the way your brain prefers to receive, store and retrieve information. Knowledge is structured and organized so that you absorb the language easily and don't forget it. The method is designed to eliminate the stress which prevents you from relaxing and allowing the brain to work in the way which accepts learning in a seemingly painless, very exciting and highly motivating way. HOW DO THE COURSES WORK? 'All stress inhibits true and effective learning' - Michel Thomas During the course, you will join Michel Thomas Method teachers Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar and two students in a live lesson, learning from both their successes and their mistakes to keep you motivated and involved throughout the course. You, as the learner, become the third student and participate actively in the class. Within the very first hour you will be able to construct simple phrases by listening and thinking out answers for yourself without the pressure of writing or stress of having to memorize. You will learn at your own pace, pausing and repeating where necessary, and complete the course in about 20-30 hours. By the end of the course, you will understand and have the confidence to speak basic Egyptian Arabic. WHAT WILL I ACTUALLY ACHIEVE? 'I am the architect who builds the house. It's up to you to decorate it.' - Michel Thomas The Michel Thomas Method will help you kick-start, continue, and flourish in your Egyptian Arabic language learning journey. It is not intended to get you perfectly fluent, but it will get you speaking and using Egyptian Arabic, with proper pronunciation, faster than most any other method. It is designed to give you a strong foundation and good working knowledge of a language from which you can expand and later 'add decoration' to. It is a rapid method for learning, but still requires effort and concentration on the part of the learner. WHAT'S NEW IN THIS NEW EDITION? This new edition includes an audio review course to let you quickly revise and consolidate your learning once you've completed the full course. WHAT'S INCLUDED IN THE COURSE?* Foundation Egyptian Arabic includes 8 audio course CDs and 2 audio review CDs to continue and consolidate your knowledge. The booklet is available to download from www.michelthomas.com. *Note that the course content is the same as the previously entitled Total Arabic course, but the CD-ROM has been replaced with audio review CDs. LEARN ANYWHERE! Reclaim your pockets of free time to learn a new language! Don't be tied to chunky books or your computer, Michel Thomas Method audio courses let you learn whenever and wherever you want, in as little or as much time as you have. WHERE DO I GO NEXT? Intermediate Egyptian Arabic follows on from the Foundation course.