SLA Research and Materials Development for Language Learning is the only book available to focus on the interaction between second language acquisition theory and materials development for language learning. It consists of contributions written by experts in SLA, experts in materials development, researchers who have expertise in both fields, and introductions and conclusions by the editor. The book is organized into four major sections - position statements; materials driven by SLA theory; evaluations of materials in relation to SLA theory; and proposals for action - that offer a diverse range of perspectives while maintaining a cohesive and comprehensive overview on the subject. This book is ideal for post-graduate courses in applied linguistics and second language acquisition and for researchers interested in the relationship between SLA and materials development.

Computational lexicography is a fast-growing field with implications for a wide range of disciplines - theoretical linguistics, computational linguistics, cognitive science and artificial intelligence - as well as for the construction of dictionaries. The "Grosetto Workshop" brought together for the first time an international and interdisciplinary group of researchers concerned with computational lexicography. These papers, selected from the workshop, provide a baseline and a reference point for further research on problems associated with the lexicon. The collection is not merely of historical interest: it addresses many issues that are still debated today and that guide current research and development.

Understanding and addressing linguistic disadvantage must be a central facet of the social justice agenda of our time. This book explores the ways in which linguistic diversity mediates social justice in liberal democracies undergoing rapid change due to high levels of migration and economic globalization. Focusing on the linguistic dimensions of economic inequality, cultural domination and imparity of political participation, Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice employs a case-study approach to real-world instances of linguistic injustice. Linguistic diversity is a universal characteristic of human language but linguistic diversity is rarely neutral; rather it is accompanied by linguistic stratification and linguistic subordination. Domains critical to social justice include employment, education, and community participation. The book offers a detailed examination of the connection between linguistic diversity and inequality in these specific contexts within nation states that are organized as liberal democracies. Inequalities exist not only between individuals and groups within a state but also between states. Therefore, the book also explores the role of linguistic diversity in global injustice with a particular focus on the spread of English as a global language. While much of the analysis in this book focuses on language as a means of exclusion, discrimination and disadvantage, the concluding chapter asks what the content of linguistic justice might be.

American Speech, the journal of the American Dialect Society has for fifty years included a regular collection of neologisms called "Among the New Words." A recent issue, for example, includes four quotations for "date rape," two for "designated driver," and six for "DNA fingerprinting," "intifada," and other current terms. Complete documentation is given for all citations, which are fuller than those given in most dictionaries and both British and American sources have been consulted. At the time these terms appeared in "Among the New Words," they appeared in none of the major dictionaries. A survey of "Among the New Words" can therefore reveal much about the origin and early use of these expressions and the social climate in which they prospered. Now for the first time, this valuable resource will be available in one volume. The original articles themselves are reproduced and John Algeo has prepared a complete index, with glossary, to every word and expression included in the 113 installments of "Among the New Words." In addition, he has written several introductory essays exploring both the linguistic and social implications of new words as revealed in this collection. No other collection of new words has been so systematically compiled over such a long period, demonstrating changing word patterns and social norms over five decades. None has been prepared with such thorough and accurate documentation. It is a unique repository of language use from 1941-1991. John Algeo currently co-edits "Among the New Words."

"Noah Webster was a truly remarkable man, shrewd, passionate, learned and energetic, God-fearing and patriotic. Mr. Unger has done a fine job reintroducing him to a new generation of Americans." —Washington Times Noah Webster The Life and Times of an American Patriot "More than a lexicographer, Webster was a teacher, philosopher, author, essayist, orator, political leader, public official, and crusading editor. Webster’s life thrust him into every major event of the early history of our nation, from the Revolutionary War to the War of 1812. He touched the lives of the most renowned Americans —and the most obscure. He earned the love and friendship of many, the hatred of some, but the respect of all. Noah Webster helped create far more than an American dictionary; he helped create an American nation." —from the Prologue In the first major biography of Noah Webster in over sixty years, author Harlow Unger creates an intriguing portrait of the United States as an energetic and confident young country, even when independence was fragile and the future unclear. Harlow Unger brilliantly restores Webster’s monumental legacy as a teacher,legislator, philosopher, lawyer, editor, and one of history’s most profoundly influential lexicographers. Breathtaking adventure—from the American Revolution to the War of 1812—and masterful scholarship converge in this riveting chronicle of a singularly American intellect.

This second edition of Ian Roberts's highly successful textbook on diachronic syntax has been fully revised and updated throughout to take account of the multiple developments in the field in the last decade. The book provides a detailed account of how standard questions in historical linguistics - including word order change, grammaticalization, and reanalysis - can be explored in terms of current minimalist theory and Universal Grammar. This new edition offers expanded coverage of a range of topics, including null subjects, the Final-over-Final Condition, the diachrony of wh-movement, the Tolerance Principle, and creoles and creolization, and explores further advances in the theory of parametric variation. Each chapter includes suggestions for further reading, and the book concludes with a comprehensive glossary of key terms. Written by one of the leading scholars in the field, the volume will remain an ideal textbook for students of historical linguistics and a valuable reference for researchers and students in related areas such as syntax, comparative linguistics, language contact, and language acquisition.

'On coverage this dictionary scores hightly ... the quality of entries is generally excellent ... all of which leaves us with an outstanding new title.' - - Reference Reviews, 1998

'The publication of this reference work is a landmark event in the history of lexicography ... Hartmann and James' unique methodological approach and extreme informativity have made this a veritable user-friendly survey of a fascinatingly dynamic "professional activity and academic field"', - Language Today

'An outstanding new title ... one woth the attention and sure to grab the interest of any reader of this journal ... it offers a fascinating coverage of a field not as widely treated in any other reference work.' - Reference Reviews

Delayed development of speech and/or language is one of the commonest reasons for parents of preschool children to seek the advice of a paediatrician.
Accessible to non-academic Speech and Language Impairments provides an overview of recent research developments in specific speech and language impairments, written by experts in the field. Topics include normal and disordered development of problems , crosslinguistic studies, pragmatic language impairments, early identification, educational and psychiatric outcomes, acquired epileptic aphasia and experimental studies of remediation. The book concludes with a chapter by Michael Rutter that gives guidelines for conducting and evaluating research in this field.

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This book deals with the question of how children exposed to two languages simultaneously from birth learn to speak those two languages. After a critical and comprehensive survey of most of the literature on the subject, the author concludes that empirically well-documented knowledge in this area is very scant indeed. The core of the book concerns a naturalistic study of a Dutch-English bilingual girl around the age of three. The study’s main aim is to explore the nature of early bilingual morphosyntactic development. Detailed analyses of most aspects of this development show that a child who hears two separate languages spoken to her reflects this distinctness in the utterances she produces: each language is handled as a system in its own right. Furthermore, the young bilingual three year old greatly resembles her monolingual peers in either language. Both these findings, the author concludes, highlight the language-specific nature of the morphosyntactic development process. This book will interest linguists, psycholinguists, developmental psychologists, and child language specialists.

A closely analyzed exposition of how children acquire language that explores the receptive and productive abilities of children in all core areas of language--phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Readers will acquire the fundamental knowledge and skill not only to interpret primary literature but to approach their own research with sophistication. While the descriptive facts that are currently available on first language acquisition are central to the book, its emphasis on methodology and explanation distinguishes this text from others. The various ways in which research is conducted is discussed in detail, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, leading to new perspectives on key theoretical issues.

He might appropriately be called the "founding father" whom American history forgot. Renowned during his lifetime as a principal architect of cultural and political life in the fledgling United States, Noah Webster has since disappeared into the pages of his own dictionary — ironically eclipsed by his own colossal creation. Until now. This groundbreaking biography brilliantly restores Webster's monumental legacy as a teacher, legislator, philosopher, lawyer, crusading editor, and one of history's most profoundly influential lexicographers. In the first major biography of Noah Webster in over sixty years, author Harlow Unger creates an intriguing portrait of the United States as an energetic and confident young nation, even when independence was fragile and the future unclear.

A descendant of one of New England's first families, Noah Webster was born in 1758 into a Connecticut landscape on the brink of revolution and strife. A serious-minded boy with bright red hair, he inherited from his father a deep-seated pride of family and love of country. When the Boston Massacre of 1770 roused the soldiers of the Hartford commonweal to arms, Webster was twelve years old and already carrying a musket and marching in the local militia. As a young man, his burgeoning patriotism was further fueled by the writings of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Paine. These philosophers heavily influenced the first portion of Webster's career as a powerfully vocal warrior against political and social disunion and the forces of anarchy. As a schoolteacher and tireless lecturer, he sought to eradicate illiteracy in lower social classes and endorsed unprecedented programs to provide equal opportunities for women. Webster, in short, became America's first social reformer. He was not yet forty.

Webster is known chiefly for his equally remarkable second career as the original standard-bearer of American English, however. His speller sold countless copies over the years, his dictionary achieved nothing short of a complete transformation of the way Americans wrote the language, and his elementary school curriculum was for decades the foundation of American education.

Enjoying complete access to Webster's papers, letters, essays, and diaries, Unger explores with unique clarity and depth the role his subject played as a close ally of George Washington, John Adams, and John Jay and as a key player in the heated battle to ratify the Constitution.

Breathtaking adventure—from the Revolution to the War of 1812—and masterful scholarship converge in this riveting chronicle of a singularly American intellect. In the indispensable Noah Webster: The Life and Times of an American Patriot, Unger brings his meticulous research and eye for telling detail to bear on his subject's myriad achievements, as well as his enduring legacies.

"Until Webster, no great nation on earth could boast of the linguistic unity that Webster created in the United States. More than a lexicographer, Webster was a teacher, philosopher, author, essayist, orator, political leader, public official, and crusading editor. Webster's life thrust him into every major event of the early history of our nation, from the Revolutionary War to the War of 1812. He touched the lives of the most renowned Americans—and the most obscure. He earned the love and friendship of many, the hatred of some, but the respect of all. Noah Webster helped create far more than an American dictionary; he helped create an American nation."—from the Prologue

-A classic text offering the only comprehensive survey of the research in this field. -Provides explanations of why the development of blind children may differ from that of sighted children. -Offers insight into the effect of vision on development more generally, and more specifically on the development of language and certain aspects of social cognition. -A new introduction from Miguel Perez-Pereira highlights the current context for the work, its impact as well as the latest research and tensions in the field.

German Grammar in Context, 3rd Edition includes updated textual examples which provide the basis for an accessible and engaging approach to learning grammar. Using authentic texts from a variety of contemporary sources such as newspapers, magazines, poems, TV and film scripts, books or online sources, each chapter explores a key aspect of German grammar. Following each text, exercises are provided to reinforce understanding and build effective comprehension and communication skills. Helpful keyword boxes translate difficult vocabulary in the texts, and recommended reading sections offer advice on additional grammar resources and website links. German Grammar in Context is an essential resource for students at CEFR level B1-C2 and Intermediate-Advanced High on the ACTFL scale. It is suitable for both classroom use and independent study.

This book focuses on the early acquisition of signed languages and the later development of reading by children who use signed languages. It represents the first collection of research papers focused solely on the acquisition of various signed languages by very young children--all of whom are acquiring signed languages natively, from deaf parents. It is also the first collection to investigate the possible relationships between the acquisition of signed language and reading development in school-aged children. The underlying questions addressed by the chapters are how visual-gestural languages develop and whether and how visual languages can serve the foundation for learning a second visual representation of language, namely, reading.
"Language Acquisition by Eye" is divided into two parts, anchored in the toddler phase and the school-pupil phase. The central focus of Part I is on the earliest stages of signed language acquisition. The chapters in this part address important questions as to what "babytalk" looks like in signed language and the effect it has on babies' attention, what early babbling looks like in signed language, what babies' earliest signs look like, how parents talk to their babies in signed language to ensure that their babies "see" what's being said, and what the earliest sentences in signed languages tell us about the acquisition of grammar. With contrasting research paradigms, these chapters all show the degree to which parents and babies are highly sensitive to one another's communicative interactions in subtle and complex ways. Such observations cannot be made for spoken language acquisition because speech does not require that the parent and child look at each other during communication whereas signed language does.
Part II focuses on the relationship between signed language acquisition and reading development in children who are deaf. All of these chapters report original research that investigates and uncovers a positive relationship between the acquisition and knowledge of signed language and the development of reading skills and as a result, represents a historical first in reading research. This section discusses how current theory applies to the case of deaf children's reading and presents new data that illuminates reading theory. Using a variety of research paradigms, each chapter finds a positive rather than a negative correlation between signed language knowledge and usage, and the development of reading skill. These chapters are sure to provide the foundation for new directions in reading research.

It is a well-known fact that some adult second language learners learn more rapidly and/or to a higher level of proficiency than others. Some of these individual differences have been linked to differences in cognitive and perceptual abilities under the umbrella term of 'language aptitude'. The notion of language aptitude has undergone recent developments, one of which is the proposal that language aptitude includes cognitive abilities that involve implicit processes and that are advantageous in learning a language without awareness. This Element defines implicit language aptitude, examines tasks that can be used to measure implicit language aptitude, and provides an overview of relevant research in this area.

Ayhan Aksu-Koc's empirical research on Turkish children's acquisition of the past tense forms the basis for this original and important contribution to the current debate among psycholinguistics on the interrelationship between language and cognitive development. Turkish, in its grammar, makes a clear distinction between direct and indirect experiencing, separating personal observation of processes from both inference and narrative. This distinction thus provides an ideal means by which linguistic and nonlinguistic conceptual development can be observed. Dr Aksu-Koc has exploited this to full advantage in her broadly based longitudinal and cross-sectional study, conducted across a wide age range. The data are meticulously analyzed, and the theoretical implications for a neo-Piagetian paradigm are carefully considered.

This edited volume seeks to highlight the effects of self-concept on L2 learning and teaching by considering a wide range of theories as well as their practical application. The book is divided into four sections and includes: chapters discussing various approaches related to self-concept; empirical studies related to the selves of the learners; research from teachers' perspectives on students' self-concept; and L2 motivational intervention studies associated with the development of self-concept of language learners. The volume contains a collection of studies from around the world (Central Europe, Canada, Asia and Australia) which were carried out using a variety of research methods and have a range of foci including adult and young learners, public and private education, foreign and second language settings, and teacher and learner motivation.

Advancing Quantitative Methods in Second Language Research is the first hands-on guide to conducting advanced research methods in the fields of applied linguistics and second language studies. While a number of texts discuss basic quantitative research methodology, none focus exclusively on providing coverage of alternative advanced statistical procedures in second language studies from a practical approach. The text is bookended by discussions of these advanced procedures in the larger context of second language studies, debating their strengths, weaknesses, and potential for further research; the remaining chapters are how-to sections, each chapter following the same organization, on a wide variety of advanced research methods. By offering much-needed coverage on advanced statistical concepts and procedures, with an eye toward real-world implementation, Advancing Quantitative Methods in Second Language Research enhances the methodological repertoire of graduate students and researchers in applied linguistics and second language studies. For additional content, visit: http://oak.ucc.nau.edu/ldp3/AQMSLR.html

The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Second Language Acquisition is the first reference work of its kind. The handbook contains twenty contributions from leading experts in the field of Chinese SLA, covering a wide range of topics such as social contexts, linguistic perspectives, skill learning, individual differences and learning settings and testing. Each chapter covers historical perspectives, core issues and key findings, research approaches, pedagogical implications, future research direction and additional references. The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Second Language Acquisition is an essential reference for Chinese language teachers and researchers in Chinese applied linguistics and second language acquisition.

Woerterbucher sind eine spannende Lekture, wenn man sie im Kontext von Sprach- und Theoriegeschichte, Sozial- und Bildungsgeschichte liest. Hier wird eine am modernen Kulturbegriff ausgerichtete Geschichte der Woerterbucher des deutschen Sprachraums erzahlt, in der die Positionen ihrer Verfasser und Benutzer beschrieben, dazu wissenschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Zusammenhange beleuchtet werden.Nach einer Einfuhrung in die Grundbegriffe und das allgemeine Handwerkszeug der Lexikografinnen und Lexikografen folgt eine chronologische Darstellung vom 8. bis 20. Jahrhundert. In weiteren Kapiteln werden systematische Aspekte behandelt: Nationale und europaische Lexikografie, Ordnung der Welt in Synonymiken, Verwandtschaft von Sprach- und Sachlexika, Woerterbucher als Sprachrichter, Neue Medien - eine lexikografische Revolution.

This textbook presents an up-to-date account of the main concerns, problems and theoretical and practical issues raised by second language acquisition research. Research in this field has until recently been mainly pedagogically oriented, but since the 1970s linguists and psychologists have become increasingly interested in the principles that underlie second language acquisition for the light these throw on how human language processing functions in general. Moreover, it is only through an understanding of these principles that foreign language teaching can become maximally effective. In the first part of his book, Wolfgang Klein provides a critical assessment of the current state of the art. The second part, 'from the learner's point of view', is devoted to four central problems which anyone learning a second language (either through everyday communication or in the classroom) is faced with, and whose solution constitutes the acquisition process. This accessible introduction provides students of linguistics and applied linguistics and anyone concerned with foreign language teaching with a real understanding of the fundamental issues in the field, or the advances that have not yet been solved and sometimes not even approached.

The ability to speak two or more languages is a common human experience, whether for children born into bilingual families, young people enrolled in foreign language classes, or mature and older adults learning and using more than one language to meet life's needs and desires. This Handbook offers a developmentally oriented and socially contextualized survey of research into individual bilingualism, comprising the learning, use and, as the case may be, unlearning of two or more spoken and signed languages and language varieties. A wide range of topics is covered, from ideologies, policy, the law, and economics, to exposure and input, language education, measurement of bilingual abilities, attrition and forgetting, and giftedness in bilinguals. Also explored are cross- and intra-disciplinary connections with psychology, clinical linguistics, second language acquisition, education, cognitive science, neurolinguistics, contact linguistics, and sign language research.

This study investigates the oral and written story productions of 56 10-12-year-old Greek-German and Greek-English bilingual children in order find out to which extent their narrative abilities develop conjointly across their two languages and which factors affect this. Quantitative and qualitative measures of narrative discourse ability are related to a composite score of bilingual language dominance (Bilingual Index Score). Results indicate that the degree to which bilinguals can share abilities across their two languages is highly dependent on the type of ability and the degree of dominance and - to a lesser degree - on crosslinguistic differences and modality of production. As such, this study reveals nontrivial implications for the educational support of bi- and multilingual children.

The primary responsibility of the Academie Francaise to compose a dictionary of the French language intersected with major undercurrents of the French Revolution, and its significance continued through the Napoleonic period and into the Restoration. Yet, despite being such a prominent institution under the Old Regime, scholarship on the Academie during these periods remains largely neglected. From its origins in the late seventeenth century, there have been nine editions of the dictionary-of those nine, the fifth edition (published in 1798) is unquestionably the most controversial. When the National Convention commissioned it two years after it had suppressed the Academie, it expected the edition to highlight the ideals of the French Revolution and republic. Instead, the Academie delivered a dictionary comprised of anachronistic values and present-tense definitions of abolished institutions, the Revolution mentioned only in brief in a hastily-prepared supplement consigned to the end of the second volume. For its failure to capture the current state of the French language, most contemporaries judged it harshly, and its deficiencies even led Parisian publisher Nicolas Moutardier to publish a competing edition in 1802. The dictionary became the focus of protracted litigation that Napoleon Bonaparte's government increasingly used to assert its control over language. Indeed, Bonaparte met personally with the Institut National preparing the sixth edition, making clear his desire that it not contain Revolutionary neologisms. Eager to see the new edition appear, the Bonapartist regime committed financial resources and established a timetable for its completion within five years. Bonaparte, however, fell from power before it was completed. The restored Bourbon dynasty, though also eager to see the new edition completed, was less concerned with the control of language, and the sixth edition appeared in 1835, five years after the Bourbon dynasty was overthrown. Drawing on previously unused sources, A Place of Words is the first book-length study of the controversial fifth edition of the Academie Francaise. Spanning over half a century of changing regimes, the edition provides unique insight into the ways in which each government between the beginning of its preparation after the fourth edition's publication in 1762 and the publication of the sixth edition in 1835 viewed the role of language as an instrument of control.