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Books > Language & Literature > Language & linguistics > Semantics (meaning) > Lexicography
This is the first study of the typological change of English from a synthetic towards an analytic language that focuses exclusively on the lexical domain of the language. It presents an innovative approach to linguistic typology by focusing on the different encoding techniques used in the lexicon, providing a theoretical framework for the description of structural types (synthetic, analytic) and encoding techniques (fusional, isolating, agglutinative, incorporating) found in the lexicon of a language. It is argued that, in the case of English, the change from syntheticity to analyticity did not only affect its inflectional system and the encoding of grammatical information, but also the derivational component. Based on a cognitive approach to derivation, the book provides empirical evidence for a considerable decline in the use of synthetic structures and a trend towards higher degrees of analyticity in a specific lexical domain of English, the formation of nouns by means of derivation. The full extent of this change surfaced during the transition from Old English to early Middle English, but it was later partly reversed though influence from French. The typological shift was thus the result of a global structural reorganization of the language that resulted in a fundamental change of the structure of words. The book also presents a comprehensive account of the historical development of nominal derivation from the beginnings of Old English until the end of the early Middle English period. Based on empirical data from written sources the study documents the frequency of use of all Germanic-based derivational morphemes for nominalizations over different subperiods and discusses their origin as well as important changes of their semantic and morphological properties.
This book reviews recent research on the second language acquisition of meaning with a view of establishing whether there is a critical period for the acquisition of compositional semantics. A modular approach to language architecture is assumed. The book addresses the Critical Period Hypothesis by examining the positive side of language development: it demonstrates which modules of the grammar are easy to acquire and are not subject to age effects. The Bottleneck Hypothesis is proposed, which argues that inflectional morphology and its features present the most formidable challenge, while syntax and phrasal semantics pose less difficulty to learners. Findings from the neurofunctional imaging (PET, fMRI) and electrophysiology (ERPs) of L2 comprehension are reviewed and critically examined. Since it is argued that experimental tasks in those studies are mostly in need of linguistic refinement, evidence from behavioral studies of L2 acquisition of semantics are brought to bear on comprehension modeling. Learning situations are divided into two types: those presenting learners with complex syntax, but simple semantics; and those offering complex semantic mismatches in simple syntactic contexts. The numerous studies of both types reviewed in the book indicate that there is no barrier to ultimate success in the acquisition of phrasal semantics.
This book presents a case study of English-Medium Instruction (EMI) implemented by universities in Vietnam, making valuable theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions to the research in EMI which is currently a popular theme in the field of Higher Education. The importance of internationalization of higher education has been widely recognized by many countries all over the world. The spread of English as an international language has resulted in its crucial role in teaching and learning any disciplines. Globally, higher education in many non-English speaking countries has witnessed rapid expansion of (EMI) which was initiated in Europe, then to Asia and other continents which are featured with "Cultural Circles" spread in the world. Although there are many publications with the same theme available today, this monograph is unique because it is the first time to examine EMI classroom interaction from the cultural perspective specifically rather than from linguistic or pedagogical perspectives. It is a pioneering attempt to discuss in depth about cultural issues relating to EMI, namely (1) the social-cultural context of EMI classes in higher education; (2) the cultural backgrounds of EMI teachers and learners; and (3) culture interactions between teachers and learners in EMI classrooms. In addition, both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed to collect data from teachers and learners. Finally, a context-based model of EMI is proposed based on findings of this research. As a country within the Confucius Heritage Cultural Circle, Vietnam has been selected for this study because few studies to date are carried out in how EMI is culturally integrated to teaching and learning in the Vietnamese universities. This book is a joint effort by international academics, prepared for established scholars, researchers, educators, and research higher degree students who are interested in higher education, second and foreign language education and EMI teacher training.
In this handbook, renowned scholars from a range of backgrounds provide a state of the art review of key developmental findings in language acquisition. The book places language acquisition phenomena in a richly linguistic and comparative context, highlighting the link between linguistic theory, language development, and theories of learning. The book is divided into six parts. Parts I and II examine the acquisition of phonology and morphology respectively, with chapters covering topics such as phonotactics and syllable structure, prosodic phenomena, compound word formation, and processing continuous speech. Part III moves on to the acquisition of syntax, including argument structure, questions, mood alternations, and possessives. In Part IV, chapters consider semantic aspects of language acquisition, including the expression of genericity, quantification, and scalar implicature. Finally, Parts V and VI look at theories of learning and aspects of atypical language development respectively.
A growing body of literature is suggesting that many children with
language disorders and delays--even those with so-called specific
language impairment--have difficulties in other domains as well. In
this pathbreaking book, the authors draw on more than 40 years of
research and clinical observations of populations ranging from
various groups of children to adults with brain damage to construct
a comprehensive model for the development of the interrelated
skills involved in language performance, and trace the crucial
implications of this model for intervention. Early tactual
feedback, they argue, is more critical for the perceptual/cognitive
organization of experiences that constitutes a foundation for
language development than either visual or auditory input, and the
importance of tactually-anchored nonverbal interaction cannot be
ignored if efforts at treatment are to be successful.
A growing body of literature is suggesting that many children with
language disorders and delays--even those with so-called specific
language impairment--have difficulties in other domains as well. In
this pathbreaking book, the authors draw on more than 40 years of
research and clinical observations of populations ranging from
various groups of children to adults with brain damage to construct
a comprehensive model for the development of the interrelated
skills involved in language performance, and trace the crucial
implications of this model for intervention. Early tactual
feedback, they argue, is more critical for the perceptual/cognitive
organization of experiences that constitutes a foundation for
language development than either visual or auditory input, and the
importance of tactually-anchored nonverbal interaction cannot be
ignored if efforts at treatment are to be successful.
Recent studies of vocal development in infants have shed new light
on old questions of how the speech capacity is founded and how it
may have evolved in the human species. Vocalizations in the very
first months of life appear to provide previously unrecognized
clues to the earliest steps in the process by which language came
to exist and the processes by which communicative disorders arise.
The compelling story of a young woman's emergence into the world after spending her first 13 years strapped to a chair, and her rescue and exploitation by scientists hoping to gain new insight into language acquisition.
Language acquisition is a human endeavor par excellence. As children, all human beings learn to understand and speak at least one language: their mother tongue. It is a process that seems to take place without any obvious effort. Second language learning, particularly among adults, causes more difficulty. The purpose of this series is to compile a collection of high-quality monographs on language acquisition. The series serves the needs of everyone who wants to know more about the problem of language acquisition in general and/or about language acquisition in specific contexts.
"Validation in Language Assessment" contributes to the variety of
validation approaches and analytical and interpretive techniques
only recently adopted by language assessment researchers. Featuring
selected papers from the 17th Language Testing Research Colloquium,
the volume presents diverse approaches with an international
perspective on validation in language assessment.
The purpose of this workbook is to provide students with practice
in analyzing second language data. For the student of second
language learning, "hands-on" experience with actual data is
essential in understanding the processes involved in learning a
second language. Working through exemplars of the kinds of
interlanguages that learners do and do not create brings about a
clearer understanding of the principles underlying these
interlanguages, as well as the universal principles of language
learning (those that are independent of particular languages and
interlanguages).
Ever since the notion of explanatory adequacy was promoted by
Chomsky in his 1965 Aspects, linguists and psycholinguists have
been in pursuit of a psychologically valid theory of grammar. To be
explanatorily adequate, a theory of grammar can not only describe
the general characteristics of a language but can also account for
the underlying psychological processes of acquiring and processing
that language. To be considered psychologically valid, a grammar
must be learnable by ordinary children (the problem of acquisition)
and must generate sentences that are parsable by ordinary people
(the problem of processing). Ultimately, the fields of language
acquisition and processing are concerned with the same goal: to
build a theory that accounts for grammar as it is acquired by
children; accessed in comprehension and production of speech; and
represented within the human mind. Unfortunately, these two fields
developed independently and have rarely been well-informed about
each other's concerns. Both have experienced past difficulties as a
result.
This book is the first to summarize the voluminous literature on
the development of cognitive, codification, language, and
expressive/affective (CCCE) skills "from a clinical standpoint."
Emphasizing the need to ground services in research and theory, the
author constructs three basic clinical models--a conceptual model
for understanding, a descriptive model for formal assessment, and a
facilitative model for intervention. These models have major
implications for the work of all those who deal with CCCE problems
in a professional capacity.
Continuing the tradition of this series, which has become a
standard reference work in language acquisition, Volume 4 contains
chapters on three additional languages/language groups--Finnish,
Greek, and Korean. The chapters are selective, critical reviews
rather than exhaustive summaries of the course of development of
each language. Authors approach the language in question as a case
study in a potential crosslinguistic typology of acquisitional
problems, considering those data which contribute to issues of
general theoretical concern in developmental psycholinguistics and
linguistic theory. Each chapter, therefore, provides the following:
Offering a unique focus on the development of human communication,
this book integrates and synthesizes a more comprehensive array of
research than most investigations of communicative development. As
such, it incorporates materials dealing with the development of
nonverbal communication, language, and cognition, and examines how
they are integrated in the growing child's everyday interaction.
This information is distilled into a set of key principles and
practices--culled from a variety of fields including developmental
and social psychology, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and
communication--for parents or adults interested in child
development.
The English-IsiNdebele/IsiNdebele-English Bilingual Dictionary is part
of the Pharos entry-level series of bilingual dictionaries for English
and the nine official African languages in South Africa. The dictionary
is suitable for English or isiNdebele first or second-language speakers
wishing to learn an additional language. It will help users build their
vocabulary, improve grammar and use common phrases correctly, whether
at school level, in the workplace, as a tourist, or just for anyone
wishing to learn isiNdebele.
This edited volume offers a series of state-of-the-art conceptual papers and empirical research studies which consider how contextual factors at multiple levels dynamically interact with individuals to influence how they go about the complex business of learning and using a second language.
Gunther Kress argues for a radical reappraisal of the phenomenon of
literacy, and hence for a profound shift in educational practice.
Through close attention to the plethora of objects which children
constantly produce--drawings, cut-outs, writings and collages--
Kress suggests a set of principles which reveal the underlying
coherence of children's actions-- actions which allow us to connect
them with attempts to make meaning before they acquire language and
writing.
Research on the development of metaphor abilities in children can
be dated back as far as 1960, with Asch and Nerlove's pioneering
study, which concluded that children were unable to understand
metaphors until middle or even late childhood. However, the study
of metaphor in children did not take off until the 1970s; research
continued to show metaphor as a relatively late-developing skill,
based on children's inability to paraphrase correctly metaphoric
sentences presented out of any situational or narrative context.
This book presents a case study on lexical error analysis in the translation products of Arab English majors at the university level with important implications for Arabic-speaking countries. It provides detailed analyses and explanations of the main lexical areas that cause specific difficulties for these students, while also identifying their potential sources. The respective chapters discuss several areas related to the context of the research, the field of SLA, error analysis, language transfer, error taxonomies, language learning, language teaching, and translation training. The analyses and findings presented here contribute to the linguistic field by developing a comprehensive list of lexical error categories based on form, content, and origin of influence regarding translation products. In addition, the book sheds light on the pedagogical aspects contributing to the enhancement of ESL/EFL teaching in the Arab context as well as other contexts where English is taught as a foreign language. The book will help educators and curriculum writers in designing materials, and language researchers as a groundwork for their studies of L2 learners' written products.
Designed to provide practical information to those who are
concerned with the development of young children, this book has
three goals. First, the authors offer details about patterns of
language development over the first three years of life. Although
intensive studies have been carried out by examining from one to 20
children in the age range of zero to three years, there has been no
longitudinal study of a sample as large as this--53 children--nor
have as many measures of language development been obtained from
the same children. Examining language development from a broad
perspective in this size population allows us to see what
generalizations can be made about patterns of language development.
Much of the work currently conducted within the framework of
Universal Grammar and language learnability focuses on the
acquisition of syntax. However, the learnability issues are just as
applicable to the domain of phonology. This volume is the first to
gather research that assumes a sophisticated phonological framework
and considers the implications of this framework for language
acquisition -- both first and second. As such, this book truly
deals with phonological acquisition rather than phonetic
acquisition. |
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