Perfect for self-study or classroom learners, this Farsi language book takes a user-friendly approach. Farsi for Beginners is a complete language course by experienced teacher Dr. Saeid Atoofi, which will help you to speak the language and open doors to Persian culture. This second edition is updated to include IT and social media vocabulary and downloadable audio files. Whether for pleasure, travel or business, language learners will find these lessons clear and easy to follow. By the end of this course, you'll be able to understand short sentences, express your basic needs, and read and write the 32-letter Farsi alphabet. Farsi for Beginners contains the following essential features: Dialogues and stories about a family traveling to contemporary Iran Downloadable native-speaker audio recordings help you to pronounce Farsi accurately Idioms, sayings and poems introducing you to the cultures in which Farsi is used Extensive exercises with answer keys to guide your learning process Photos and insider cultural tips teach you about Persian culture Farsi is the language of Persia (present-day Iran). More than 1.5 million Iranian-Americans live in the U.S. today, and Farsi is considered a "critically needed" language by the U.S. government.

The Bobbio Missal was copied in south-eastern Gaul around the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth century. It contains a unique combination of a lectionary and a sacramentary, to which a plethora of canonical and non-canonical material was added. The Missal is therefore highly regarded by liturgists; but, additionally, medieval historians welcome the information to be derived from material attached to the codex, which provides valuable data about the role and education of priests in Francia at that time, and indeed on their cultural and ideological background. The breadth of specialist knowledge provided by the team of scholars writing for this book enables the manuscript to be viewed as a whole, not as a narrow liturgical study. Collectively, the essays view the manuscript as physical object: they discuss the contents, they examine the language, and they look at the cultural context in which the codex was written.

Boost your language skills with this exciting and new workbook for Intermediate Japanese! This companion workbook to Intermediate Japanese is the perfect guide for practicing conversational Japanese and written Japanese. Following in the footsteps of Tuttle's successful Beginning Japanese Workbook, this book is designed to complete the requirements for the Advanced Placement (AP) Japanese exam. It is suitable for self-study as well as classroom use and has accompanying audio resources designed to improve the reader's pronunciation and listening skills. Intermediate Japanese Workbook includes: Dialogues for contextual learning and practice Translation exercises to reinforce Japanese characters (Kanji and Hiragana) Reading comprehension exercises, questions, and prompts Extensive vocabulary and grammar, games and activities to reinforce learning 125 new Kanji (a cumulative total of 300 with the Beginning Japanese Workbook). Developed by Japanese language experts and experienced high-school Japanese teachers, it includes practice activities for reading, writing, speaking, listening and understanding Japanese. The activities are varied and interesting, mirroring the textbook, and they help you polish every aspect of your Japanese language skills. Written activities center around practicing writing kanji, hiragana, and katakana in the context of the textbook. Whether you're learning Japanese for fun, preparing for a Japanese proficiency exam, want to achieve AP or IB level competency, or just want to get an A in Japanese class, the Intermediate Japanese series is your key to becoming a confident Japanese-speaker. All exercises are designed to be used along with the Intermediate Japanese textbook but can also be used independently to supplement any other Japanese language textbook. The content is carefully aligned with ACTFL National Standards, making this a valuable and practical resource for any learner.

Learn to speak, read, and write Korean with this complete language guide for beginners! Learning Korean teaches you the basics of the Korean language, including practical daily conversations and vocabulary, and enables you to begin communicating effectively right away. All Korean words and sentences are given in Korean Hangeul script and romanized form for easy pronunciation, with English translations. Key features include: 11 lessons designed for beginning adult learners Basic sentence patterns and vocabulary used in daily conversations Suitable for self-study learners as well as beginning level classes Hangeul and Romanized versions of all Korean texts with English translations Cultural notes for understanding Korean customs and norms A dictionary of commonly-used words and phrases Accompanying native speaker audio recordings Downloadable flashcards The book also includes useful notes and explanations on pronunciation, the Korean Hangeul script, greetings and requests, basic sentence structure and vocabulary, verb conjugations, honorific forms, idiomatic expressions, and etiquette dos and don'ts. Free native-speaker MP3 audio recordings of the dialogues and vocabulary are available online and enable language learners to improve their pronunciation, while printable flashcards help with vocabulary memorization.

"Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization" traces the origins of writing tied to speech from ancient Sumer through the Greek alphabet and beyond.
Examines the earliest evidence for writing in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC, the origins of purely phonographic systems, and the mystery of alphabetic writing
Includes discussions of Ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Mayan writing
Shows how the structures of writing served and do serve social needs and in turn create patterns of social behavior
Clarifies the argument with many illustrations

An Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography traces the development of handwriting in the Greek and Latin alphabets from the earliest papyri up to the book hands of the middle ages and the court hands of the seventeenth century. It is, without doubt, the best introductory text on the subject ever to appear in English. This edition has been completely reset, and the illustrations have been digitally enhanced. Sir Edward Maunde Thompson (1840-1929) entered University College, Oxford, in 1859 but had to leave before completing his degree. He entered the library of the British Museum (now British Library) in 1861 and became Keeper of Manuscripts in 1878. He was appointed Principal Librarian in 1888.

Salomon surveys all the inscriptional material - documents written in ink on various surfaces, or carved into stone and metal, as well as seals - in the Indo-Aryan languages. He presents the entire corpus of these inscriptions in a way accessible to specialists in the field as well as non-specialists.

Owen investigates what the manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales reveal about the way they came into being. [see revs] This study of the manuscripts of the Canterbury Talescalls into question previous efforts to explain the complexities, the different orderings of the tales and the extraordinary shifts in textual affiliations within the manuscripts. Owen sees the manuscripts that survive, most of them collections of all or almost all the tales, as derived from the large number of single tales and small collections that circulated after Chaucer's death. This theory takes issue with all modern editions of the Canterbury Tales, which in Owen's view reflect the effort of medieval scribes and supervisors to make a satisfactory book of the collection of fragments Chaucer left behind. It is this collection of fragments, the authentic Tales of Canterbury by Geoffrey Chaucer, which reflects the different stages of the plan that was still evolving at his death. CHARLES A. OWEN Jr is former Professor of English and Chairman of Medieval Studies at the University of Conneticut.

No overall survey of the Muslim inscriptions in India has ever been attempted on this scale before. The book reveals the significance of epigraphy as a source for Islamic history and culture, and goes on to trace in fascinating detail the diffusion of Islam in Bengal from early merchants, to the mighty Mughals through to the British Raj; covering royalty to Sufis and Khanquahs.

This unique and authoritative guide describes more than 400 important Chinese symbols, explaining their esoteric meanings and connections. Their use and development in Chinese literature and in Chinese customs and attitudes to life are traced lucidly and precisely.
`An ideal reference book to help one learn and explore further, while simultaneously giving greater insight into many other aspects of Chinese life ... the most authoritative guide to Chinese symbolism available to the general reader today ... a well-researched, informative and entertaining guide to the treasure trove of Chinese symbols.' - South China Morning Post

eBook available with sample pages: 0203038770

Written by one of the world's leading paleographers, this book poses two fundamental questions: When did human beings begin--and why have they continued--to decide that a certain number of their dead had a right to a "written death"? What differences have existed in the practice of writing death from age to age and culture to culture? Drawing principally on testimonials intended for public display, such as monuments, tombstones, and grave markings, as well as on scrolls, books, manuscripts, newspapers, and posters, the author reconstructs the ways Western cultures have used writing to commemorate the dead, from the tombs of ancient Egypt to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The author argues that the relation between funereal remains and inscription is a profoundly political one. The recurring question--Who merits a written death?--demands a multifaceted reply, one that intersects such "modes" of human cultural history as the relation between the living and the dead, the control of territory, the formation and maintenance of power, the preservation of wealth, the right to individuality, and the symbolic and signifying value of written culture.
Apart from examining funerary writing in the light of this analytical model, the author also studies the quality of commemorative writing, the length and physical arrangement of the text, and its link to any representational elements, such as a likeness of the deceased, the techniques involved in executing the testimonial, the number of people who participate in creating it, and its outward appearance. Under the author's careful and informed scrutiny, such developments as unidirectional script, the separation of writing into horizontal lines, and the even spacing of individual letters are revealed as indices of social and technological change.

A fresh appraisal of late medieval manuscript culture in England, examining the ways in which people sustained older books, exploring the practices and processes by which manuscripts were crafted, mended, protected, marked, gifted and shared. During the "long fifteenth century" (here, 1375-1530), the demand for books in England flourished. The fast-developing book trade produced them in great quantity. Fragments of manuscripts were often repurposed, as flyleaves and other components such as palimpsests; and alongside the creation of new books, medieval manuscripts were also repaired, recycled and re-used. This monograph examines the ways in which people sustained older books, exploring the practices and processes by which manuscripts were crafted, mended, protected, marked, gifted and shared. Drawing on the codicological evidence gathered from an extensive survey of extant manuscript collections, in conjunction with historical accounts, recipes and literary texts, it presents detailed case studies exploring parchment production and recycling, the re-use of margins, and second-hand exchanges of books. Its engagement with the evidence in - and inscribed on - surviving books enables a fresh appraisal of late medieval manuscript culture in England, looking at how people went about re-using books, and arguing that over the course of this period, books were made, used and re-used in a myriad of sustainable ways.

An investigation into the hugely significant works produced by the Worcester foundation at a period of turmoil and change. From the mid-eleventh to the mid-twelfth century Worcester was a monastic community of unparalleled importance. Not only was it home to many of the most famous bishops and monks of the period, including Bishop Wulfstan II: it was also a centre of notable and ambitious scholarly production. Under Wulfstan's guidance, a number of Worcester brethren undertook historical research that resulted in the writing of such renowned texts as Hemming's Cartulary and the Worcester Chronica Chronicarum. Significantly, these historical endeavours spanned the political chasm of the Norman Conquest. The essays collected here aim to shed new light on different aspects of the Worcester "historical workshop", whose literary ouput was, in several respects, pioneering in contemporary European scholarship. Several chapters address the different ways in which the monks organised and updated their archives of documents, both via their sequence of cartularies, with a special focus on the narrative parts of Hemming's Cartulary, and via an interesting (and previously unedited) prose account of the foundation of the see. Others focus on the famous Worcester Chronica Chronicarum, attributed both to Florence and to John, investigating the major model for its composition and structure (the work of Marianus Scotus), the stages in which it was completed, and its connections with Welsh chronicles, as well as the related and fascinating abbreviated version, written mostly in the hand of John himself, and known as the Chronicula. The volume thus elucidates how the Worcester monks navigated the period across the Conquest through the composition of different genres of texts, and how these texts shaped their own institutional memory.

Over 5,000 years ago the first writing began to appear in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Later still, ancient scripts flourished in China and Mesoamerica, with secondary developments in places such as Scandinavia. Drawing on top scholars, The First Writing offers the most up-to-date information on these systems of recording language and meaning. Unlike other treatments, this volume focuses on the origins of writing less as a mechanistic process than as a set of communicative practices rooted in history, culture, and semiotic logic. An important conclusion is that episodes of script development are more complex than previously thought, with some changes taking place over generations, and others, such as the creation of syllabaries and alphabets, occurring with great speed. Linguists will find much of interest in matters of phonic and semiotic representation; archaeologists and art historians will discover a rich source on administration, display and social evolution within early political systems.

"The most accessible and informative book available on the major writing systems of the world."--"History Today"
Without writing, there would be no history and no civilization as we know it. But how, when, and where did writing evolve?
Andrew Robinson explains the interconnection between sound, symbol, and script in a succinct and absorbing text. He discusses each of the major writing systems in turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan, as well as topics such as the Cherokee "alphabet" and the writing of runes. Full coverage is given to the history of decipherment, and a provocative chapter devoted to undeciphered scripts challenges the reader: can these codes ever be broken?
In this revised edition, the author reveals the latest discoveries to have an impact on our knowledge of the history of writing, including the Tabula Cortonensis showing Etruscan symbols and a third millennium BC seal from Turkmenistan that could solve the mystery of how Chinese writing evolved. He also discusses how the digital revolution has not, despite gloomy predictions, spelled doom for the printed book. In addition, the table of Maya glyphs has been revised so that they are up-to-date with current research. 355+ illustrations, 50 in color.

The Codex Buranus, compiled, in all likelihood, in South Tyrol in the first half of the thirteenth century, has fascinated modern scholars and performers ever since its rediscovery in 1803. Its diverse range of texts (some famously featuring in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana) and music gives testimony to the intensely vibrant, plurilingual, and multicultural milieu in which the Codex Buranus was compiled, but poses a challenge to modern users. Perhaps more so than many other medieval manuscripts, it is an artefact which demands, and benefits from, an interdisciplinary approach. The chapters here, from scholars in a variety of fields, enable the less well-known aspects of the Codex Buranus; textual, musical, and artistic; to receive greater scrutiny, and bring new perspectives to bear on the more thoroughly explored parts of the manuscript. Making accessible existing discourse and encouraging fresh debates on the codex, the essays advocate fresh modes of engagement with its contents, contexts, and composition. They also examine questions of its reception history and audience.

The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets is a unique reference to the main scripts and alphabets of the world.

The Handbook presents over 60 alphabets covering an enormous scope of languages; from Amharic and Chinese to Thai and Cree. Full script tables are given for every language and each entry is accompanied by a detailed overview of its historical and linguistic context.

New to this second edition:

This handy resource is the ideal reference for all students and scholars of language and linguistics.

It has been brought to our attention that in some of the copies of the book there is an alignment error in the tables for Cyrillic Scripts (pages 88-90) and Roman Scripts (pages 140-44). Please contact us at [email protected] to receive replacement copies of the corrected tables, free of charge.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets is a unique reference to the main scripts and alphabets of the world. The Handbook presents over 60 alphabets covering an enormous scope of languages; from Amharic and Chinese to Thai and Cree. Full script tables are given for every language and each entry is accompanied by a detailed overview of its historical and linguistic context. New to this second edition: enhanced introduction discussing the basic principles and strategies utilized by world writing systems expanded to include more writing systems improved presentation of non-Roman scripts. organised into ancient, contemporary and autochthonous writing systems many new entries on fascinating and lesser-known writing systems This handy resource is the ideal reference for all students and scholars of language and linguistics. It has been brought to our attention that in some of the copies of the book there is an alignment error in the tables for Cyrillic Scripts (pages 88-90) and Roman Scripts (pages 140-44). Please contact us at [email protected] to receive replacement copies of the corrected tables, free of charge. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Mini Japanese Dictionary is the most up-to-date Japanese pocket dictionary available. This dictionary is completely up-to-date with the latest vocabulary for IT, smartphones and social media. It is the perfect dictionary to take with you when you travel to Japan for any reason. This powerful pocket reference contains the following essential features: Bidirectional English-Japanese and Japanese-English sections Covering over 13,000 essential words, idioms, and expressions Japanese words given in Romanized and native script for easy pronunciation Latest computer, Internet, smartphone, and social media terms Whether you need a travel size dictionary for your trip to Japan or are learning the Japanese language in a formal setting, this mini dictionary is an essential resource.

In a world of rapid technological advancements, it can be easy to forget that writing is the "original" Information Technology, created to transcend the limitations of human memory and to defy time and space. "The Writing Revolution" picks apart the development of this communication tool to show how it has conquered the world.Explores how writing has liberated the world, making possible everything from complex bureaucracy, literature, and science, to instruction manuals and love lettersDraws on an engaging range of examples, from the first cuneiform clay tablet, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Japanese syllabaries, to the printing press and the text messagingWeaves together ideas from a number of fields, including history, cultural studies and archaeology, as well as linguistics and literature, to create an interdisciplinary volumeTraces the origins of each of the world's major written traditions, along with their applications, adaptations, and cultural influences

Writing Systems and Phonetics provides students with a critical understanding of the writing systems of the world. Beginning by exploring the spelling of English, including how it arose and how it works today, the book goes on to address over 60 major languages from around the globe and includes detailed descriptions and worked examples of writing systems which foreground the phonetics of these languages. Key areas covered include: the use of the Latin alphabet in and beyond Europe; writing systems of the eastern Mediterranean, Greek and its Cyrillic offshoot, Arabic and Hebrew; languages in south and south-east Asia, including Hindi, Tamil, Burmese and Thai, as well as in east Asia, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean; reflections on ancient languages such as Sumerian, Egyptian, Linear B and Mayan; a final chapter which sets out a typology of writing systems. All of the languages covered are contextualised by authentic illustrations, including road signs, personal names and tables, to demonstrate how theoretical research can be applied to the real world. Taking a unique geographical focus that guides the reader on a journey across time and continents, this book offers an engaging introduction for students approaching for the first time the phonetics of writing systems, their typology and the origins of scripts.

This book deals with two different pragmatic approaches to textual communication: (i) the mainstream approach followed by the 'Ash'ari s, Hanafi s and Mu'tazili s, (ii) the salafite approach followed mainly by the Hanbali s, defended and elaborated by Ibn Taymiyyah. One of the primary aims of the book is to explore and formulate several Muslim legal theorists' pragmatic theories, communicative principles and linguistic views, construct them in the form of models and set them within a general uniform framework. Another aim is to reveal a corpus of information and data which, though highly relevant to modern pragmatics, is still unknown. This study, which can be seen as an extensive introduction to 'medieval Islamic pragmatics', is the first attempt to examine the approaches followed by the Salafi s or the mainstream from a pragmatic viewpoint. There has been no attempt to explain the principles and the strategies utilised by the medieval Sunni Muslim legal theorists in their account of how communication works and how successful interpretation is achieved. Of course, a lot of work has been done on different Islamic sects and their different positions over the interpretation of the Quran and Sunnah, but these studies fall short of delving into the underlying communicative principles that motivate their differences over interpretation. The author's formulation of the Muslim legal theorists' views is enhanced by setting up a reliable theoretical foundation and by delving into their underlying philosophical principles. This involves relating the legal theorists' insights into interpretation and communication to their relevant ontological, epistemological and theological outlooks, and comparing these insights with their modern pragmatic counterparts.

This is the ideal workbook for anyone who wants to learn to write the Korean Hangul script! It contains a basic introduction to the alphabet and all the sounds of the language, showing you how to write the letters and every possible syllable combination. This introduction is followed by over 100 pages of blank handwriting practice grids and lined paper for notes. This complete writing practice workbook includes: Guided writing exercises for Hangul letters, syllables and words Alternate square-gridded and lined pages for handwriting practice and notes K-Pop and Korean TV drama vocabulary and phrases are included along with popular Korean food names Free online audio recordings help you learn the correct pronunciation of all the letters, syllables and words in the book

Created in London c. 1340, the Auchinleck manuscript (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland Advocates MS 19.2.1) is of crucial importance as the first book designed to convey in the English language an ambitious range ofsecular romance and chronicle. Evidently made in London by professional scribes for a secular patron, this tantalizing volume embodies a massive amount of material evidence as to London commercial book production and the demand for vernacular texts in the early fourteenth century. But its origins are mysterious: who were its makers? its users? how was it made? what end did it serve? The essays in this collection define the parameters of present-day Auchinleck studies. They scrutinize the manuscript's rich and varied contents; reopen theories and controversies regarding the book's making; trace the operations and interworkings of the scribes, compiler, and illuminators; teaseout matters of patron and audience; interpret the contested signs of linguistic and national identity; and assess Auchinleck's implied literary values beside those of Chaucer. Geography, politics, international relations and multilingualism become pressing subjects, too, alongside critical analyses of literary substance. SUSANNA FEIN is Professor of English at Kent State University and editor of The Chaucer Review. Contributors: Venetia Bridges, Patrick Butler, Siobhain Bly Calkin, A. S. G. Edwards, Ralph Hanna, Ann Higgins, Cathy Hume, Marisa Libbon, Derek Pearsall, Helen Phillips, Emily Runde, Timothy A. Shonk, Miceal F. Vaughan.