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Books > Language & Literature > Language & linguistics > Semantics (meaning)
This monograph presents a contrastive-corpus analysis of the
semantic category of gratification. It takes as a case study the
verb reward and its various forms in Polish and in English, as
prototypical of the semantics of gratification. The study, set
predominantly in the framework of semantic syntax, and drawing from
the theory of valence and frame semantics, adopts a corpus-driven
and usage-based approach to language analysis. By exploring the
syntactic realization and distribution of arguments opened by the
predicates of gratification in the two languages, the book offers
new insights into language representation in English and Polish,
and addresses the combinatoricity of human thought and cognitive
mechanisms reflected in the lexicalization patterns of the
situation of rewarding.
In Present-Day English, the only flexible sentence constituent in
unmarked declarative sentences is the adverbial, which can often be
placed in initial, medial, or end position. This book presents the
first empirical and corpus-based study on the usage patterns and
functions of medially-placed linking adverbials in
conceptually-written academic English. By combining quantitative
with detailed qualitative analyses of selected corpus examples, the
present study explores whether the placement of linking adverbials
in medial position can be regarded as a focusing strategy, similar
to focusing adverbs and cleft sentences. Moreover, it investigates
whether different medial positions are associated with distinct
discourse functions, such as the marking of contrastive topics or
different focus meanings.
The use of cognitive science in creating stories, languages,
visuals, and characters is known as narrative generation, and it
has become a trending area of study. Applying artificial
intelligence (AI) techniques to story development has caught the
attention of professionals and researchers; however, few studies
have inherited techniques used in previous literary methods and
related research in social sciences. Implementing previous
narratology theories to current narrative generation systems is a
research area that remains unexplored. Bridging the Gap Between AI,
Cognitive Science, and Narratology With Narrative Generation is a
collection of innovative research on the analysis of current
practices in narrative generation systems by combining previous
theories in narratology and literature with current methods of AI.
The book bridges the gap between AI, cognitive science, and
narratology with narrative generation in a broad sense, including
other content generation, such as a novels, poems, movies, computer
games, and advertisements. The book emphasizes that an important
method for bridging the gap is based on designing and implementing
computer programs using knowledge and methods of narratology and
literary theories. In order to present an organic, systematic, and
integrated combination of both the fields to develop a new research
area, namely post-narratology, this book has an important place in
the creation of a new research area and has an impact on both
narrative generation studies, including AI and cognitive science,
and narrative studies, including narratology and literary theories.
It is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and students,
as well as enterprise practitioners, engineers, and creators of
diverse content generation fields such as advertising production,
computer game creation, comic and manga writing, and movie
production.
This volume highlights the dynamic nature of the field of English
Linguistics and features selected contributions from the 8th
Biennial International Conference on the Linguistics of
Contemporary English. The contributions comprise studies (i) that
focus on the structure of linguistic systems (or subsystems) or the
internal structure of specific construction types, (ii) that take
an interest in variation at all linguistic levels, or (iii) that
explore what linguistic findings can tell us about human cognition
in general, and language processing in particular. All chapters
represent state-of-the-art research that relies on rigorous
quantitative and qualitative analysis and that will inform current
and future linguistic practice and theory building.
This book provides curriculum planners, materials developers, and
language educators with curricular perspectives and classroom
activities in order to address the needs of learners of English as
a global lingua franca in an increasingly globalized and
interdependent world. The authors argue that language educators
would benefit from synthesizing and using research and
evidence-based cooperative learning methods and structures to
address the current world-readiness standards for learning
languages in the five domains of Communication, Cultures,
Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. The book outlines the
main cooperative learning principles of heterogenous grouping,
positive interdependence, individual accountability,
social/collaborative skills, and group processing, then
demonstrates their relevance to language teaching and learning.
This book will be of interest to students in pre-service teacher
education programmes as well as in-service practitioners, teacher
trainers and educational administrators.
'A wide-ranging, erudite and multi-faceted analyses of the
fundamental problem of who gets to be counted as human' - Kate
Evans Refugee Talk explores cultural responses to the ongoing
refugee crisis. Looking at ethical questions and political rhetoric
surrounding the refugee experience, the authors uncover the reality
behind the fraught discussions taking place today. With an
understanding of how to meaningfully negotiate responses through
philosophy, media representations, art, activism and literature,
the authors insist that a radically different approach is needed,
advocating for, along with other reorientations, a new refugee
vocabulary as a launching pad for interventions into polarised
debates. By centring conversation as a method and ethical practice
to engage in the discourses surrounding refugees, Refugee Talk is
structured around dialogues with academics, activists, journalists
and refugee artists and writers, creating a comprehensive
humanities approach that places ethics and aesthetics at its core.
Studying narratives is an ideal method to gain a good understanding
of how various aspects of human information are organized and
integrated. The concept and methods of a narrative, which have been
explored in narratology and literary theories, are likely to be
connected with contemporary information studies in the future,
including those in computational fields such as AI, and in
cognitive science. This will result in the emergence of a
significant conceptual and methodological foundation for various
technologies of novel contents, media, human interface, etc.
Post-Narratology Through Computational and Cognitive Approaches
explores the new possibilities and directions of narrative-related
technologies and theories and their implications on the innovative
design, development, and creation of future media and contents
(such as automatic narrative or story generation systems) through
interdisciplinary approaches to narratology that are dependent on
computational and cognitive studies. While highlighting topics
including artificial intelligence, narrative analysis, and rhetoric
generation, this book is ideally designed for designers, creators,
developers, researchers, and advanced-level students.
This two-volume collection showcases a wide range of modern
approaches to the philosophical study of language. Contributions
illustrate how these strands of research are interconnected and
show the importance of such a broad outlook. The aim is to throw
light upon some of the key questions in language and communication
and also to inspire, inform, and integrate a community of
researchers in philosophical linguistics. Volume one concentrates
on fundamental theoretical topics. This means considering vital
questions about what languages are and how they relate to reality,
and describing some of the key areas of thought in linguistics and
the philosophy of language. Contributors also discuss how
philosophy influences related fields such as translation,
pragmatics, and argumentation.
This two-volume collection showcases a wide range of modern
approaches to the philosophical study of language. Contributions
illustrate how these strands of research are interconnected and
show the importance of such a broad outlook. The aim is to throw
light upon some of the key questions in language and communication
and also to inspire, inform, and integrate a community of
researchers in philosophical linguistics. Volume two presents
analyses of several fundamental concepts and studies in which they
are applied empirically. These include the linguistic topics of
assertion, vagueness, and disagreement, and the philosophical
themes of belief, normativity, and thought. These chapters provide
unique insight into the role of philosophy in the contemporary
study of communication.
Despite the key role played by second language acquisition (SLA)
courses in linguistics, teacher education and language teaching
degrees, participants often struggle to bridge the gap between SLA
theories and their many applications in the classroom. In order to
overcome the 'transfer' problem from theory to practice, Andrea
Nava and Luciana Pedrazzini present SLA principles through the
actions and words of teachers and learners. Second Language
Acquisition in Action identifies eight important SLA principles and
involves readers in an 'experiential' approach which enables them
to explore these principles 'in action'. Each chapter is structured
around three stages: experience and reflection; conceptualisation;
and restructuring and planning. Discussion questions and tasks
represent the core of the book. These help readers in the process
of 'experiencing' SLA research and provide them with opportunities
to try their hands at different areas of language teachers'
professional expertise. Aimed at those on applied linguistics MA
courses, TESOL/EFL trainees and in-service teachers, Second
Language Acquisition in Action features: * Key Questions at the
start of each chapter * Data-based tasks to foster reflection and
to help bridge the gap between theory and practice * Audiovisual
extracts of lessons on an accompanying website * Further Reading
suggestions at the end of each chapter
When Donald J. Trump announced his campaign for president in 2015,
journalists, historians, and politicians alike attempted to compare
his candidacy to that of Governor George C. Wallace. Like Trump,
Wallace, who launched four presidential campaigns between 1964 and
1976, utilized rhetoric based in resentment, nationalism, and anger
to sway and eventually captivate voters among America's white
majority. Though separated by almost half a century, the campaigns
of both Wallace and Trump broke new grounds for political
partisanship and divisiveness. In Fear, Hate, and Victimhood: How
George Wallace Wrote the Donald Trump Playbook, author Andrew E.
Stoner conducts a deep analysis of the two candidates, their
campaigns, and their speeches and activities, as well as their
coverage by the media, through the lens of demagogic rhetoric.
Though past work on Wallace argues conventional politics overcame
the candidate, Stoner makes the case that Wallace may in fact be a
prelude to the more successful Trump campaign. Stoner considers how
ideas about "in-group" and "out-group" mentalities operate in
politics, how anti-establishment views permeate much of the
rhetoric in question, and how expressions of victimhood often
paradoxically characterize the language of a leader praised for
"telling it like it is." He also examines the role of political
spectacle in each candidate's campaigns, exploring how media
struggles to respond to-let alone document-demagogic rhetoric.
Ultimately, the author suggests that the Trump presidency can be
understood as an actualized version of the Wallace presidency that
never was. Though vast differences exist, the demagogic positioning
of both men provides a framework to dissect these times-and perhaps
a valuable warning about what is possible in our highly digitized
information society.
Typically, books on evaluation in the second and foreign language
field deal with large programs and often result from large?scale
studies done by the authors. The challenge for ordinary second and
foreign language classroom teachers is that they must extrapolate
techniques or strategies for evaluation from a very large scale to
a much smaller scale, that of the course. At the same time,
classroom teachers are responsible for outcomes of their courses
and need to do evaluation on a scale and for needs of their
choosing. Evaluating Second Language Courses is designed for
classroom teachers who are dealing with a single course, and who
wish to understand and improve some aspect of their course.
This volume descibes, in up-to-date terminology and authoritative
interpretation, the field of neurolinguistics, the science
concerned with the neural mechanisms underlying the comprehension,
production and abstract knowledge of spoken, signed or written
language. An edited anthology of 165 articles from the
award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd edition,
Encyclopedia of Neuroscience 4th Edition and Encyclopedia of the
Neorological Sciences and Neurological Disorders, it provides the
most comprehensive one-volume reference solution for scientists
working with language and the brain ever published.
Investigating the efforts of the Kichwa of Tena, Ecuador to reverse
language shift to Spanish, this book examines the ways in which
indigenous language can be revitalized and how creative bilingual
forms of discourse can reshape the identities and futures of local
populations. Based on deep ethnographic fieldwork among urban,
periurban, and rural indigenous Kichwa communities, Michael
Wroblewski explores adaptations to culture contact, language
revitalization, and political mobilization through discourse.
Expanding the ethnographic picture of native Amazonians and their
traditional discourse practices, this book focuses attention on
Kichwas' diverse engagements with rural and urban ways of living,
local and global ways of speaking, and indigenous and dominant
intellectual traditions. Wroblewski reveals the composite nature of
indigenous words and worlds through conversational interviews, oral
history narratives, political speechmaking, and urban performance
media, showing how discourse is a critical focal point for studying
cultural adaptation. Highlighting how Kichwas assert autonomy
through creative forms of self-representation, Remaking Kichwa
moves the study of indigenous language into the globalized era and
offers innovative reconsiderations of indigeneity, discourse, and
identity.
This monograph investigates the temporal interpretation of
narrative discourse in two parts. The theme of the first part is
narrative progression. It begins with a case study of the adverb
'now' and its interaction with the meaning of tense. The case study
motivates an ontological distinction between events, states and
times and proposes that 'now' seeks a prominent state that holds
throughout the time described by the tense. Building on prior
research, prominence is shown to be influenced by principles of
discourse coherence and two coherence principles, NARRATION and
RESULT, are given a formally explicit characterization. The key
innovation is a new method for testing the definitional adequacy of
NARRATION and RESULT, namely by an abductive argument. This
contribution opens a new way of thinking about how eventive and
stative descriptions contribute to the perceived narrative
progression in a discourse. The theme of the second part of the
monograph is the semantics and pragmatics of tense. A key
innovation is that the present and past tenses are treated as
scalar alternatives, a view that is motivated by adopting a
particular hypothesis concerning stative predication. The proposed
analysis accounts for tense in both matrix clauses and in
complements of propositional attitudes, where the notorious double
access reading arises. This reading is explored as part of a corpus
study that provides a glimpse of how tense semantics interacts with
Gricean principles and at-issueness. Several cross-linguistic
predictions of the analysis are considered, including their
consequences for the Sequence of Tense phenomenon and the Upper
Limit Constraint. Finally, a hypothesis is provided about how tense
meanings compose with temporal adverbs and verb phrases. Two
influential analysis of viewpoint aspect are then compared in light
of the hypothesis. The monograph is directed at graduate students
and researchers in semantics, pragmatics and philosophy of
language. The analysis of narrative discourse that is developed in
the monograph synthesizes and builds on prior collaborative
research with Corien Bary, Valentine Hacquard, Thomas Roberts,
Roger Schwarzschild, Una Stojnic, Karoly Varasdi and Aaron White.
Daniel Altshuler is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the
School of Cognitive Science, Hampshire College and an Adjunct
Professor of Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst.
Researchers in applied linguistics have found medical and health
contexts to be fertile grounds for study, from macro-levels of
conceptual analyses to micro-levels of the "turn-by-turn." The rich
array of health contexts include medical research itself, clinical
encounters, medical education and training, caregivers and patients
in everyday life - from the formal and ritualized to the ad hoc and
ephemeral. This volume foregrounds the crucial role of applied
linguists addressing real world problems, while simultaneously
highlighting the varied ways that health can be understood as a
rich site of language inquiry in its own right. Chapters cover a
range of health topics including medical training, medical
interaction, disability in education, health policy analysis and
recommendations, multidisciplinary research teams, and medical
ethics. While reporting and reflecting on their specific topics in
clinical and health contexts, contributors also articulate their
own hybrid identities as professional collaborators in health
research, education, and policy.
This book provides an overview of current theories of and methods
for analysing spoken discourse. It includes discussions of both the
more traditional approaches of pragmatics, conversation analysis,
interactional sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and
critical discourse analysis, and more recently developed approaches
such as multimodal discourse analysis and critical
sociolinguistics. Rather than treating these perspectives as
mutually exclusive, the book introduces a framework based on
principles from mediated discourse analysis in which different
approaches to spoken discourse are seen as complementing and
informing one another. In this framework, spoken discourse is seen
as mediated through a complex collection of technological, semiotic
and cultural tools which enable and constrain people's ability to
engage in different kinds of social actions, enact different kinds
of social identities and form different kinds of social
relationships. A major focus of the volume is on the way
technological tools like telephones, broadcast media, digital
technologies are changing the way people communicate with spoken
language. The book is suitable for use as a textbook in advanced
courses in discourse analysis and language in social interaction,
and will also be of interest to scholars in a variety of fields
including linguistics, sociology, media studies and anthropology.
This book explores the construct of language in use, specifically
as operationalised through different item types in the Austrian
Matura (school-leaving exam). Empirical research on some of these
item types is scarce. The author reports on a mixed-methods study.
The theoretical frameworks employed are Purpura's (2004) model of
language ability and Weir's (2005) socio-cognitive framework. The
findings suggest that the tasks under investigation assess
grammatical form and meaning at the sub-sentential and sentential
level. Different item types were also found to target different
elements of lexicogrammatical competence. The study contributes to
understanding the nature of language in use and sheds light on the
application of the socio-cognitive framework to the validation of
language in use tasks.
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