In Relativization in Ojibwe Michael D. Sullivan Sr. compares varieties of the Ojibwe language and establishes subdialect groupings for Southwestern Ojibwe, often referred to as Chippewa, of the Algonquian family. Drawing from a vast corpus of both primary and archived sources, he presents an overview of two strategies of relative clause formation and shows that relativization appears to be an exemplary parameter for grouping Ojibwe dialect and subdialect relationships. Specifically, Sullivan targets the morphological composition of participial verbs in Algonquian parlance and categorizes the variation of their form across a number of communities. In addition to the discussion of participles and their role in relative clauses, he presents original research linking geographical distribution of participles, most likely a result of historical movements of the Ojibwe people to their present location in the northern midwestern region of North America. Following previous dialect studies concerned primarily with varieties of Ojibwe spoken in Canada, Relativization in Ojibwe presents the first study of dialect variation for varieties spoken in the United States and along the border region of Ontario and Minnesota. Starting with a classic Algonquian linguistic tradition, Sullivan then recasts the data in a modern theoretical framework, using previous theories for Algonquian languages and familiar approaches such as feature checking and the split-CP hypothesis.

Volume I of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), published to wide acclaim in 1985, captured the wondrous variety and creativeness of American folk words and expressions and tickled the imagination of lovers of language around the world. Decades in preparation, the DARE corpus reflects the liveliness of English as it is spoken on America's main streets and country roads-the regional metaphors and similes passed along within homes and communities. Like its popular predecessor, Volume II is a treasury of vernacular Americanisms. In Virginia a goldfinch is a dandelion bird, in Missouri an insufficient rain shower a drizzle-fizzle. Gate was Louis Armstrong's favorite sender (a verbal spur to a sidekick in a band), a usage that probably originated from the fact that gates swing. Readers will bedazzled by the wealth of entries-more than 11,000-contained in this second volume alone. The two and a half pages on "dirt" reveal that a small marble is a dirt pea in the South. To eat dried apples, a curious rural euphemism for becoming pregnant, appears in the five pages on "eat." Seven pages on "horn" and related words take readers on a tour of the animal and nether worlds: horned lark, horned frog, horned pout (look that one up), and that horned fellow, the devil. Initiated under the leadership of Frederic G. Cassidy, DARE represents an unprecedented attempt to document the living language of the entire country. The project's primary tool was a carefully worded survey of 1,847 questions touching on most aspects of everyday life and human experience. Over a five-year period fieldworkers interviewed natives of 1,002 communities, a patchwork of the United States in all its diversity. The result is a database of more than two and a half million items-a monument to the richness of American folk speech. Additionally, some 7,000 publications, including novels, diaries, and small-town newspapers, have yielded a bountiful harvest of local idioms. Computer-generated maps accompanying many of the entries illustrate the regional distribution of words and phrases. The entries contained in Volume II-from the poetic and humorous to the witty and downright bawdy-will delight and inform readers.

Scots: The Mither Tongue is a classic of contemporary Scottish culture and essential reading for those who care about their country's identity in the twenty-first century. It is a passionately written history of how the Scots have come to speak the way they do and has acted as a catalyst for radical changes in attitude towards the language. In this completely revised edition, Kay vigorously renews the social, cultural and political debate on Scotland's linguistic future, and argues convincingly for the necessity to retain and extend Scots if the nation is to hold on to its intrinsic values. Kay places Scots in an international context, comparing and contrasting it with other lesser-used European languages, while at home questioning the Scottish Executive's desire to pay anything more than lip service to this crucial part of our national identity. Language is central to people's existence, and this vivid account celebrates the survival of Scots in its various dialects, its literature and song. The mither tongue is a national treasure that thrives in many parts of the country and underpins the speech of everyone who calls themselves a Scot.

From baby boomers with 'groovy' and 'yuppie' to Generation X with 'whatever' and 'like,' each generation inevitably generates original words that come out of its social and historical context. Those words not only tell us a great deal about the people in those generations, but also highlight the differences between them and other generations. In this book, Allan Metcalf, author of OK, uses a special framework of defining American generations to show that each generation of those born within a particular 20-year time period can be identified and characterized by words it chooses to use. By sampling from as far back as the American Revolution, Metcalf carefully constructs a comprehensive account of the history and usage of words associated with each generation in the American language. With special attention to the differences in vocabulary among the generations currently living-the sometimes awkward Millennials, the grunge music of Generation X, hippies among the Boomers, and bobbysoxers among the Silents - From Skeddadle to Selfie compiles dozens of words we have come to recognize or use and tells the unheard stories of each in its role of accompanying its generation through the times.

Part of the Advanced Language Series, this is a revised edition of The Greek Dialects published by Chicago University Press in 1955. Its virtues were comparative clarity and conciseness on a subject too often treated, for example by contemporary work in German, with prolixity and obscurity. It became the standard scholarly introduction and reference work on questions of dialect; and though much valuable additional work has been done on the subject since its appearance, it largely retains its original virtues and still provides a valuable starting point of reference. The Advanced Language Series reissues important books on Greek and Latin Language (and associated areas) which have been unavailable for some time or have not previously appeared in readily affordable paperback format. They are intended for the reference shelves of all scholars and students of classical languages.

The Great Patriotic War (GPW) of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany, known in the West as the Eastern Front of WWII, continues to attract a number of military historians from different countries around the world. The frontline veterans' reminiscences occupy a prominent place among most important documents of that time. In contrast to official documents, these recollections reproduce the so-called truth of the foxholes, the genuine spirit of the war. Along with their honesty, the WWII veterans' reminiscences are full of idiomatic expressions, specialized terms and abbreviations peculiar to that war. Regardless of their language, the memoirs reproduce the wartime vocabulary of the authors' nationalities, and reading them can be a difficult task for uninformed readers. As a consequence, special dictionaries appeared in print and later on Internet web sites. Unlike most of the Allied countries, no war jargon/slang dictionary has been published in Russia. This glossary is intended to begin to fill that gap. Several sources of the Red Army serviceman's slang were peculiar to the Soviet experience. The upheaval of the 1917 October Revolution and following Civil War, and the fundamental changes wrought by the political and social reforms and campaigns in the 1920s-1930s affected the Russian vocabulary substantially. The fact that the overwhelming majority of Red Army soldiers and officers came from rural households, and brought their local idioms and expressions into the trenches, also enriched the war vocabulary. Every army has its traditions and slogans, many of which were revived in the Red Army during WWII. All of the aforementioned sources and others contributed to the Russian wartime vocabulary. The authors began this glossary as a translators' aid, but now they believe it will also be of interest to military historians and linguists who work with original Russian military sources, especially of the Second World War period.

GET D!RTY!
Next time you're signing with your friends, drop the ASL textbook formality and start flashing the signs they don't teach in any classroom, including:
- cool slang
- funny insults
- explicit sex terms
- raw swear words
"Dirty Sign Language" teaches casual everyday words and expressions like:
- Peace out!
- Asshole.
- Bit me!
- Dumbfuck!
- Boner
- I'm hung like a horse.

One of the most distinctive characteristics of English is the number of words and phrases it has borrowed - and continues to borrow - from other languages, originally and most notably from Latin and French but now also from every corner of the globe. From the frequently used veranda and futon to the less familiar quinquennium and catenaccio, from the longstanding in vino veritas and vade mecum to the recent doosra and galactico, this highly informative reference book provides a revealing record of that remarkable story. With 6,000 detailed entries from aa to zut, this dictionary is the authoritative guide to foreign words and phrases used in contemporary British and American English. Drawn from over 40 languages, entries provide details of the history of each word or phrase, including language of origin, spelling variants, pronunciation, and its sense and use in English. Information is given on specific items of interest, such as the use of daemon in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, and full-page feature panels provide extra information on how specific languages and cultures have influenced particular areas of English. This new edition includes 100 new entries including sudoku, uber, and coitus interruptus, plus up-to-date coverage of words that have entered the English language in the 21st Century, including bruschetta, pashmina, and galactico. Ideal for both reference and browsing, this is a perfect book for anyone wanting to uncover the richness of modern English.

With this fun visual guide, simply follow the illustrated prompts and read the English words out loud with emphasis on the words in red: soon you'll be speaking French Learn to be polite by saying "please": "See Voo Play" (S'il vous plait). Or let someone know what a "good idea" that was: "Set Tune Bunny Day" (C'est une bonne idee).

The simple icons are easy to follow and this pocket-sized guide is easy to carry with you. It will give you the basic phrases you need to get around while traveling, whether asking directions, ordering food at a restaurant, or shopping. But most of all, it's just plain fun

Mike Ellis is a web designer who runs the popular website www.slanguage.com. He lives with his family in Philadelphia.

Learn simple French in a snap

Wherever you go in the English-speaking world, there are linguistic riches from times past awaiting rediscovery. All you have to do is choose a location, find some old documents, and dig a little. In The Disappearing Dictionary, linguistics expert Professor David Crystal collects together delightful dialect words that either provide an insight into an older way of life, or simply have an irresistible phonetic appeal. Like a mirror image of The Meaning of Liff that just happens to be true, The Disappearing Dictionary unearths some lovely old gems of the English language, dusts them down and makes them live again for a new generation. dabberlick [noun, Scotland] A mildly insulting way of talking about someone who is tall and skinny. 'Where's that dabberlick of a child?' fubsy [adjective, Lancashire] Plump, in a nice sort of way. squinch [noun, Devon] A narrow crack in a wall or a space between floorboards. 'I lost sixpence through a squinch in the floor'.

Cekidot, gan!--"Check it out, Boss!" Kamu Dodol--"You're a coconut fudge!" (You're slow on the uptake) This book is an informal compendium of Indonesian expressions, including proverbs, slang, quotations and acronyms. The unique aspects of the Indonesian language offer one of the best windows into Indonesian culture. Slang, titles, proverbs, nicknames, acronyms, quotations and other expressions reveal its character, in the words of its people and are a great way to learn Indonesian culture. This book of expressions looks at Indonesia with the help of its national language, bahasa Indonesia. It describes Indonesians and their fears, beliefs, history and politics, as well as how they live, fight, grieve and laugh. Indonesian is a variant of Malay, the national language of Malaysia, and many of its expressions come from the Malay heartland of Sumatra island. Indonesian has also incorporated terms from Javanese, the language of the dominant ethnic group in a huge nation of more than 17,000 islands. Although Indonesian is officially a young language, it contains words from Sanskrit, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese and English, a legacy of the merchants, warriors, laborers and holy men who traveled to the archipelago over the centuries. The Indonesian language was a nationalist symbol during the campaign against Dutch rule in the 20th century. Indonesians who fought against colonialism made it the national language in their constitution when they declared independence in 1945. Two generations later, modern Indonesians loveword play. The tongue slips and skids, chopping words, piling on syllables and flipping them. Indonesians turn phrases into acronyms and construct double meanings. Their inventions reflect social trends, mock authority, or get the point across in a hurry. This book divides Indonesian expressions into categories such as food and wisdom, politics and personalities. The format is the same in each chapter. An expression in Indonesian, or sometimes a regional language in Indonesia, is followed by a translation, an interpretation of the meaning, and usually a summary of the idiom's origin or background. Some translations are more literal than others, reflecting an effort to balance clarity of meaning with the flavor of the original words.

This book is the first full-length volume to offer a comprehensive introduction to the English spoken in Britain's oldest overseas colony, and, since 1949, Canada's youngest province. Within North America, Newfoundland and Labrador English is a highly distinctive speech variety. It is known for its generally conservative nature, having retained close ties with its primary linguistic roots, the traditional speech of southwestern England and southern Ireland. It is also characterised by a high degree of regional and social variation. Over the past half century, the region has experienced substantial social, economic and cultural change. This is reflected linguistically, as younger generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians increasingly align themselves with 'mainland' North American norms. The volume includes: *An accessible description of the phonological, grammatical, lexical and discourse features of this variety *Treatment of regional speech variation within the province, and its historical sources *Discussion of the social underpinnings of ongoing language change *Language samples from both traditional and contemporary speakers *A survey of published work on Newfoundland and Labrador English from earlier centuries to the present day.

Late-nineteenth-century America was crazy about dialect: vernacular varieties of American English entertained mass audiences in "local color" stories, in realist novels, and in poems and plays. But dialect was also at the heart of anxious debates about the moral degeneration of urban life, the ethnic impact of foreign immigration, the black presence in white society, and the female influence on masculine authority. Celebrations of the rustic raciness in American vernacular were undercut by fears that dialect was a force of cultural dissolution with the power to contaminate the dominant language.
In this volume, Gavin Jones explores the aesthetic politics of this neglected "cult of the vernacular" in little-known regionalists such as George Washington Cable, in the canonical work of Mark Twain, Henry James, Herman Melville, and Stephen Crane, and in the ethnic writing of Abraham Cahan and Paul Laurence Dunbar. He reveals the origins of a trend that deepened in subsequent literature: the use of minority dialect to formulate a political response to racial oppression, and to enrich diverse depictions of a multicultural nation.

Orbs and the Attack of the Hair Spiders begins a fantastic journey full of magic, strange beasts, family and friendship. Brickabrack is a town terrified by strange disappearances and grisly murders. Could its salvation come from a chance encounter between the ancient forest gnome, Orbs and the banished Warlock, Blackmouth? The first in the series featuring the magical being, Orbs.

This dictionary covers a multitude of Scots words and expressions, some of which have entered into English worldwide, some of which are peculiarly Scottish and communicate much about Scotland's unique culture and society. Often light in tone, it offers valuable insight into the linguistic development of Scots.

This title deals with dialect death and the attrition of specifically local lexis in traditional dialects. Over the last half century many scholars have recorded, analysed and theorised language death. At the same time, many sociolinguists have considered how rapid and dependable transport, mass education and increasingly globalised work patterns have affected how dialects in industrial and post-industrial societies are constructed and perceived more often than not, these changes have been detrimental to the integrity of traditional dialects. The forces involved are most perceptible in loss of local lexis this has been barely touched upon in the literature, primarily because the study of lexical variation and change has proved considerably more problematical in methodological terms than its phonological and morphosyntactic equivalents. This book considers these theoretical and methodological issues in relation to a representative sample of fishing communities along Scotland's east coast, in most of which the trade is now moribund. Can the lexical variation and change found in these communities be perceived as primary evidence for dialect death? It advances our understanding of lexical variation and change. It provides an in-depth study of the nature of lexical attrition in highly discrete traditional dialects. It presents a theoretical and methodological analysis of whether language death and dialect death can be considered aspects of the same phenomenon.

This book focuses on the varieties of Birmingham and the industrial heartland of the Black Country. This volume focuses on the closely allied yet differing linguistic varieties of Birmingham and its immediate neighbour to the west, the industrial heartland of the Black Country. Both of these areas rose to economic prominence and success during the Industrial Revolution, and both have suffered economically and socially as a result of post-war industrial decline. The industrial heritage of both areas has meant that tight-knit and socially homogeneous individual areas in each region have continued to exhibit linguistic features, especially morphological constructions, peculiar to these areas or now restricted to these areas. At the same time immigration and increased social mobility have meant that newly developing structures and more widespread UK linguistic phenomena have spread into these varieties. This volume provides a clear description of the structure of the linguistic varieties spoken in the two areas. It provides a comprehensive overview of the phonological, grammatical and lexical structure of both varieties. It gives a thorough discussion of the historical and social factors behind the development of the varieties and the attached stigma. It discusses the unusual situation of the Black Country - an area undefined in geographical and administrative terms, existing only in the imagination. It uses of the variety from native speakers of differing ethnicities, ages and genders. It includes an annotated bibliography for further consultation.

Published in 1897, this two-volume work by Robert Seymour Conway (1864 1933), classical scholar and comparative philologist, later Hulme Professor of Latin at the University of Manchester, aims to shed light on the origins of the Latin language and Roman institutions by careful examination of the dialects and customs of Rome's neighbours. The work is laid out in geographical order, so that the influence of one dialect on its neighbours can be traced. The first volume collects all the surviving remains of Oscan, Umbrian and other minor Italic dialects, gleaned primarily from epigraphic sources (such as Oscan inscriptions at Pompeii), but also from the evidence of coins, glosses and other references in later writers, and geographical and proper names from the dialect areas. The second volume contains an alphabet, a grammar and syntax of the dialects, appendices, indexes of names and a glossary of the dialect words.

Over last thirty years, new technology, fashion, and social set-ups have spawned new cliches galore. Everything on the Internet is available at the 'click of a mouse', TV presenters ask the audience to 'give it up' when they want them to applaud, call centres tell us 'we value your call' even though 'all our operators are busy'. And if you're 'gobsmacked' by all this you may be told to 'get a life', 'chill out' or 'whatever'. It's Not Rocket Science sifts through all aspects of modern life to find the most prevalent, ubiquitous and downright irritating cliches of our age. This high-octane, caffeine-fuelled, dictionary of cliches highlights the freshly-hackneyed phrases we're being subjected to 24/7. So how good is that? And what's not to like?

Book & CD-ROM. During the mid-20th century, old South Greenlanders still spoke their genuine dialects when Maliaraq Vebaek, herself a South Greenlander, born 1917, collected on tape stories and descriptions of pre-modern daily life from 42 informants. In this volume, the texts appear in dialectal transcription and translated into English, as well as in sound on the inserted CD-ROM, containing the tape recordings. Among the South Greenlandic dialects, the southernmost from the Cape Farewell region, which is now extinct, attracts particular interest, because this area received emigrants from the gradually depopulated south-east coast during the 19th century. The so-called qavak-dialect of the Cape Farewell region thus became an interesting mixture of the southeast and southwest Greenlandic dialects. This publication is targetted at linguists and is the first and only presentation of the South Greenlandic dialects. A phonological introduction is offered for the benefit of the linguists, but any reader of English (or the dialects) interested in stories, Greenland etc. can fully enjoy the texts.

The contributors to this collection address a range of issues in Caribbean linguistics. At this stage of Caribbean development, it is critical that we have a broader appreciation of the significance of the languages of the region for developing a deeper sense of self and for understanding others who have shared a common Caribbean experience. The linguists in this volume interrogate the interpretations of the history of our Caribbean languages, the use of these languages for literary expression and their role in the democratization of education and the development of Caribbean people. Several of the articles deal with profoundly controversial topics, including the question of competence in a Creole environment; the expansion of Rastafarianism globally and how word-formation devices reflect Rastafarian thinking; the use of the vernacular in West Indian education; the relevance of vernacular literacy for education; the use of Creole in Caribbean literary texts; and how to determine dialect boundaries, especially in linguistic situations in which Creoles from two distinct lexical bases vie for social space and supremacy. The work is dedicated to the distinguished Caribbean linguist Pauline Christie and celebrates her contribution to the study of linguistics in the Caribbean.

This book presents a new and controversial theory about dialect contact and the formation of new colonial dialects. It examines the genesis of Latin American Spanish, Canadian French and North American English, but concentrates on Australian and South African English, with a particular emphasis on the development of the newest major variety of the language, New Zealand English. Peter Trudgill argues that the linguistic growth of these new varieties of English was essentially deterministic, in the sense that their phonologies are the predictable outcome of the mixture of dialects taken from the British Isles to the Southern Hemisphere in the 19th century. These varieties are similar to one another, not because of historical connections between them, but because they were formed out of similar mixtures according to the same principles. A key argument is that social factors such as social status, prestige and stigma played no role in the early years of colonial dialect development, and that the 'work' of colonial new-dialect formation was carried out by children over a period of two generations. The book also uses insights derived from the study of early forms of these colonial dialects to shed light back on the nature of 19th-century English in the British Isles.

Polari has been the secret language of gay men and women through the twentieth century. But more than a language, Polari is an attitude. From the prisons and music halls of Edwardian England to Kenneth Williams, American Gls in London and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Polari has been used to laugh, bitch, gossip and cruise. Like all slang, Polari users coined an ever-changing vocabulary. Derived from words used by criminals, circus artists, beggars and prostitutes, it also employed Italian, Yiddish, French, rhyming slang and backslang. Polari speakers camped up a storm, from West End chorus boys and office workers to East End sea-queens. Since gay liberation, lesbian and gay slang has become less a language of concealment than a language of specialization, though the tradition of camp remains. A carefully researched and entertaining read, Fantabulosa presents a lexicon of Polari and a more general dictionary of lesbian and gay slang. If you don't yet know what vada the bona cartes on the ommee ajax, parkering ninty, a Mexican nightmare or a nellyectomy mean, then this is the book for you.

The Edinburgh Companion to Scots is a comprehensive introduction to the study of older and present-day Scots language. The aim of the volume is to explain and illustrate methods of research into Scots and Scottish English. Topics include the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of contemporary speech in Scotland, and the investigation of Older Scots written texts. There is further coverage of issues such as modern literary Scots, language planning, placenames and personal names, and the development of Scots overseas. Each chapter gives a brief overview of the topic, and provides case studies to illustrate avenues of exploration for those beginning to develop research techniques. The book is designed as an accessible introduction to key issues and methods of investigation for undergraduate students interested in the way language has developed in Scotland.

The cowboy — that enigmatic, larger-than-life icon of our culture —has long been considered a figure of fast hands, steel nerves, and few words. But according to Ramon Adams, cowboys, once among themselves, enjoyed a vivid, often boisterous repartee. You might say that around a campfire they could make more noise than “a jackass in a tin barn.” Here in one volume is a complete guide to cowboy-speak. Like many of today’s foreign language guides, this handy book is organized not alphabetically but situationally, lest you find yourself in Texas at a loss for words. There are sections on the ranch, the cowboy’s duties, riding equipment, the roundup, roping, branding, even square dancing. There are words and phrases you’ll recognize because they’ve filtered into everyday language — “blue lightnin’,” “star gazin’,” “the whole shebang” — plus countless others that, sadly, are seldom heard in current speech: “lonely as a preacher on pay night,” “restless as a hen on a hot griddle,” “crooked as a snake in a cactus patch.” As entertaining as it is authoritative, COWBOY LINGO captures the living speech of the Great Plains and serves as a window into the soul of the American West.