This book documents modern Baba Malay, a critically endangered Austronesian-based contact language with a Sinitic substrate. Formed via intermarriage between Hokkien-speaking male traders and indigenous women in the Malay Peninsula, the language has less than 1,000 speakers in Singapore and less than 1,000 speakers in Malacca, Malaysia. This volume fills a gap for reference grammars of contact languages in general. Reference grammars written on contact languages are rare, and much rarer is a reference grammar written about a critically endangered Austronesian-based contact language. The reference grammar, which aims to be useful to linguists and general readers interested in Baba Malay, describes the language's sociohistorical background, its circumstances of endangerment, and provides information regarding the phonology, parts of speech, and syntax of Baba Malay as spoken in Singapore. A chapter that differentiates this variety from that spoken in Malacca is also included. The grammar demonstrates that the nature of Baba Malay is highly systematic, and not altogether simple, providing structural information for those who are interested in the typology of contact languages.

This grammar of English embraces major lexical, phonological, syntactic structures and interfaces. It is based on the substantive assumption: that the categories and structures at all levels represent mental substance, conceptual and/or perceptual. The adequacy of this assumption in expressing linguistic generalizations is tested. The lexicon is seen as central to the grammar; it contains signs with conceptual, or content, poles, minimally words, and perceptual, and expression, poles, segments. Both words and segments are differentiated by substance-based features. They determine the erection of syntactic and phonological structures at the interfaces from lexicon. The valencies of words, the identification of their semantically determined complements and modifiers, control the erection of syntactic structures in the form of dependency relations. However, the features of different segment types determines their placement in the syllable, or as prosodies. Despite this discrepancy, dependency and linearization are two of the analogical properties displayed by lexical, syntactic and phonological structure. Analogies among parts of the grammar are another consequence of substantiveness, as is the presence of figurativeness and iconicity.

This work comprises a collection of the writings of Ruqaiya Hasan, an influential figure in the systemic functional linguistic learning school. It discusses the relation between text and context and the realization of context in language; the 'network', which is outlined as analytic tool which can be applied at two strata of language, the lexico-grammatical and the semantic; as well as aspects of the social structure that are implicated in the way cultures and subcultures express themselves.

ACERCA DEL LIBRO: "A Grammar Guide" es una serie para hispanoparlantes que han enfrentado dificultades con la comprension de la lengua inglesa. Esta obra es para personas de cualquier edad y escolaridad que necesitan comprender el idioma escrito, o escribir sus ideas en el mismo. Por medio de presentaciones sencillas entenderas como se organiza la lengua escrita basica, sus elementos fundamentales y el orden de palabras. Asi mismo, aprenderas la funcion de diferentes tiempos gramaticales con ejemplos bilingues funcionales para las diferentes personas gramaticales, que cubren una amplia gama de posibilidades. El dominio de una lengua es una habilidad fisica, a mayor practica obtendras mayor destreza y por lo tanto mayor eficiencia. Lo unico que necesitaras es paciencia y constancia para alcanzar tus objetivos. Necesitaras un auxiliar importantisimo, un diccionario, que te proporcionara el vocabulario que TU necesitas, no el que alguien mas piense que quieres. Te aseguro que con estos dos elementos combinados con tu trabajo cambiaran tu concepcion sobre el idioma ingles y tus posibilidades futuras. Francisco Zamarron ABOUT THE BOOK: "A Grammar Guide" is a book that can be used by English speaking persons to learn basic Spanish to understand it in its written form. You will be able to find grammar equivalences from one language to another through clear examples and practices. All you need is patience and practice to reach your goals. You will need a bilingual dictionary that provides you with the vocabulary you really need. If you combine these two powerful tools you will enlarge your future possibilities. Francisco Zamarron

This is the first comprehensive grammar of Shaowu, a Min language spoken in Shaowu city and its environs in northwestern Fujian province, China. The book offers first-hand linguistic data collected over four years in the field, now placed at the disposal of researchers and students working in language documentation, comparative linguistics and Sinitic typology. It can serve as a reference grammar for those interested in learning the Shaowu language, thereby helping to preserve it. In addition, the book provides insights into Shaowu's classification which has been widely debated, thus elucidating its genetic affiliation. The book first presents Shaowu's geography, demography and history. It then profiles the language's phonology and lexicon, before providing a detailed description of its syntax, notably on its nominal, predicate, clausal and complex sentence structures, which are the focus of the book. The typological profile of Shaowu is also treated with the conclusion that the language has Gan, Hakka, Mandarin and even some Wu overlays on its Min base. The Shaowu language serves an excellent example to illustrate the degree of hybridity a language can attain due to intensive language contact over time.