What does it mean to drive a Cadillac? What does 'cuckoo' suggest about the bird? - two examples explored in this investigation of the history of language signs and of what philosophers, linguists, and others have had to say about them. Rudi Keller shows how signs emerge, function, and develop in the permanent process of language change. He recombines thoughts and ideas from Plato to the present day to create a new theory of the meaning and evolution of icons and symbols. By assuming no prior knowledge and by developing his argument from first principles, Rudi Keller has written a basic text which includes all the necessary features: easy style, good organization, original scholarship, and historical depth. This is a non-technical book which will interest linguists, philosophers, students of communications and cultural studies, semioticians/semanticists, sociologists, and anthropologists.

In the twentieth century paradigms of linguistics have largely left language change to one side. Rudi Keller's book is an exciting contribution to linguistic philosophy becuase it puts language change back on the linguistics agenda and demonstrates that, far from being a remote mystery, it can and should be explained.

Das vorliegende Studienbuch stellt die Frage, in welcher Weise sich Bedeutungen von Adjektiven in den letzten 200 Jahren verandert haben. Dahinter steht die Absicht, allgemeine Muster und Prinzipien des Wandels zu entdecken und diese im Rahmen einer so genannten "Invisible-hand-Theorie" zu erklaren. Wer Bedeutungswandel erklaren will, muss den Weg finden von den allgemeinen Kommunikationszielen der sprechenden Individuen uber die sprachlichen Mittel, die sie dazu einsetzen, zu den sprachlichen Effekten, die dadurch auf lange Sicht erzeugt werden. Das Studienbuch zeichnet diesen Weg anhand zahlreicher Beispiele (vor allem aus Goethes Adjektiv-Wortschatz) nach und stellt eine konzise Einfuhrung in den Gegenstand dar, die auch fur den akademischen Unterricht und das Selbststudium geeignet ist."

What does it mean to drive a Cadillac? What does `cuckoo' suggest about the bird? - two examples explored in this investigation of the history of language signs and of what philosophers, linguists, and others have had to say about them. Rudi Keller shows how signs emerge, function, and develop in the permanent process of language change. He recombines thoughts and ideas from Plato to the present day to create a new theory of the meaning and evolution of icons and symbols. By assuming no prior knowledge and by developing his argument from first principles, Rudi Keller has written a basic text which includes all the necessary features: easy style, good organization, original scholarship, and historical depth. This is a non-technical book which will interest linguists, philosophers, students of communications and cultural studies, semioticians/semanticists, sociologists, and anthropologists.

Dieses Buch vermittelt das Handwerk erfolgreicher Unternehmenskommunikation am Beispiel des Geschaftsberichts. Der fundierte Ratgeber ist allgemeinverstandlich geschrieben und basiert auf reicher Erfahrung, was das Verfassen, Bewerten und Optimieren von Geschaftsberichtstexten betrifft. Eine praktische Anleitung zu reputierlichem Schreiben mit einem nutzlichen Glossar.

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