Questioning Theoretical Primitives in Linguistic Inquiry

Questioning Theoretical Primitives in Linguistic Inquiry
Author: Naomi L. Shin
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2018-11-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027263345

Across the world, professional linguistic inquiry is in full bloom, largely as result of pioneering thinkers who helped rapidly modernize the study of human language in the last century. As the field continues to move forward, further solidifying its position as a conduit of insight into the human condition, it is essential to take stock of the theoretical primitives that have given linguistics its intellectual foundation. This volume does precisely that, inspecting the load-bearing components of the edifice upon which contemporary linguistics has been constructed. The volume’s authors – whose expertise spans the Generativist, Functionalist, and Variationist research traditions – remind us of the need to revisit the conceptual bedrock of the field, clarifying and assessing our primary theoretical moves, including those relating to such elemental components as the ‘linguistic sign’, ‘a language’, ‘structural relations’, ‘grammatical category’, ‘acquisition’, ‘bilingual’, ‘competence’, and ‘sociolinguistic variable’.

Columbia School Linguistics in the 21st Century

Columbia School Linguistics in the 21st Century
Author: Nancy Stern
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2019-10-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027262330

This collection is the fifth volume of selected papers to emerge from Columbia School (CS) linguistics conferences. A radically functionalist approach, CS shares with Cognitive linguistics the view that grammar is composed of form-meaning correspondences. CS views language as a symbolic tool whose structure is shaped both by its communicative function and by the characteristics of its users. The volume includes papers on methodological issues and innovative analyses on English, Spanish, and Mandarin that illustrate the value of the strict application of clearly spelled out theoretical principles to the execution of linguistic analysis. Four of the volume’s eleven papers are written in Spanish, and all papers have abstracts in both English and Spanish. An introduction highlights the theoretical and analytical premises of CS, and their differences from and similarities with cognitive-functional approaches. The collection will be of interest to researchers and laymen who aim to understand the role of language in human communication.

The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics

The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics
Author: Manuel Diaz-Campos
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 628
Release: 2023-07-19
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1119839823

The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics is the first edited volume to provide a comprehensive, authoritative, and interdisciplinary view of usage-based theory in linguistics. Contributions by an international team of established and emerging scholars discuss the application of used-based approaches in phonology, morphosyntax, psycholinguistics, language variation and change, language development, cognitive linguistics, and other subfields of linguistics. Unprecedented in depth and scope, this groundbreaking work of scholarship addresses all major theoretical and methodological aspects of usage-based linguistics while offering diverse perspectives and key insights into theory, history, and methodology. Throughout the text, in-depth essays explore up-to-date methodologies, emerging approaches, new technologies, and cutting-edge research in usage-based linguistics in many languages and subdisciplines. Topics include used-based approaches to subfields such as anthropological linguistics, computational linguistics, statistical analysis, and corpus linguistics. Covering the conceptual foundations, historical development, and future directions of usage-based theory, The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics is a must-have reference work for advanced students and scholars in anthropological linguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics, corpora analysis, and other subfields of linguistics.

Decolonizing Linguistics

Decolonizing Linguistics
Author: Anne H. Charity Hudley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 489
Release: 2024-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0197755259

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read at Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Decolonizing Linguistics, the companion volume to Inclusion in Linguistics, is designed to uncover and intervene in the history and ongoing legacy of colonization and colonial thinking in linguistics and related fields. Taken together, the two volumes are the first comprehensive, action-oriented, book-length discussions of how to advance social justice in all aspects of the discipline. The introduction to Decolonizing Linguistics theorizes decolonization as the process of centering Black, Native, and Indigenous perspectives, describes the extensive dialogic and collaborative process through which the volume was developed, and lays out key principles for decolonizing linguistic research and teaching. The twenty chapters cover a wide range of languages and linguistic contexts (e.g., Bantu languages, Creoles, Dominican Spanish, Francophone Africa, Zapotec) as well as various disciplines and subfields (applied linguistics, communication, historical linguistics, language documentation and revitalization/reclamation, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, syntax). Contributors address such topics as refusing settler-colonial practices and centering community goals in research on Indigenous languages; decolonizing research partnerships between the Global South and the Global North; and prioritizing Black Diasporic perspectives in linguistics. The volume's conclusion lays out specific actions that linguists can take through research, teaching, and institutional structures to refuse coloniality in linguistics and to move the field toward a decolonized future.

The Evolution of Spanish Past Forms

The Evolution of Spanish Past Forms
Author: Gibran Delgado-Díaz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 106
Release: 2021-02-02
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1000352641

The Evolution of Spanish Past Forms examines how Spanish past forms have changed diachronically. With examples from Medieval Spanish, Golden Age Spanish, and Modern Spanish literary works, this book demonstrates how language is dynamic and susceptible to change. The past forms considered here include the preterit, the imperfect, the imperfect progressive with estar (temporal to be), the present perfect, the imperfect progressive with other auxiliary verbs, the preterit progressive with estar, and the preterit progressive with other auxiliary verbs. This book will be of interest to scholars and graduate students investigating tense and aspect phenomena in Spanish and other languages, grammaticalization processes, and language variation and change.

The Acquisition of Gender

The Acquisition of Gender
Author: Dalila Ayoun
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2022-01-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027258392

Gender as a morphosyntactic feature is arguably “an endlessly fascinating linguistic category” (Corbett 2014: 1). One may even say it is among “the most puzzling of the grammatical categories” (Corbett 1991: 1) that has raised probing questions from various theoretical and applied perspectives. Most languages display semantic and/or formal gender systems with various degrees of opacity and complexity, and even closely related languages present distinct differences, creating difficulties for second language learners. The first three chapters of this volume present critical reviews in three different areas – gender assignment in mixed noun phrases, subtle gentle biases and the gender acquisition in child and adult heritage speakers of Spanish – while the next six chapters present new empirical evidence in the acquisition of gender by bilingual children, adult L2/L3 learners and heritage speakers of various languages such as Italian, German, Dutch or Mandarin-Italian.

The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Pragmatics

The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Pragmatics
Author: Dale A. Koike
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 708
Release: 2020-07-26
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0429849346

The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Pragmatics is the first volume to offer a comprehensive overview of advances in Spanish Pragmatics, addressing different types of interaction and the variables, both social and linguistic, that can affect them. Written by a diverse set of experts in the field, the handbook unifies two major approaches to the study of pragmatics, the Anglo-American and European Continental traditions. Thirty-three chapters cover in detail both pragmatic foundations (e.g. speech act theory, implicature and relevance, deixis) and interfaces with other concepts, including: • Discourse • Variation; Culture and interculture • (Im)politeness; humor • Learning contexts and teaching • Technology This is an ideal reference for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, and researchers of Spanish language and linguistics.

Aproximaciones al estudio del español como lengua de herencia

Aproximaciones al estudio del español como lengua de herencia
Author: Diego Pascual y Cabo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2021-09-20
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0429812736

Aproximaciones al estudio del español como lengua de herencia reúne diversas perspectivas sobre el estudio del español como lengua de herencia en el contexto de los Estados Unidos. El volumen presenta una amplia gama de enfoques lingüísticos, modelos pedagógicos e innovaciones programáticas. Dirigido a investigadores noveles y experimentados, al igual que a estudiantes y profesionales de la enseñanza, es un volumen ideal para aquellas personas que desean actualizar sus conocimientos del campo y obtener una perspectiva panorámica sobre la investigación y la enseñanza del español como lengua de herencia. Características principales: temas que incluyen, entre otros, la fonología/la fonética, la morfosintaxis, la pragmática, la enseñanza mediante el enfoque por tareas, la literacidad múltiple, el translenguar, los programas de community college, el español para fines específicos y la investigación-acción; contenidos teóricos, empíricos y pragmáticos relevantes para la enseñanza del español como lengua de herencia; descripciones y ejemplos que facilitan la adquisición de conocimientos sobre la materia; diferentes secciones que permiten la flexibilidad en cuanto al orden de lectura del volumen; preguntas de reflexión al final de cada capítulo para facilitar la comprensión de los temas presentados. Escrito de manera clara y accesible, Aproximaciones al estudio del español como lengua de herencia es un recurso indispensable para cursos de grado y posgrado en español sobre el español como lengua de herencia. Aproximaciones al estudio del español como lengua de herencia brings together a number of diverse scholarly voices and perspectives on the study of Spanish as a heritage language with a focus on the United States context. The volume presents a comprehensive view of this growing and dynamic field with the latest on linguistic approaches, pedagogical models, and programmatic innovations. Directed to beginning and seasoned researchers as well as to students and practitioners who wish to update their knowledge of the field and gain a fresh perspective on different approaches to researching and teaching Spanish heritage bilinguals. Written in Spanish for a wider audience in the Spanish-speaking world and for the teaching of undergraduate and graduate courses in Spanish. Key features: A broad range of topics including phonology/phonetics, morphosyntax, pragmatics, task-based language teaching, multiliteracy, translanguaging, community college programs, Spanish for specific purposes and action research among others; Clear overviews of theoretical, empirical and pragmatic issues relevant to the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language; Every chapter builds on specific core questions central to current understandings of research and practice; Concise descriptions and examples throughout provide readers with the tools they need to understand the subject matter; Organized into three sections that allows for flexibility regarding reading order; A section of reflection questions at the end of each chapter to help readers gain a deeper understanding of the issues at stake. Written in clear and accessible Spanish, Aproximaciones al estudio del español como lengua de herencia is a critical resource for those interested in understanding Spanish heritage speakers’ multifaceted linguistic experience in tandem with providing a meaningful educational experience that supports their personal, professional, and learning goals.

Living Together Across Borders

Living Together Across Borders
Author: Assistant Professor Lynnette Arnold
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2024-06-07
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0197755739

Living Together Across Borders: Care Through Communication in Separated Salvadoran Families tells the stories of extended families living stretched between a rural Salvadoran village and the urban locations in the United States where their migrant relatives live. Author Lynnette Arnold focuses on their cross-border conversations, demonstrating that this communication is a vital resource for enacting care-at-a-distance. She examines seemingly mundane interactions including greetings, remittance negotiations, and reminiscing together. Arnold demonstrates that while these practices are distributed in ways that reinforce boundaries between migrant and non-migrant relatives, families simultaneously use these same practices to build convivencia (living-together) despite ongoing separation.

Lifespan Acquisition and Language Change

Lifespan Acquisition and Language Change
Author: Israel Sanz-Sánchez
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2024-04-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027247072

This volume connects the latest research on language acquisition across the lifespan with the explanation of language change in specific sociohistorical settings. This conversation benefits from recent advances in two areas: on the one hand, the study of how learners of various ages and in various sociolinguistic contexts acquire language variation; on the other, historical sociolinguistics as the field that focuses on the study of historical patterns of language variation and change. The overarching rationale for this interdisciplinary dialogue is that all forms of language change start and spread as the result of individual acts of acquisition throughout the speakers’ lives. The thirteen chapters in this book are authored by an international group of both established and emerging scholars. They encompass theoretical overviews of specific research areas within the broader realm of the acquisition of language variation, as well as case studies applying these theoretical advances to the exploration of language change in a wide range of sociohistorical contexts in the Americas, Oceania, and Asia. This volume will be of interest to students and researchers in the area of language acquisition, language variation and language change, especially those working on interdisciplinary and crosslinguistic connections among these areas.