Watching TV with a Linguist

Watching TV with a Linguist
Author: Kristy Beers Fägersten
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2016-09-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0815653956

In Watching TV with a Linguist, Fägersten challenges the conventional view of television as lowbrow entertainment devoid of intellectual activity. Rather, she champions the use of fictional television to learn about linguistics and at the same time promotes enriched television viewing experiences by explaining the role of language in creating humor, conveying drama, and developing identifiable characters. The essays gathered in this volume explore specific areas of linguistics, providing a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the study of language. Through programs such as Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Sherlock, and The Wire, contributors deftly illustrate key linguistic concepts and terminology using snippets of familiar dialogue and examples of subtle narration. In addition, contributors aim to raise linguistic awareness among readers by identifying linguistics in action, encouraging readers to recognize additional examples of concepts on their own. To this end, each chapter provides suggestions for viewing other television series or specific episodes, where further examples of the linguistic concepts in focus can be found. Invaluable as a resource in linguistics and communication courses, Watching TV with a Linguist is the first book to use the familiar and compelling medium of television to engage students with the science of language.

Language and Television Series

Language and Television Series
Author: Monika Bednarek
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2018-10-04
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1108472222

Explores contemporary US television dialogue - the on-screen language that viewers worldwide encounter as they watch popular television series.

The Art of Language Invention

The Art of Language Invention
Author: David J. Peterson
Publisher: Penguin Books
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2015-09-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0143126466

From language creator David J. Peterson comes a creative gui de to language constructio, offering an overview of language creation, covering its history from Tolkien's creations and Klingon to today's thriving global community of conlangers. He provides the essential tools necessary for inventing and evolving new languages, using examples from a variety of languages including his own creations.

Linguistics in a Colonial World

Linguistics in a Colonial World
Author: Joseph Errington
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2010-04-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1444329057

Drawing on both original texts and critical literature, Linguistics in a Colonial World surveys the methods, meanings, and uses of early linguistic projects around the world. Explores how early endeavours in linguistics were used to aid in overcoming practical and ideological difficulties of colonial rule Traces the uses and effects of colonial linguistic projects in the shaping of identities and communities that were under, or in opposition to, imperial regimes Examines enduring influences of colonial linguistics in contemporary thinking about language and cultural difference Brings new insight into post-colonial controversies including endangered languages and language rights in the globalized twenty-first century

When Languages Die

When Languages Die
Author: K. David Harrison
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2008
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0195372069

It is commonly agreed by linguists and anthropologists that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will likely disappear within our lifetime. This text focuses on the question: what is lost when a language dies?

Living Language Dothraki

Living Language Dothraki
Author: David J. Peterson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Audiobooks on CD.
ISBN: 9780804160865

Living Language Dothraki brings the world of Game of Thrones to life with a conversational language course teaching Dothraki, the language developed for the HBO series by language and culture consultant David J. Peterson and first seen in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. The 128-page coursebook features a step-by-step guide to pronunciation, basic phrases, easy-to-follow grammar explanation and examples, extensive thematic vocabulary lists, dialogue, and exercises for reinforcement. Living Language Dothraki also includes a one-hour audio CD of essential phrases and vocabulary so that learners can speak Dothraki with confidence. Additional notes about the language and the culture of the Dothraki people appear throughout the coursebook to give the language context.

The Way of the Linguist

The Way of the Linguist
Author: Steve Kaufmann
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2005-11
Genre: Linguistics
ISBN: 1420873296

The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey. It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.

The Language Hoax

The Language Hoax
Author: John H. McWhorter
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0199361606

Japanese has a term that covers both green and blue. Russian has separate terms for dark and light blue. Does this mean that Russians perceive these colors differently from Japanese people? Does language control and limit the way we think? This short, opinionated book addresses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which argues that the language we speak shapes the way we perceive the world. Linguist John McWhorter argues that while this idea is mesmerizing, it is plainly wrong. It is language that reflects culture and worldview, not the other way around. The fact that a language has only one word for eat, drink, and smoke doesn't mean its speakers don't process the difference between food and beverage, and those who use the same word for blue and green perceive those two colors just as vividly as others do. McWhorter shows not only how the idea of language as a lens fails but also why we want so badly to believe it: we're eager to celebrate diversity by acknowledging the intelligence of peoples who may not think like we do. Though well-intentioned, our belief in this idea poses an obstacle to a better understanding of human nature and even trivializes the people we seek to celebrate. The reality -- that all humans think alike -- provides another, better way for us to acknowledge the intelligence of all peoples.

Because Internet

Because Internet
Author: Gretchen McCulloch
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2020-07-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0735210942

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!! Named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Amazon, and The Washington Post A Wired Must-Read Book of Summer “Gretchen McCulloch is the internet’s favorite linguist, and this book is essential reading. Reading her work is like suddenly being able to see the matrix.” —Jonny Sun, author of everyone's a aliebn when ur a aliebn too Because Internet is for anyone who's ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from. It's the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that's a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are. Language is humanity's most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. What's more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch language evolve in real time. Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. She explains how your first social internet experience influences whether you prefer "LOL" or "lol," why ~sparkly tildes~ succeeded where centuries of proposals for irony punctuation had failed, what emoji have in common with physical gestures, and how the artfully disarrayed language of animal memes like lolcats and doggo made them more likely to spread.

The Wonders of Language

The Wonders of Language
Author: Ian Roberts
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2017-02-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1316943194

Ian Roberts offers a stimulating introduction to our greatest gift as a species: our capacity for articulate language. We are mostly as blissfully unaware of the intricacies of the structure of language as fish are of the water they swim in. We live in a mental ocean of nouns, verbs, quantifiers, morphemes, vowels and other rich, strange and deeply fascinating linguistic objects. This book introduces the reader to this amazing world. Offering a thought-provoking and accessible introduction to the main discoveries and theories about language, the book is aimed at general readers and undergraduates who are curious about linguistics and language. Written in a lively and direct style, technical terms are carefully introduced and explained and the book includes a full glossary. The book covers all the central areas of linguistics, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, as well as historical linguistics, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics.