The Dynamic Lexicon of English PDF Download

Author: Julia Landmann
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004544038
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
The open access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. This study investigates the interrelation between use, meaning and the mind as a central issue of contact-induced linguistic variation and change, using the influence of French, Spanish, German and Yiddish on English as case studies. It relies on innovative methodological approaches, including the use of an integrative, socio-cognitive model of the dynamic lexicon, to describe borrowing processes and their linguistic outcomes. The multitude of socio-cultural contexts relevant to the introduction of the various borrowings since the nineteenth century has been reconstructed. This implies the identification of borrowings reflecting connections of linguistic features and culturally embedded attitudes. Taking the effects of cognitive and social factors on conventionalization and entrenchment processes into account, this study makes an original contribution to existing research.

Author: Peter Ludlow
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191022063
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Peter Ludlow shows how word meanings are much more dynamic than we might have supposed, and explores how meanings are modulated (changed) even during the course of our everyday conversations. When we engage with communicative partners we build micro-languages on the fly—languages that may be fleeting, but which serve our joint interests. Sometimes we sync up on word meanings without reflection, but in many cases we debate the proper modulation of the meanings of our words. Living Words explores the norms that govern the ways in which we litigate word meanings. The resulting view is radical, and Ludlow shows that it has far-reaching consequences for our political and legal discourse and also for some of the deepest and most intractable puzzles that have gripped English-language philosophy for the past 100 years—including puzzles in the foundations of semantics, epistemology, and logic.

Author: Sabine Arndt-Lappe
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110498162
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
The creation of new lexical units and patterns has been studied in different research frameworks, focusing on either system-internal or system-external aspects, from which no comprehensive view has emerged. The volume aims to fill this gap by studying dynamic processes in the lexicon – understood in a wide sense as not being necessarily limited to the word level – by bringing together approaches directed to morphological productivity as well as approaches analyzing general types of lexical innovation and the role of discourse-related factors. The papers deal with ongoing changes as well as with historical processes of change in different languages and reflect on patterns and specific subtypes of lexical innovation as well as on their external conditions and the speakers’ motivations for innovating. Moreover, the diffusion and conventionalization of innovations will be addressed. In this way, the volume contributes to understanding the complex interplay of structural, cognitive and functional factors in the lexicon as a highly dynamic domain.

Author: Hella Olbertz
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027230463
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
In functional grammar, the lexicon plays a central role. Lexical items form the basic building blocks around which the structure of a clause is built. This book examines 5 aspects of the role of the lexicon in functional grammar.

Author: Robert Schreuder
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027282854
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
In the study of bilingualism, the lexical level of language is of prime importance because, in practical terms, vocabulary acquisition is an essential prerequisite for the development of skill in language use; from a theoretical point of view, the mental lexicon, as a bridge between form and meaning, plays a crucial role in any model of language processing. A central issue in this volume is at which level of the bilingual speaker's lexicon languages share representations and how language-specific representations may be linked. The contributors favor a dynamic, developmental perspective on bilingualism, which takes account of the change of the mental lexicon over time and pays considerable attention to the acquisition phase. Several papers deal with the level of proficiency and its consequences for bilingual lexical processing, as well as the effects of practice. This discussion raises numerous questions about the notion of (lexical) proficiency and how this can be established by objective standards, an area of study that invites collaboration between researchers working from a theoretical and from a practical background.

Author: P. Corson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401104255
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Using English Words examines the impact that the life histories of people have on their vocabulary. Its starting point is the taken-for-granted fact that the vocabulary of English falls into two very different sections. Randolph Quirk mentions this striking incompatibility between the Anglo Saxon and the Latinate elements in English: "the familiar homely-sounding and typically very short words" that we learn very early in life and use for most everyday purposes; and "the more learned, foreign-sounding and characteristically rather long words" (1974, p. 138). It is mainly the second type of word that native speakers start learning relatively late in their use of English, usually in the adolescent years of education, and keep on learning. It is mainly the one type of word, rather than the other, that ESL/ EFL students have more difficulty with, depending on their language background. This book shows how discursive relations, outside education, 'position' people through their vocabularies. Some are prepared for easy entry into lifetime prospects of relative privilege and educational success, while others are denied entry. In writing this book, I share an aim with other writers who observe the many discontinuities that exist between discursive practices in communities outside schools, and the discursive demands that schools make (e. g. Hamilton et a1. [19931, Heath [1983], Luke [19941, Philips [1983], Romaine [1984], Scollon & Scollon [1981]).

Author: Morton Benson
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027230145
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Designed to help lexicographers compile better dictionaries of English, this book provides information about the language that is not available in any other single source. It is the first serious attempt to describe in detail the lexical and grammatical differences between American and British English and offers a trailblazing solution to the vexing problem of how to treat General American and British RP pronunciation in the same dictionary with the help of a Simplified Transcription for which any typewriter keyboard can be adapted and a pioneering description of the principles concerning the treatment of fixed grammatical and lexical collocations in future general-purpose dictionaries of English.

Author: Barry J. Blake
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429683847
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
English Vocabulary Today: Into the 21st Century offers an innovative perspective on the ways in which contemporary English language vocabulary continues to adapt and grow in light of emerging technologies and ideas. The book begins with a concise history of the English language, followed by chapters covering key topics including lexical change, semantic change and word-formation. Additional chapters highlight unique topics not often covered in English language studies, including the mental lexicon, inclusive language and the importing and exporting of words between English and other languages. Chapter discussions are enhanced by dynamic examples from a wide range of varieties of English, including American, British, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, South African and South Asian. Taken together, English Vocabulary Today: Into the 21st Century offers students a clear and comprehensive understanding of the multi-faceted nature of English vocabulary today as well as new insights into its continued development.

Author: D. Geoffrey Hall
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262582490
Category : Language acquisition
Languages : en
Pages : 678

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Book Description
The contributors to this volume examine the multidimensional way in which infants and children acquire the lexicon of their native language.

Author: Owen Barfield
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 1584205121
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
"The playful artistry of the Waldorf Alphabet Book speaks to the heart of childhood. These lively illustrations, so filled with color, movement, eloquent gesture, and invention conjure up long-forgotten memories of books from a time when pictures were still alive and spoke with power. Each page is a magical door, opening to the bright realm where stories are enacted, a realm of wonders accessible to children, artists, and ll those in whom the light of imagination shines. "The most important thing as you peruse the delightful pages of the Waldorf Alphabet Book with your child is the engaging conversation that flows between you as you search among the pictures for words." (from the afterword) In this delightful, bestselling alphabet and game book for young children, each consonant and vowel comes to life in vivid pictures that show each letter's unique qualities in the world. The vibrant and playful illustrations help children learn the alphabet in the most natural and living way. This expanded paperback edition includes a complete essay by master Waldorf teacher William Ward, "Learning to Read and Write in Waldorf Schools": This is the alphabet book for parents and teachers who want to encourage the most natural development in children. It is ideal for both at home and in the classroom. It also makes an ideal gift for your favorite young child or parents!