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Author: Umberto Eco Publisher: ISBN: 9780006863786 Category : Europe Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Lucidly and wittily written, this book is a tour de force of scholarly detection and cultural interpretation, providing a series of original perspectives on two thousand years of European history.
Author: Umberto Eco Publisher: ISBN: 9780006863786 Category : Europe Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Lucidly and wittily written, this book is a tour de force of scholarly detection and cultural interpretation, providing a series of original perspectives on two thousand years of European history.
Author: Umberto Eco Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0631205101 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 406
Book Description
The idea that there once existed a language which perfectly and unambiguously expressed the essence of all possible things and concepts has occupied the minds of philosophers, theologians, mystics and others for at least two millennia. This is an investigation into the history of that idea and of its profound influence on European thought, culture and history. From the early Dark Ages to the Renaissance it was widely believed that the language spoken in the Garden of Eden was just such a language, and that all current languages were its decadent descendants from the catastrophe of the Fall and at Babel. The recovery of that language would, for theologians, express the nature of divinity, for cabbalists allow access to hidden knowledge and power, and for philosophers reveal the nature of truth. Versions of these ideas remained current in the Enlightenment, and have recently received fresh impetus in attempts to create a natural language for artificial intelligence. The story that Umberto Eco tells ranges widely from the writings of Augustine, Dante, Descartes and Rousseau, arcane treatises on cabbalism and magic, to the history of the study of language and its origins. He demonstrates the initimate relation between language and identity and describes, for example, how and why the Irish, English, Germans and Swedes - one of whom presented God talking in Swedish to Adam, who replied in Danish, while the serpent tempted Eve in French - have variously claimed their language as closest to the original. He also shows how the late eighteenth-century discovery of a proto-language (Indo-European) for the Aryan peoples was perverted to support notions of racial superiority. To this subtle exposition of a history of extraordinary complexity, Umberto Eco links the associated history of the manner in which the sounds of language and concepts have been written and symbolized. Lucidly and wittily written, the book is, in sum, a tour de force of scholarly detection and cultural interpretation, providing a series of original perspectives on two thousand years of European History. The paperback edition of this book is not available through Blackwell outside of North America.
Author: Guy Deutscher Publisher: Metropolitan Books ISBN: 9781429970112 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
A masterpiece of linguistics scholarship, at once erudite and entertaining, confronts the thorny question of how—and whether—culture shapes language and language, culture Linguistics has long shied away from claiming any link between a language and the culture of its speakers: too much simplistic (even bigoted) chatter about the romance of Italian and the goose-stepping orderliness of German has made serious thinkers wary of the entire subject. But now, acclaimed linguist Guy Deutscher has dared to reopen the issue. Can culture influence language—and vice versa? Can different languages lead their speakers to different thoughts? Could our experience of the world depend on whether our language has a word for "blue"? Challenging the consensus that the fundaments of language are hard-wired in our genes and thus universal, Deutscher argues that the answer to all these questions is—yes. In thrilling fashion, he takes us from Homer to Darwin, from Yale to the Amazon, from how to name the rainbow to why Russian water—a "she"—becomes a "he" once you dip a tea bag into her, demonstrating that language does in fact reflect culture in ways that are anything but trivial. Audacious, delightful, and field-changing, Through the Language Glass is a classic of intellectual discovery.
Author: Arika Okrent Publisher: Random House ISBN: 0385529716 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 354
Book Description
Here is the captivating story of humankind’s enduring quest to build a better language—and overcome the curse of Babel. Just about everyone has heard of Esperanto, which was nothing less than one man’s attempt to bring about world peace by means of linguistic solidarity. And every Star Trek fan knows about Klingon. But few people have heard of Babm, Blissymbolics, Loglan (not to be confused with Lojban), and the nearly nine hundred other invented languages that represent the hard work, high hopes, and full-blown delusions of so many misguided souls over the centuries. With intelligence and humor, Arika Okrent has written a truly original and enlightening book for all word freaks, grammar geeks, and plain old language lovers.
Author: John H. McWhorter Publisher: Walter de Gruyter ISBN: 1934078409 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 353
Book Description
In John McWhorter’s Defining Creole anthology of 2005, his collected articles conveyed the following theme: His hypothesis that creole languages are definable not just in the sociohistorical sense, but in the grammatical sense. His publications since the 1990s have argued that all languages of the world that lack a certain three traits together are creoles (i.e. born as pidgins a few hundred years ago and fleshed out into real languages). He also argued that in light of their pidgin birth, such languages are less grammatically complex than others, as the result of their recent birth as pidgins. These two claims have been highly controversial among creolists as well as other linguists. In this volume, Linguistic Simplicity and Complexity, McWhorter gathers articles he has written since then, in the wake of responses from a wide range of creolists and linguists. These articles represent a considerable divergence in direction from his earlier work.
Author: Gretchen McCulloch Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0735210942 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 337
Book Description
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.
Author: Umberto Eco Publisher: Indiana University Press ISBN: 9780253208699 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 316
Book Description
Presents four theories describing the limits of literary interpretation, challenging "the cancer of uncontrolled interpretation" that diminishes the meaning and the basis of communication. -- Back cover.
Author: Gillian Hibbs Publisher: ISBN: 9781643109640 Category : JUVENILE FICTION Languages : en Pages : 28
Book Description
A heart-warming and inclusive tale about how one small boy's dream of a garden unites a diverse community in a positive and enriching experience for everyone. Kirkus writes, ''..sure to inspire young green thumbs in urban, suburban, and rural dwellings alike.''
Author: Lou Fant Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional ISBN: 0071642390 Category : Foreign Language Study Languages : en Pages : 176
Book Description
Quick and easy phrases in ASL for daily life Perfect Phrases for American Sign Language provides 150 essential phrases for hearing-impaired users of ASL and those who interact with them. ASL expert Barbara Bernstein Fant--carrying on the work of her late husband Lou--and illustrator Betty Miller make it easy for you to pick up key signs for everyday communication without having to have prior knowledge of signing. This handy reference is perfect for comfortably and confidently communicating with loved ones, coworkers, patients, or anyone who uses ASL.
Author: Benny Lewis Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0062282700 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
Benny Lewis, who speaks over ten languages—all self-taught—runs the largest language-learning blog in the world, Fluent In 3 Months. Lewis is a full-time "language hacker," someone who devotes all of his time to finding better, faster, and more efficient ways to learn languages. Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World is a new blueprint for fast language learning. Lewis argues that you don't need a great memory or "the language gene" to learn a language quickly, and debunks a number of long-held beliefs, such as adults not being as good of language learners as children.
Author: Umberto Eco
Author: Umberto Eco
Author: Umberto Eco
Author: Guy Deutscher
Author: Arika Okrent
Author: John H. McWhorter
Author: Gretchen McCulloch
Author: Umberto Eco
Author: Gillian Hibbs
Author: Lou Fant
Author: Benny Lewis