Books on the topic 'Applied historical linguistics'

The Romance languages and dialects constitute a treasure trove of linguistic data of profound interest and significance. Data from the Romance languages have contributed extensively to our current empirical and theoretical understanding of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and historical linguistics. Written by a team of world-renowned scholars, this Handbook explores what we can learn about linguistics from the study of Romance languages, and how the body of comparative and historical data taken from them can be applied to linguistic study. It also offers insights into the diatopic and diachronic variation exhibited by the Romance family of languages, of a kind unparalleled for any other Western languages. By asking what Romance languages can do for linguistics, this Handbook is essential reading for all linguists interested in the insights that a knowledge of the Romance evidence can provide for general issues in linguistic theory.

This article discusses the history of the Arabic language. It argues that Arabic should have a privileged place within historical linguistics. It is one of the few languages in the world for which a wealth of data exists both in the far-flung contemporary Arabic-speaking world and in a rich Classical tradition attested beginning 1400 years ago. Issues of maintenance and change, central concepts in historical linguistics, can be interpreted against a rich set of data. That they have not resides in the fact that basic concepts of historical linguistics have rarely been systematically applied to the language. Doing so will not only open new vistas to understanding the rich linguistic history of the language but also promises to contribute to the general study of historical linguistics.

Lexical reconstruction has been an important enterprise in Bantu historical linguistics since the earliest days of the discipline. In this chapter a historical overview is provided of the principal scholarly contributions to that field of study. It is also explained how the Comparative Method has been and can be applied to reconstruct ancestral Bantu vocabulary via the intermediate step of phonological reconstruction and how the study of sound change needs to be completed with diachronic semantics in order to correctly reconstruct both the form and the meaning of etymons. Finally, some issues complicating this type of historical linguistic research, such as “osculance” due to prehistoric language contact, are addressed, as well as the relationship between reconstruction and classification.

This chapter, which has both a historical and an analytic dimension, concerns the ritual of the ‘Eucharist’ or ‘mass’, best known in the Catholic variant of Christianity. The first part of the paper outlines the part of the ritual’s complex history that is concerned with various theological attempts to explain or justify particular interpretations of the ritual that have been the subject of conflict. In particular, it outlines the intellectual history of efforts to apply sophisticated theories of language developed in the medieval period and the early modern period. These approaches already involved a theory of deixis that foreshadows modern theories in linguistics that are entirely non-theological. It is a recent linguistic theory, Deictic Space Theory, that is outlined and applied in second part of the paper. This is a cognitive approach to core aspects of linguistic meaning that are grounded in spatial cognition. The overall aim is to investigate, in context, the possible cognitive and emotional effects that may be brought about by the interaction among linguistic formulae and other features of the ritual. Close linguistic and multimodal analysis of the crucial and most controversial moment of the Eucharist is speculatively linked with known psychological, cognitive, and neural processes.

The Oxford Handbook of Taboo Words and Language defines taboo as a proscription of behaviour for a specifiable community of one or more persons at a specifiable time in specifiable contexts. What is in fact tabooed is the use of those words and language in certain contexts; in short, the taboo applies to instances of language behaviour. For behaviour to be proscribed it must be perceived as in some way harmful to an individual or their community but the degree of harm can fall anywhere on a scale from a breach of etiquette to out-and-out fatality. All tabooed behaviours are deprecated and they lead to social if not legal sanction. Taboos are described and the reasons and beliefs behind them are investigated. Tabooed words are typically dysphemistic, think of insults and swearing; tabooed language is avoided through various kinds of euphemism. In twenty chapters, the volume offers comprehensive coverage of tabooed language as perceived by experts in general linguistics, cultural linguistics, sociolinguistics, anthropological linguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, historical linguistics, linguistic philosophy, forensic linguistics, politeness research, publishing, advertising, and theology. Although the principal focus is the English language, reference is occasionally made to linguistic taboos in other languages in order to compare sociocultural attitudes. The existence of taboos and the need to manage taboo lead not only to the censoring of behaviour and the imposition of censorship but also to language change and language development.

Attitudes towards spoken, signed, and written language are of significant interest to researchers in sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, communication studies, and social psychology. This is the first interdisciplinary guide to traditional and cutting-edge methods for the investigation of language attitudes. Written by experts in the field, it provides an introduction to attitude theory, helps readers choose an appropriate method, and guides through research planning and design, data collection, and analysis. The chapters include step-by-step instructions to illustrate and facilitate the use of the different methods as well as case studies from a wide range of linguistic contexts. The book also goes beyond individual methods, offering guidance on how to research attitudes in multilingual communities and in signing communities, based on historical data, with the help of priming, and by means of mixed-methods approaches.

This chapter addresses how the history of English as a linguistic topic has been taught in one South African university. The author focuses on the traditional Old–Middle–Modern English trichotomy as well as colonial and postcolonial synchronic varieties. Subsequent to a curricular shift from historical to applied linguistics in English departments, students taking History of the English Language (HEL) come to the course with little or no background in Old and Middle English. The author offers practical examples of how he accommodated this change in student preparation. Additionally, he addresses how the postcolonial era and globalisation have “revitalised the story of English.” Pidgins, Creoles, and World Englishes problematise the earlier genealogy of the Standard Language, making a linear history less easy to uphold. The author’s discussion of his complementary “Pidgins, Creoles, and New Englishes” course includes helpful pointers to instructors teaching these varieties within a HEL course.

Bayesian models of language acquisition are powerful tools for exploring how linguistic generalizations can be made. Notably, Bayesian models assume children leverage statistical information in sophisticated ways, and so it is important to demonstrate that children’s behavior is consistent with both the assumptions of the Bayesian framework and the predictions of specific models. We first provide a historical overview of behavioral evidence suggesting children utilize available statistical information to make useful generalizations in a variety of tasks. We then discuss the Bayesian modeling framework, including benefits of particular interest to both developmental and theoretical linguists. We conclude with a review of several case studies that demonstrate how Bayesian models can be applied to problems of interest in language acquisition.

As in spoken language, variation abounds in written texts. In the latter, linguistic and extralinguistic variation coexists: one finds variation in lexical and grammatical features, as well as in other textual parameters such as orthography, phraseology and formulary, palaeography, layout, and formatting. Such variation occurs both within the written output of individuals and across broader corpora that represent ‘communities’ of diverse types. To encapsulate this, we use the inclusive term ‘scribal repertoires’, a concept that is intended to cover the entire set of linguistic and non-linguistic practices that are prone to variation within and between manuscripts, while placing focus on scribes as socially and culturally embedded agents, whose choices are reflected in texts. This conceptualization of scribal variation, inspired by the relatively recent field of historical sociolinguistics, is applied to a range of phenomenon in the scribal cultures of premodern Egypt, across languages and socio-historical settings.

This research is the result of a historical drift, in which chance led to interact and better understand deafness and the deaf. of form applied, Modelo para Tradução de Sistema de Revistas de Científicas em Libras (SWOJS) proved to be interdisciplinary in addressing linguistic and technological aspects in supporting communication in Libras, in order to describe a model with processes and tools aimed at supporting their written representation. The chapters are ordered so that, initially, contextualize issues about deafness, in order to present below linguistic and terminological issues, factors that underlie the translation choices, in which, finally, the resources are described technologies that supported the translation of the software. In addition to a project on accessibility, this study is about of an initiative that sought to affirm a space for culture deaf is heard and respected, adding diversity to the society of the knowledge in which we live.

This edited volume documents the state of the art in research on translation policies in both legal and institutional settings. Offering case studies of past and present translation policies from all over the world, it allows for a compelling comparison of attitudes towards translation in varying contexts. It highlights the virtues of integrating different types of expertise in the study of translation policy: theoretical and applied, historical and modern, legal, institutional, and political. It effectively illustrates how a multidisciplinary perspective furthers our understanding of translation policies and unveils their intrinsic link with issues such as multilingualism, linguistic justice, minority rights, and citizenship. In this way, each contribution sheds new light on the role of translation in the everyday interaction between governments and multilingual populations.

Translation Policies in Legal and Institutional Settings documents the state of the art in research on translation policies in legal and institutional settings. Offering case studies of past and present translation policies from several parts of the world, it allows for a compelling comparison of attitudes towards translation in varying contexts. This edited volume highlights the virtues of integrating different types of expertise in the study of translation policy: theoretical and applied, historical and modern, legal, institutional, and political. It effectively illustrates how a multidisciplinary perspective furthers our understanding of translation policies and unveils their intrinsic link with topics such as multilingualism, linguistic justice, minority rights, and citizenship. In this way, each contribution sheds new light on the role of translation in the everyday interaction between governments and multilingual populations.

The monograph reflects the problems of Russian psycholinguistics from the moment of its inception in Russia to the present day and presents its main directions that are currently developing. In addition, theoretical developments and practical results obtained in the framework of different directions and research centers are described in a concise form. The task of the book is to reflect, as far as it is possible in one edition, firstly, the history of the formation of Russian psycholinguistics; secondly, its methodology and developed methods; thirdly, the results obtained in different research centers and directions in different regions of Russia; fourthly, to outline the main directions of the further development of Russian psycholinguistics. There is no doubt that in the theoretical, methodological and applied aspects, the main problems and the results of their development by Russian psycholinguistics have no analogues in world linguistics and psycholinguistics, or are represented by completely original concepts and methods. We have tried to show this uniqueness of the problematics and the methodological equipment of Russian psycholinguistics in this book. The main role in the formation of Russian psycholinguistics was played by the Moscow psycholinguistic school of A.A. Leontyev. It still defines the main directions of Russian psycholinguistics. Russian psycholinguistics (the theory of speech activity - TSA) is based on the achievements of Russian psychology: a cultural-historical approach to the analysis of mental phenomena L.S. Vygotsky and the system-activity approach of A.N. Leontyev. Moscow is the most "psycholinguistic region" of Russia - INL RAS, Moscow State University, Moscow State Linguistic University, RUDN, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Sechenov University, Moscow State University and other Moscow universities. Saint Petersburg psycholinguists have significant achievements, especially in the study of neurolinguistic problems, ontolinguistics. The most important feature of Russian psycholinguistics is the widespread development of psycholinguistics in the regions, the emergence of recognized psycholinguistic research centers - St. Petersburg, Tver, Saratov, Perm, Ufa, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Kursk, Chelyabinsk; psycholinguistics is represented in Cherepovets, Ivanovo, Volgograd, Vyatka, Kaluga, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, Abakan, Maikop, Barnaul, Ulan-Ude, Yakutsk, Syktyvkar, Armavir and other cities; in Belarus - Minsk, in Ukraine - Lvov, Chernivtsi, Kharkov, in the DPR - Donetsk, in Kazakhstan - Alma-Ata, Chimkent. Our researchers work in Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, China, France, Switzerland. There are Russian psycholinguists in Canada, USA, Israel, Austria and a number of other countries. All scientists from these regions and countries have contributed to the development of Russian psycholinguistics, to the development of psycholinguistic theory and methods of psycholinguistic research. Their participation has not been forgotten. We tried to present the main Russian psycholinguists in the Appendix - in the sections "Scientometrics", "Monographs and Manuals" and "Dissertations", even if there is no information about them in the Electronic Library and RSCI. The principles of including scientists in the scientometric list are presented in the Appendix. Our analysis of the content of the resulting monograph on psycholinguistic research in Russia allows us to draw preliminary conclusions about some of the distinctive features of Russian psycholinguistics: 1. cultural-historical approach to the analysis of mental phenomena of L.S.Vygotsky and the system-activity approach of A.N. Leontiev as methodological basis of Russian psycholinguistics; 2. theoretical nature of psycholinguistic research as a characteristic feature of Russian psycholinguistics. Our psycholinguistics has always built a general theory of the generation and perception of speech, mental vocabulary, linked specific research with the problems of ontogenesis, the relationship between language and thinking; 3. psycholinguistic studies of speech communication as an important subject of psycholinguistics; 4. attention to the psycholinguistic analysis of the text and the development of methods for such analysis; 5. active research into the ontogenesis of linguistic ability; 6. investigation of linguistic consciousness as one of the important subjects of psycholinguistics; 7. understanding the need to create associative dictionaries of different types as the most important practical task of psycholinguistics; 8. widespread use of psycholinguistic methods for applied purposes, active development of applied psycholinguistics. The review of the main directions of development of Russian psycholinguistics, carried out in this monograph, clearly shows that the direction associated with the study of linguistic consciousness is currently being most intensively developed in modern Russian psycholinguistics. As the practice of many years of psycholinguistic research in our country shows, the subject of study of psycholinguists is precisely linguistic consciousness - this is a part of human consciousness that is responsible for generating, understanding speech and keeping language in consciousness. Associative experiments are the core of most psycholinguistic techniques and are important both theoretically and practically. The following main areas of practical application of the results of associative experiments can be outlined. 1. Education. Associative experiments are the basis for constructing Mind Maps, one of the most promising tools for systematizing knowledge, assessing the quality, volume and nature of declarative knowledge (and using special techniques and skills). Methods based on smart maps are already widely used in teaching foreign languages, fast and deep immersion in various subject areas. 2. Information search, search optimization. The results of associative experiments can significantly improve the quality of information retrieval, its efficiency, as well as adaptability for a specific person (social group). When promoting sites (promoting them in search results), an associative experiment allows you to increase and improve the quality of the audience reached. 3. Translation studies, translation automation. An associative experiment can significantly improve the quality of translation, take into account intercultural and other social characteristics of native speakers. 4. Computational linguistics and automatic word processing. The results of associative experiments make it possible to reveal the features of a person's linguistic consciousness and contribute to the development of automatic text processing systems in a wide range of applications of natural language interfaces of computer programs and robotic solutions. 5. Advertising. The use of data on associations for specific words, slogans and texts allows you to predict and improve advertising texts. 6. Social relationships. The analysis of texts using the data of associative experiments makes it possible to assess the tonality of messages (negative / positive moods, aggression and other characteristics) based on user comments on the Internet and social networks, in the press in various projections (by individuals, events, organizations, etc.) from various social angles, to diagnose the formation of extremist ideas. 7. Content control and protection of personal data. Associative experiments improve the quality of content detection and filtering by identifying associative fields in areas subject to age restrictions, personal information, tobacco and alcohol advertising, incitement to ethnic hatred, etc. 8. Gender and individual differences. The data of associative experiments can be used to compare the reactions (and, in general, other features of thinking) between men and women, different social and age groups, representatives of different regions. The directions for the further development of Russian psycholinguistics from the standpoint of the current state of psycholinguistic science in the country are seen by us, first of all:  in the development of research in various areas of linguistic consciousness, which will contribute to the development of an important concept of speech as a verbal model of non-linguistic consciousness, in which knowledge revealed by social practice and assigned by each member of society during its inculturation is consolidated for society and on its behalf;  in the expansion of the problematics, which is formed under the influence of the growing intercultural communication in the world community, which inevitably involves the speech behavior of natural and artificial bilinguals in the new object area of psycholinguistics;  in using the capabilities of national linguistic corpora in the interests of researchers studying the functioning of non-linguistic and linguistic consciousness in speech processes;  in expanding research on the semantic perception of multimodal texts, the scope of which has greatly expanded in connection with the spread of the Internet as a means of communication in the life of modern society;  in the inclusion of the problems of professional communication and professional activity in the object area of psycholinguistics in connection with the introduction of information technologies into public practice, entailing the emergence of new professions and new features of the professional ethos;  in the further development of the theory of the mental lexicon (identifying the role of different types of knowledge in its formation and functioning, the role of the word as a unit of the mental lexicon in the formation of the image of the world, as well as the role of the natural / internal metalanguage and its specificity in speech activity);  in the broad development of associative lexicography, which will meet the most diverse needs of society and cognitive sciences. The development of associative lexicography may lead to the emergence of such disciplines as associative typology, associative variantology, associative axiology;  in expanding the spheres of applied use of psycholinguistics in social sciences, sociology, semasiology, lexicography, in the study of the brain, linguodidactics, medicine, etc. This book is a kind of summarizing result of the development of Russian psycholinguistics today. Each section provides a bibliography of studies on the relevant issue. The Appendix contains the scientometrics of leading Russian psycholinguists, basic monographs, psycholinguistic textbooks and dissertations defended in psycholinguistics. The content of the publications presented here is convincing evidence of the relevance of psycholinguistic topics and the effectiveness of the development of psycholinguistic problems in Russia.

This volume focuses on a range of topics and studies that address the notion of plurilingualism and multilingual identity in computer-mediated language learning (CALL) spaces. Interest in digital multilingual identity in the fields of applied linguistics and language education has been growing exponentially in recent years. New theoretical assumptions and recent global challenges have urged researchers to problematize the traditional notion of virtual identity in the face of increased virtual connectedness and the hybridization of transcultural and translingual practices. The chapters in this collection contribute to this fast-growing body of interdisciplinary research, featuring conceptual papers and research studies of identity performance and multilingual communication in highly complexified digitally mediated social platforms. The volume seeks to (a) contextualize digital multilingual communication as it pertains to language learning and teaching via a historical and conceptual overview of the multilingual movement in technologically mediated SLA; (b) offer in-depth explorations of multilingual practices and digital affordances that affect language learner identities beyond the classroom context, (c) fill the research void by exploring empirically the critical aspects of multilingual identity deployment in digital contexts where language learners actively participate in translingual and plurilingual practices, and (d) illustrate new ways of evaluating and adapting teaching practices to accommodate multilingual subjects, and reflect the increasingly hyperlingual nature of digital communication.

Advice, defined as a recommendation for action in response to a problem, is a common form of interpersonal support and influence. Indeed, the advice we give and receive from others can be highly consequential, not only affecting us as recipients and advisors but also shaping outcomes for relationships, groups, and organizations. Some of those consequences are positive, as when advice promotes individual problem solving or enhances workgroup productivity. Yet advice can also hide ulterior motives, threaten identity, damage relationships, and promote inappropriate action. The Oxford Handbook of Advice provides a broad perspective on how advice succeeds and fails, systematically reviewing and synthesizing theory and research on advice from multiple disciplines, such as communication, psychology, applied linguistics, business, law, and medicine. Some chapters examine advice at different levels of analysis, focusing on advisor and recipient roles, advising interactions and relationships, and advice as a resource and connection in groups and networks. Other chapters address advice in particular types of personal relationships (e.g., romantic and family) and professional contexts (e.g., workplace, health, education, and therapy). Authors also consider cultural differences, advice online, and the ethics of advising. For scholars concerned with supportive communication, interpersonal influence, decision making, social networks, and related communication processes at work, at home, and in society at large, the Handbook offers historical perspective, contemporary theoretical framing, methodological recommendations, and directions for future research. The authors also emphasize practical application, offering clear, concise, and relevant “advice for advising” based on theory and research.

Abstract The history of English is not a ready-made thing—it takes shape only through the critical selection of language forms, usages, and pragmatics and through the deployment of these in narratives. English Begins at Jamestown is the first book to critique the historiography that makes this selection and deployment possible. It seeks to isolate competing narrative principles and to understand how they are constructed, what kinds of facts and analyses their constructions allow or prevent, and what can be known outside of them. The book’s focus is thus the general principles that enable the imagining and writing of a history of English, from its Indo-European origins to its present-day status as a global language whose largest group of speakers have learned it as a second language. To this end, the historically and critically wide-ranging argument draws on original research, and uniquely applies narrative as well as linguistic theories to a wide range of interconnecting historiographic paradigms: social purpose, aesthetics, periodization, and grammatical structure. Extending an emphasis on alternative narrative options and their consequences, the conclusion examines yet one more (largely untested) organizational principle, and this is by means of speakers, who have significantly redefined the grammar and pragmatics of English since the colonial period, symbolically begun with the Jamestown settlement. English Begins at Jamestown shows that there are better, worse, and wrong ways to relate the language’s history, even if there cannot be one necessarily right way.