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Understanding Signed Languages (Understanding Language)
by Erin Wilkinson Jill P. MorfordUnderstanding Signed Languages provides a broad and accessible introduction to the science of language, with evidence drawn from signed languages around the world. Readers will learn about language through a unique set of signed language studies that will surprise them with the diversity of ways human languages achieve the same functional goals of communication. Designed for students with no prior knowledge of signed languages or linguistics, this book features: A comprehensive introduction to the sub-fields of linguistics, including sociolinguistics, linguistic structure, language change, language acquisition, and bilingualism; Examples from more than 50 of the world’s signed languages and a brief “Language in Community” snapshot in each chapter highlighting one signed language and the researchers who are documenting it; Opportunities to reflect on how language ideologies have shaped scientific inquiry and contributed to linguistic bias; Review and discussion questions, useful websites, and pointers to additional readings and resources at the end of each chapter. Understanding Signed Languages provides instructors with a primary or secondary text to enliven the discourse in introductory classes in linguistics, interpreting, deaf education, disability studies, cognitive science, human diversity, and communication sciences and disorders. Students will develop an appreciation for the language-specific and universal characteristics of signed languages and the global communities in which they emerge.
Understanding Storytelling Among African American Children: A Journey From Africa To America
by Tempii B. ChampionUnderstanding Storytelling Among African American Children: A Journey From Africa to America reports research on narrative production among African American children for the purpose of extending previous inquiry and discussion of narrative structure. Some researchers have focused on the influence of culture on the narrative structures employed by African American children; some have suggested that their narrative structures are strongly influenced by home culture; others posit that African American children, like children in general, produce narrative structures typically found in school settings. Dr. Champion contributes to previous research by suggesting that African American children do not produce one structure of narratives exclusively, but rather a repertoire of structures, some linked to African and African American, and others to European American narrative structures. Detailed analyses of narratives using both psychological text analysis and qualitative analysis are presented. An informative introduction provides background for the study, including a history of storytelling within the African American community. Part I offers a framework for understanding narrative structures among African American children. In Part II, evidence is presented that African American children produce a repertoire of narrative structures that are complex in nature. Part III connects the research findings to implications for educating African American children. Researchers, students, and professionals in the fields of literacy education, language development, African American studies, and communication sciences and disorders will find this book particularly relevant and useful.
Understanding Style: Practical Ways to Improve Your Writing
by Joe GlaserAuthor Joe Glaser explains and illustrates measurable, non-subjective keys to good writing--an approach that yields practical writing techniques and advice rarely found elsewhere. <P><P>An excellent choice for courses in advanced composition, this book also covers more standard topics such as economy, diction, coherence, and variety--along with abundant open-ended exercises drawn from business, history, popular science, and other area.
Understanding Sublimation in Freudian Theory and Modernist Writing (Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature)
by Luke ThurstonWhat is at stake in Freud’s enduring preoccupation with a process supposedly diverting sexuality into cultural activity? In this study, a leading scholar of psychoanalysis and literature re-opens the old question of sublimation in a critical reading that explores one of the last remaining puzzles of Freudian thought. Using the rigorous framework provided by Jean Laplanche, Luke Thurston resituates sublimation as an unfinished Freudian concept bound up with a much wider history of philosophical and literary reflection. Exploring the misunderstanding and reinvention of sublimation both in accounts of cultural history and in Lacan’s celebrated reading of Antigone, Thurston challenges some of the prevalent assumptions still seen in contemporary “theory.” Thurston links his critical investigation of psychoanalysis to modernist literature, discovering both parallels and alternatives to Freud’s idea of sublimation in little-known works by May Sinclair and David Jones. The study concludes by arguing that these modernist artists, both of whom were significantly affected by trauma during the First World War, produced work radically at odds with the established canons of representation, and that this “anti-hermeneutic” art can be linked to a “Copernican” sublimation, a process not controlled by the ego but vitalizing it and decentring its habitual structure.
Understanding Syntax (Understanding Language)
by Maggie TallermanAssuming no prior knowledge, Understanding Syntax illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology associated with the study of cross-linguistic syntax. A theory-neutral and descriptive viewpoint is taken throughout. Starting with an overview of what syntax is, the book moves on to an explanation of word classes (such as noun, verb, adjective) and then to a discussion of sentence structure in the world's languages. Grammatical constructions and relationships between words in a clause are explained and thoroughly illustrated, including grammatical relations such as subject and object; function-changing processes such as the passive and antipassive; case and agreement processes, including both ergative and accusative alignments; verb serialization; head-marking and dependent-marking grammars; configurational and non-configurational languages; questions and relative clauses. The final chapter explains and illustrates the principles involved in writing a brief syntactic sketch of a language, enabling the reader to construct a grammatical sketch of a language known to them. Data from approximately 100 languages appears in the text, with languages representing widely differing geographical areas and distinct language families. The book will be essential for courses in cross-linguistic syntax, language typology, and linguistic fieldwork, as well as for basic syntactic description.
Understanding Syntax (Understanding Language)
by Maggie TallermanAssuming no prior grammatical knowledge, Understanding Syntax explains and illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology involved in the study of cross-linguistic syntax. Taking a theory-neutral and descriptive viewpoint throughout, this book: introduces syntactic typology, syntactic description and the major typological categories found in the languages of the world; clarifies with examples grammatical constructions and relationships between words in a clause, including word classes and their syntactic properties; grammatical relations such as subject and object; case and agreement processes; passives; questions and relative clauses; features in-text and chapter-end exercises to extend the reader’s knowledge of syntactic concepts and argumentation, drawing on data from over 100 languages; highlights the principles involved in writing a brief syntactic sketch of language. This fifth edition has been revised and updated to include extended exercises in all chapters, updated further readings, and more extensive checklists for students. Accompanying e-resources have also been updated to include hints for instructors and additional links to further reading. Understanding Syntax is an essential textbook for students studying the description of language, cross-linguistic syntax, language typology and linguistic fieldwork.
Understanding Syntax (Understanding Language)
by Maggie TallermanAssuming no prior grammatical knowledge, Understanding Syntax explains and illustrates the major concepts, categories and terminology involved in the study of cross-linguistic syntax. Taking a largely theory-neutral and descriptive viewpoint throughout, this book: introduces syntactic typology, syntactic description and the major typological categories found in the languages of the world clarifies with examples grammatical constructions and relationships between words in a clause, including word classes and their syntactic properties; grammatical relations such as subject and object; case and agreement processes; passives and other valency-changing processes; questions and relative clauses features in-text and chapter-end exercises to extend the reader’s knowledge of syntactic concepts and argumentation, drawing on data from over 100 languages highlights the principles involved in writing a brief syntactic sketch of language This sixth edition has been revised to include updated further readings, improved examples and exercises and additional explanations of the most demanding concepts.Understanding Syntax is an essential textbook for students studying the description of language, cross-linguistic syntax, language typology and linguistic fieldwork, and will be the foundation for all studies of theoretical syntax.
Understanding the Chinese Language: A Comprehensive Linguistic Introduction
by Chris SheiUnderstanding the Chinese Language provides a vibrant and comprehensive introduction to contemporary Chinese linguistics. Combining an accessible style with an in-depth treatment of the topics at hand, it uses clear, full descriptions and vivid, modern examples to systematically take students through the phonology, vocabulary, grammar, discourse structures and pragmatics of modern Chinese. No prior knowledge of Chinese or linguistics is required. Features include: Six detailed chapters covering the core linguistic aspects of the modern Chinese language, such as words, content units, sentences, speech acts, sentence-final particles and neologisms User-friendly comparisons and contrasts between English and Chinese throughout the text, helping to clearly explain important complexities and nuances of the Chinese language Clear, accessible explanations and insightful analysis of topics and linguistic devices, supported by many helpful examples, diagrams and tables? Vivid and relevant examples drawn from real-life contemporary sources such as internet news reports, social networks like Sino Weibo, online forums and TV reality shows, offering fascinating perspectives on modern Chinese media, culture and society Pioneering coverage of Chinese new words and the social phenomena they reveal Additional exercises and four supplementary chapters covering Chinese syllables, idioms, discourse and culture available for free download at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415634885/ Written by a highly experienced instructor, researcher and linguist, Understanding the Chinese Language will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in Chinese linguistics. It will also be of interest to anyone interested in learning more about Chinese language and culture.
Understanding the Emotions of Second Language Writing Teachers: A Chinese Tertiary Educational Context (English Language Education #40)
by Shulin Yu Feng GengThis book incorporates both practice-based information and research to underpin teachers' emotions in the teaching and learning settings of second language (L2) writing, in the Chinese tertiary educational context. It introduces and validates a new conceptual framework for evaluating the causes and effects of the emotions of L2 writing teachers and investigates their emotional experiences in the context of the classroom. Additionally, it demonstrates the mediating effect of emotion-regulation strategies on L2 writing teachers’ pedagogical practices, writing assessment practices, teacher–student relationships, and well-being. Finally, this book provides theoretical, practical, and pedagogical implications of emotion regulation and management in order to implement the L2 writing curriculum.
Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism
by Rose A. Zimbardo Neil D. IsaacsUnderstanding The Lord of the Rings: The best of Tolkien Criticism is the definitive collection of essays on Tolkien's masterpiece. The essays span fifty years of critical reaction, from the first publication of The Fellowship of the Ring Through the release of Peter Jackson's film trilogy, which inspired a new generation of readers to discover the classic work and prior generations to rediscover its power and beauty. Fans and scholars alike will appreciate these important, insightful, and timely pieces. Fourteen of the fifteen have been previously published but are gathered here for the first time. The final essay in the volume, "The Road Back to Middle-earth" by Tom Shippey was commissioned especially for this collection. Shippey examines how Peter Jackson translated the text into film drama, shaping the story to fit the understanding of a modern audience without compromising its deep philosophical core. Also included in the volume: W. H. Auden's classic, admiring essay on the true nature of the hero quest --C. S. Lewis on the value of myth--Edmund Fuller on the nature of the fairy tale--Marion Zimmer Bradley on hero worship--Jane Chance on the conflicting moral poles of ultimate good and evil. There are dozens and dozens more books by or about J. R. R. Tolkien in Bookshare's library for reading pleasure or research.
Understanding the Main Idea (The Jamestown Comprehension Skills Series)
by McGraw-Hill - Jamestown Education StaffThis innovative program helps students devote effort to only those specific comprehension skills that give them trouble. The computerized testing system diagnoses weaknesses and prescribes proper placement in Comprehension Skills books. While the computer manages the data, you can concentrate on instruction, expanding comprehension skills with a five-part lesson plan proven to succeed. Computerized follow-up testing tracks progress by comparing "before" and "after" results.
Understanding the Media
by Eoin Devereux'The second edition of Understanding the Media updates what has been recognised as a successful introduction to the study of the mass media.... The author furnishes examples from all around the world, underpinning the emphasis the book places on the concept of globalisation in understanding the modern media. The readings and questions force students to reflect critically on issues and encourage them to explore their own media-consumption habits.... The chapters are well organised and user friendly, with the chapter on globalisation highly recommended. Introductions to media globalisation often fail to provide a succinct and clear overview for first-year students - this chapter cracks the problem with a pithy description of the basic concepts and debates, interlaced with illuminating case studies and illustrative examples... The strength of Eoin Devereux's text is that the examples are familiar and relevant to present-day students and his style does not patronise or talk down to them.... Clearly written, comprehensive, well organised and up to date... This is an excellent introductory text for media studies students' - Times Higher Education Praise for the first edition: `An interesting book to read, written in a simple and transparent style and interlaced with topical, up-to-date examples of media events' - Journal of Educational Media 'This is...a well-organized, well-informed, student-friendly textbook, ideal for first-year undergraduates as a kicking-off point into the field of media and communications research. It deserves to be widely taken up' - European Journal of Communication Understanding the Media introduces key theoretical issues in media analysis and encourages students to use case studies to examine their own personal media use and exposure. Devereux applies a model of media analysis that gives equal weight to the production, content and reception of media texts. A particular emphasis is placed on understanding the mass media in a social context, and readers are invited to engage with a variety of questions about the increasingly complex mediascape in which we live our everyday lives. Now thoroughly revised and expanded this Second Edition: " Includes an additional chapter which draws together the book's key themes " Contains new and revised case studies with expanded discussions on media audiences and fandom and 'blogging' " New and revised extracted readings in every chapter " In addition, the book is now accompanied by an ancillary website with resources for students as well as slides for tutorials/lectures. Each chapter contains concise summaries, exercises, extracts from experts in the field, model exam and essay questions, as well as directions for further reading and research. This practical dimension to Understanding the Media will ensure that the book appeals to both teachers and students of the media in the 21st Century.
Understanding the Oral and Written Translanguaging Practices of Emergent Bilinguals: Insights from Korean Heritage Language Classrooms in the US (Routledge Research in Language Education)
by Chaehyun LeeDetailing qualitative research undertaken with elementary-grade children in a Korean heritage language school in the US, this text provides unique insight into the translanguaging practices and preferences of young, emergent bilinguals in a minority language group. Understanding the Oral and Written Translanguaging Practices of Emergent Bilinguals examines the role of socio-cultural influences on emergent bilinguals’ language use and development. Particular attention is paid to the role of immigrant parental involvement and engagement in their bilingual children’s language learning and academic performance. Presenting data from classroom audio recordings, writing, and drawing samples, as well as semi-structured interviews with children and parents, the book identifies important implications for the education of emergent bilinguals to better support their overall language and literacy development. This text will primarily be of interest to doctoral students, researchers, and scholars with an interest in bilingual education, biliteracy, and early literacy development more broadly. Those interested in applied linguistics, the Korean language, and multicultural education will also benefit from this volume.
Understanding the Political Culture of Hong Kong: The Paradox of Activism and Depoliticization (Asia And The Pacific/hong Kong Becoming China Ser.)
by Lam Wai-manThis book challenges the widely held belief that Hong Kong's political culture is one of indifference. The term "political indifference" is used to suggest the apathy, naivete, passivity, and utilitarianism of Hong Kong's people toward political life. Taking a broad historical look at political participation in the former colony, Wai-man Lam argues that this is not a valid view and demonstrates Hong Kong's significant political activism in thirteen selected case studies covering 1949 through the present. Through in-depth analysis of these cases she provides a new understanding of the nature of Hong Kong politics, which can be described as a combination of political activism and a culture of depoliticization.
Understanding Thomas Pynchon
by Robert D. NewmanThis book introduces the works of Pynchon to both students and general readers alike, and it provides an analysis that will help them to understand the literary aspects of his works.
Understanding Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings
by William ReadyAfter interviewing Tolkien for hours, the author has produced a readable, understandable introduction to Tolkien and his epic trilogy.
Understanding Truman Capote (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)
by Thomas FahyA new direction for Capote studies that reconsiders the author's place in literary criticism, the canon, and the classroomTruman Capote—along with his most famous works In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's—continues to have a powerful hold over the American popular imagination. His glamorous lifestyle, which included hobnobbing with the rich and famous and frequenting the most elite nightclubs in Manhattan, makes him the subject of ongoing interest for public and academic audiences alike. In Understanding Truman Capote, Thomas Fahy provides a new direction for Capote studies that offers a way to reconsider the author's place in literary criticism, the canon, and the classroom.By reading Capote's work in its historical context, Fahy reveals the politics shaping his writing and refutes any notion of Capote as disconnected from the political. Instead this study positions him as a writer deeply engaged with the social anxieties of the 1940s and 1950s. Understanding Truman Capote also applies a highly interdisciplinary framework to the author's writing that includes discussions of McCarthyism, the Lavender Scare, automobile culture, juvenile delinquency, suburbia, Beat culture, the early civil rights movement, female sexuality as embodied by celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, and atomic age anxieties. This new approach to Capote studies will be of interest in the fields of literature, history, film, suburban studies, sociology, gender/sexuality studies, African American literary studies, and American and cultural studies.Capote's writing captures the isolation, marginalization, and persecution of those who deviated from or failed to achieve white middle-class ideals and highlights the artificiality of mainstream idealizations about American culture. His work reveals the deleterious consequences of nostalgia, the insidious impact of suppression, the dangers of Cold War propaganda, and the importance of equal rights. Ultimately Capote's writing reflects a critical engagement with American culture that challenges us to rethink our understanding of the 1940s and 1950s.
Understanding Variability in Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism, and Cognition: A Multi-Layered Perspective (Routledge Studies in Applied Linguistics)
by Kristin Kersten Adam WinslerThis collection brings together linguistic, psychological, and sociological perspectives reflecting on the relationships and interactions of the multilayered factors impacting second language development and cognitive competence. The book advocates a system approach as a counterpoint to existing scholarship, which has tended to focus on a small set of variables. The 13 chapters demonstrate the ways in which cognitive and linguistic development are intrinsically linked, occurring within a nested structure of multiple levels: individual neuro-cognitive systems and processes, individual engagement with the social world, and the wider social and institutional environments and cultural contexts affecting the belief systems and linguistic conventions of social groups. The volume begins by outlining the theoretical and methodological foundations before moving into a more focused look at the interplay of these different variables at the macro, meso, and micro levels. A final section features two commentary chapters from linguistics and psychology, respectively, synthesizing insights from earlier chapters and situating the collection within broader scholarship on linguistic and cognitive development, theoretical and methodological implications, and discussions of avenues for future empirical research. This book will be of particular interest to scholars in second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, cognition, psychology, and sociology.
Understanding Variability in Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism, and Cognition: A Multi-Layered Perspective (Routledge Studies in Applied Linguistics)
by Kristin Kersten Adam WinslerThis collection brings together linguistic, psychological, and sociological perspectives reflecting on the relationships and interactions of the multilayered factors impacting second language development and cognitive competence. The book advocates a system approach as a counterpoint to existing scholarship, which has tended to focus on a small set of variables. The 13 chapters demonstrate the ways in which cognitive and linguistic development are intrinsically linked, occurring within a nested structure of multiple levels: individual neuro-cognitive systems and processes, individual engagement with the social world, and the wider social and institutional environments and cultural contexts affecting the belief systems and linguistic conventions of social groups. The volume begins by outlining the theoretical and methodological foundations before moving into a more focused look at the interplay of these different variables at the macro, meso, and micro levels. A final section features two commentary chapters from linguistics and psychology, respectively, synthesizing insights from earlier chapters and situating the collection within broader scholarship on linguistic and cognitive development, theoretical and methodological implications, and discussions of avenues for future empirical research.This book will be of particular interest to scholars in second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, cognition, psychology, and sociology.
Understanding Verbal Art
by Jonathan WebsterThis book applies linguistic analysis to the poetry of Emeritus Professor Edwin Thumboo, a Singaporean poet and leading figure in Commonwealth literature. The work explores how the poet combines grammar and metaphor to make meaning, making the reader aware of the linguistic resources developed by Thumboo as the basis for his unique technique. The author approaches the poems from a functional linguistic perspective, investigating the multiple layers of meaning and metaphor which go into producing these highly textured, grammatically intricate works of verbal art. The approach is based on Systematic Functional Theory, which assists with investigating how the poet uses language (grammar) to craft his text, in a playful way that reflects a love of the language. The multilingual and multicultural experiences of the poet are seen to have contributed to his uniquely creative use of language. This work demonstrates how Systematic Functional Theory, with its emphasis on exploring the semogenic (meaning-making) power of language, provides the handle we need to better understand poetic works as intentional acts of meaning. The verbal art of Edwin Thumboo illustrate Barthes' point that "Bits of code, formulae, rhythmic models, fragments of social languages, etc. pass into the text and are redistributed within it, for there is always language before and around the text. " With a focus on meaning, this functional analysis of poetry offers an insightful look at the linguistic basis of Edwin Thumboo's poetic technique. The work will appeal to scholars with an interest in linguistic analysis and poetry from the Commonwealth and new literatures, and it is also well suited to support courses on literary stylistics or text linguistics.
Understanding Vocabulary (The Jamestown Comprehension Skills Series)
by Jamestown Publishers McGraw-Hill Education Editors McGraw-Hill Education StaffThe Comprehension Skills Series teaches students to become stronger, efficient readers by developing ten important, specific reading comprehension skills.
Understanding Women's Magazines: Publishing, Markets and Readerships in Late-Twentieth Century Britain
by Anna Gough-YatesUnderstanding Women's Magazines investigates the changing landscape of women's magazines. Anna Gough-Yates focuses on the successes, failures and shifting fortunes of a number of magazines including Elle, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Frank, New Woman and Red and considers the dramatic developments that have taken place in women's magazine publishing in the last two decades.Understanding Women's Magazines examines the transformation in the production, advertising and marketing practices of women's magazines. Arguing that these changes were driven by political and economic shifts, commercial cultures and the need to get closer to the reader, the book shows how this has led to an increased focus on consumer lifestyles and attempts by publishers to identify and target a 'new woman'.
The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade
by Thomas LynchEssays on how the author coped when his father died and he took up the family business and responsibilities as an undertaker
Undertones of Insurrection: Music and Cultural Politics in the Modern German Narrative
by Marc WeinerA basic tenet of literary studies is that aesthetic structures are politically significant because they represent an artist's response to the political implications of cultural codes with which the recipient of the modern work is also acquainted. This tenet provides the basis for the ideological associations attending the appearance of music in the modern German narrative. With his understanding of the arts as involved in often unacknowledged ideological forces within a culture, Marc Weiner's Undertones of Insurrection bridges the gap between the "New Musicology's" rewarding infusion of modern cultural and literary theory into the study of music, politically insightful examinations of narrative structures in the modern novel, and the methodologically conservative area of musical-literary relations in Germanic Studies. In other words, the questions it raises are different from those pursued in most examinations of music and literature, because previous works of this kind concerning the literature of German-speaking Europe have often disregarded social concerns in general, and political issues in particular.Ranging from 1900 to Doctor Faustus (1947), Weiner study sets the stage by examining public debates that conflated such issues as national identity, racism, populism, the role of the sexes, and xenophobia with musical texts. In the literary analyses that follow, Weiner discusses both obvious connections between music and sociopolitical issues--Hesse's equation of jazz and insurrection in Steppenwolf--and covert ones, the suppression of music in Death in Venice and the use of politically charged musical subtexts in Werfel's Verdi and Schnitzler's Rhapsody. By uncovering the ideological agendas informing cultural practice in modernist Germany, Undertones of Insurrection calls for a reevaluation of the function of music in the modern German narrative.
The Underwater Alphabet Book (Jerry Pallotta's Alphabet Books)
by Jerry PallottaLearn your ABCs in this aquatic exploration of the coral reef. Best-selling author Jerry Pallotta delivers a fun first concepts book that covers sea creatures from A to Z. From the well-known Angelfish to lesser known Humu humu nuku nuku apua'a all the way to Zebra Pipefish, readers will be introduced to over twenty-six tropical species that live in and around the coral reef. Edward Stewart's detailed and vibrant illustrations bring the reader into the colorful underwater world. Covering habitats to inhabitants, this alphabetical journey is told both with wit and scientific accuracy that makes for a fun and funny read aloud that kids and parents will be eager to dive into.