Beginning at the 'arts' end of the subject with the common origins of languages, and finishing at the 'science' end with the newest discoveries regarding language in the brain, this stimulating guide covers all the major aspects of linguistics from a refreshing and insightful angle. About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

    Qù tama, zánmen chuqù feng ba. •Who farted? Shéi fàng de pì?•Wanna try doggy-style? Yàobù zánliar shìshì gou cào shì?•Son of a bitch!Gouniángyang de!•I’m getting smashed. Wo ganjué heduo le.•I can’t eat this shit! Wo chi bù xià qù!

    It offers readers who work through it one possible outline for a grammatical description, with many questions designed to help them address the key topics. Appendices offer guidance on text and elicited data, and on sample reference grammars that readers might wish to consult. This will be a valuable resource to anyone engaged in linguistic fieldwork.

    The author provides a succinct but lucid outline of the ways in which language has been defined, described, and explored, and guides readers towards further exploration of their own.

    

    Some of them are crimes of the most heinous nature. But, in our world, more often than not, the girl is made to be the culprit. Society disregards every atrocity the girl has been forced to go through, and to top it off, finds a twisted logic to blame her for it. This is a story about a girl like that. Kavya and Aahaan, two best friends, studying in a highly reputed school of Delhi, enjoy the innocent years of their childhood without a care in the world. They have their entire lives in front of them. But that's where the utopia ends. In this book, Aakash Neeraj Mittal talks about a very important social issue and makes an honest attempt towards changing the existing mindset through this moving story, which will leave you clamouring, "It Wasn't Her Fault".

    To love is one thing, but to be in love is something totally different. Israel and Journey showed proof of this every day. Exemplifying in every way that just because you loved someone didn’t mean that you were supposed to be together. Israel was more of a “what’s love got to do with it” kind of guy. He’d given and received love on so many occasions with so many different women, but he always ended up let down in the end. Because of this, he’d decided to give up on his happily ever after and spend his time chasing paper. This new method worked wonders for him until Juelz walked into his life. The broken, yet street smart daughter of an original street king, Juelz becomes the key to Israel’s heart. Fresh out of prison and looking for a come up, she latches on to Israel and everything he’s offering her. Sharing nothing more than drugs, money, and love, the couple prepares to make a new life together until family skeletons resurface and ruin everything they’ve worked for. A young handsome womanizer, Fresh is the most sought after man in the city, but he has made himself emotionally unavailable to any and every woman whose name isn’t GT. His best friend’s sister, and his lifelong friend, GT is the love of his life, and the only woman to ever awaken the love in his heart. One attempt after another, Fresh tries his best to win her over but is shot down every time. With women at his disposal, the feeling of rejection nearly drives him insane. Determined not to give up, Fresh goes to unimaginable lengths to ensure her heart will one day belong to him, and maybe… just maybe, it’ll finally pay off.

    Upon leaving three years prior, her feistiness, and what others assumed to be, privileged attitude, had caused tension in a relationship she was only trying to see flourish. Being bashed for her upbringing, she thought was a thing of the past until she met Juvie. Wrongfully doing so, Solai shuts down any chances of him trying to win her over, but with time comes maturity for some, and she was now overwhelmed with the pressure to rekindle the flame that had long ago been burned between she and Juvie. Juvie, redefined in every sense of the word, has transformed from the average Joe to the head honcho. After his confidence was shredded at the hands of Solai, unintentionally, he was left with no other option than to boss up! Years have passed in between the two, but their reunion is none other than amazing. However, the tables have shifted, and Solai no longer desires to have him at her side. Being the nigga that he is, Juvie uses the skills that he’s acquired in her absence to try and reel her back in. Looking on, friends and family of Juvie and Solai both seem to enjoy their reconnection, all while dealing with their own issues at hand. The lifestyles once lived are a thing of the past and they all seem to be struggling to hit the hardball life keeps pitching their way. Love, lust, betrayal, and denial all hit the surface at once, and they are left to question only one person… themselves. In this gritty, drama-filled hood love story from BriAnn Danae, read along as loyalty is questioned, secrets are being kept, but friendship is the one thing that never wavers. Life is quickly changing around them, and if Juvie and Solai aren’t careful with the decisions they make, the love they seem to yearn for will be the least of their worries.

    Most parents never forget the moment. But that first word is soon followed by a second and a third, and by the age of three, children are typically learning ten new words every day and speaking in complete sentences. The process seems effortless, and for children, it is. But how exactly does it happen? How do children learn language? And why is it so much harder to do later in life? Drawing on cutting-edge developments in biology, neurology, psychology, and linguistics, Charles Yang's "The Infinite Gift" takes us inside the astonishingly complex but largely subconscious process by which children learn to talk and to understand the spoken word.Yang illuminates the rich mysteries of language: why French newborns already prefer the sound of French to English; why baby-talk, though often unintelligible, makes perfect linguistic sense; why babies born deaf still babble -- but with their hands; why the grammars of some languages may be evolutionarily stronger than others; and why one of the brain's earliest achievements may in fact be its most complex.Yang also puts forth an exciting new theory. Building on Noam Chomsky's notion of a universal grammar -- the idea that every human being is born with an intuitive grasp of grammar -- Yang argues that we learn our native languages in part by unlearning the grammars of all the rest.This means that the next time you hear a child make a grammatical mistake, it may not be a mistake at all; his or her grammar may be perfectly correct in Chinese or Navajo or ancient Greek. This is the brain's way of testing its options as it searches for the local and thus correct grammar -- and then discards all the wrong ones.And we humans, Yang shows, are not the only creatures who learn this way. In fact, learning by unlearning may be an ancient evolutionary mechanism that runs throughout the animal kingdom. Thus, babies learn to talk in much the same way that birds learn to sing.Enlivened by Yang's experiences with his own young son, "The Infinite Gift" is as charming as it is challenging, as thoughtful as it is thought-provoking. An absorbing read for parents, educators, and anyone who has ever wondered about the origins of that uniquely human gift: our ability to speak and, just as miraculous, to understand one another.

    All chapters in this best-seller have been substantially revised to reflect recent discoveries and new understanding of linguistics and languages.

    This fully revised textbook is a new edition of Ronald Wardhaugh's popular and accessible An Introduction to Sociolinguistics.Provides an accessible, comprehensive introduction to sociolinguistics that reflects new developments in the field.Fully revised, with 130 new and updated references to bring the book completely up-to-date.Includes suggested readings, discussion sections, and exercises.Features increased emphasis on issues of identity, solidarity, and powerDiscusses topics such as language dialects, pidgins and creoles, codes, bilingualism, speech communities, variation, words and culture, ethnographies, solidarity and politeness, talk and action, gender, disadvantage, and planning.Designed for introductory and post-introductory students, and ideal for courses including introduction to sociolinguistics, aspects of sociolinguistics, and language and society.

    The introduction file provides an overview of the subfield of linguistics to be studied, as well as the specific topics to be discussed. To make the book more interesting and to help students better understand the content, this new edition is enriched with visual illustrations such as cartoons, drawings, real life pictures, and schematic representation of examples, in addition to the figures and charts in the past editions. New exercises and suggested further readings are added in many chapters. Answers to the exercises are available at the back of the book and on-line for teachers and students.

     Brush up on your Spanish, improve your reading and listening skills, and make learning new vocabulary so much easier with 11 fun and engaging Spanish stories. Reading and listening to short stories is an effective and enjoyable method to learning Spanish. The audio is FREE! For those of you who can’t just slip away from life, travel to Spain and immerse yourself in the language in order to learn it, this is your solution! Reading and listening to native-spoken Spanish stories is the next best thing. You have at your fingertips the written word AND its accompanying audio recording that allows you to: Gain a greater vocabulary that you can use immediately, every day. You will add 1,500+ Spanish words and expressions to your repertoire through the encounter of descriptive sentences and casual conversations woven throughout the stories. Sharpen your comprehension of the spoken word by listening to a native Spanish speaker. Learn how to pronounce Spanish words properly by comparing the written word to the audio recording. Familiarize yourself with a wide range of grammar structures and put them to use today. Avoid the monotonous task of memorizing grammar rules. How awesome is that?! Recommended for beginning and intermediate level Spanish learners. The stories are written for new Spanish learners. However, a basic understanding of Spanish is highly recommended to achieve maximum enjoyment and effectiveness of the lessons. This program is perfect for those who want to brush up on their Spanish language skills. How will this book improve your Spanish language skills: Each story is recorded by a professional. The speaker speaks slowly to help beginners improve their pronunciation. You receive 2 hours of MP3 audio recording! There is no need for a separate dictionary. Each story is broken down with a Spanish and English glossary that introduces you to the words and phrases you might not understand.Any Spanish to English translations needed to understand the stories are included in a mini dictionary, perfect for Kindle. A vocabulary recap at the end of each chapter allows you to review what you have read and listened to so you don’t forget the essential words and expressions taught throughout the lesson. All stories are written using vocabulary that you could easily use in your day-to-day conversations. With these 11 great Spanish short stories and the accompanying audio you can start improving your Spanish today!

    Edited by ETS, the people who make the test! Find out all about the new TOEFL Internet-based test; Get over 500 real TOEFL questiond and essay topics

    In Words and Rules, Steven Pinker explains the mysteries of language by examining a single construction from a dozen viewpoints, proposing that the essence of language is a mental dictionary of memorized words, and a mental grammar of creative rules.