Book picks similar to
A Short History of Linguistics by R.H. Robins


linguistics
history
language
language-and-linguistics

Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics


Jenny Thomas - 1995
    The book includes a detailed examination of the development of Pragmatics as a discipline, drawing attention to problems encountered in earlier work, and brings the reader up to date with recent discussion in the field. The book is written principally for students with no previous knowledge of pragmatics, and the basic concepts are covered in considerable detail. Theoretical and more complicated information is highlighted with examples that have been drawn from the media, fiction and real-life interaction, and makes the study more accessible to newcomers. It is an ideal introductory textbook for students of linguistics and for all who are interested in analysing problems in communication.

American Accent Training: A Guide to Speaking and Pronouncing American English for Anyone Who Speaks English as a Second Language (Book and CD)


Ann Cook - 1991
    This invaluable resource for ESL students concentrates solely on the American accent to allow rapid progress.

Understanding Second Language Acquisition


Lourdes Ortega - 2007
    The field of Second language acquisition (SLA, for short) investigates the human capacity to learn additional languages in late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, after the first language -in the case of monolinguals- or languages -in the case of bilinguals- have already been acquired. Understanding Second Language Acquisition offers a wide-encompassing survey of this burgeoning field, its accumulated findings and proposed theories, its developed research paradigms, and its pending questions for the future. The book zooms in and out of universal, individual, and social forces, in each case evaluating the research findings that have been generated across diverse naturalistic and formal contexts for second language acquisition. It assumes no background in SLA and provides helpful chapter-by-chapter summaries and suggestions for further reading.Ideal as a textbook for students of applied linguistics, foreign language education, TESOL, and education, it is also recommended for students of linguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, psychology, and cognitive science.

Our Marvelous Native Tongue


Robert Claiborne - 1983
    Robert Claiborne then continues with the Anglo-Saxon invaders of England whose language developed into Old English, which in turn slowly developed into Middle English after the Norman Invasion. He also gives an overview of the various dialects of English and slang.

Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style


Virginia Tufte - 2006
    The book has special interest for aspiring writers, students of literature and language, and anyone who finds joy in reading and writing.". . . Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, generally recognized as the best study of sentence style." Brooks Landon, University of Iowa, in Building Useful Sentences, page 122.

Student Services: A Handbook for the Profession


John H. Schuh - 2010
    In this important resource, a new cast of student affairs scholars and practitioners examine the changing context of the student experience in higher education, the evolution of the role of student affairs professionals, and the philosophies, ethics, and theories that guide the practice of student affairs work.The fifth edition covers a broad range of relevant topics including historical roots and development of the profession, philosophies and ethical standards, legal issues, theoretical bases of the profession, organizing and managing student affairs programs, and essential competencies: leadership, multiculturalism, supervision, teaching, counseling and helping skills, advising and consultation, conflict resolution, community development, professionalism, and developing institutional partnerships. It also addresses the future of student affairs practice and how it is informed by student learning outcomes and technology."The painstakingly thorough coverage of topics important to the profession of student affairs makes this handbook a valuable resource to the scholarly and practice communities of the profession." --John M. Braxton, professor, Higher Education Leadership and Policy Program, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University; editor, Journal of College Student Development"Continues three decades of excellence in providing a comprehensive set of resources that provides firm grounding for the higher education student affairs community in all aspects of our profession." --Michael J. Cuyjet, professor, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University of Louisville"Casts an impressively wide net, thoroughly capturing critical topics and offering a deeply nuanced and technical, yet readily accessible narrative trajectory and study of student affairs in higher education." --Theresa A. Powell, vice president for student affairs, Temple University

Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article


Howard S. Becker - 1986
    But for some reason they choose to ignore those guidelines and churn out turgid, pompous, and obscure prose. Distinguished sociologist Howard S. Becker, true to his calling, looks for an explanation for this bizarre behavior not in the psyches of his colleagues but in the structure of his profession. In this highly personal and inspirational volume he considers academic writing as a social activity.Both the means and the reasons for writing a thesis or article or book are socially structured by the organization of graduate study, the requirements for publication, and the conditions for promotion, and the pressures arising from these situations create the writing style so often lampooned and lamented. Drawing on his thirty-five years' experience as a researcher, writer, and teacher, Becker exposes the foibles of the academic profession to the light of sociological analysis and gentle humor. He also offers eminently useful suggestions for ways to make social scientists better and more productive writers. Among the topics discussed are how to overcome the paralyzing fears of chaos and ridicule that lead to writer's block; how to rewrite and revise, again and again; how to adopt a persona compatible with lucid prose; how to deal with that academic bugaboo, "the literature." There is also a chapter by Pamela Richards on the personal and professional risks involved in scholarly writing.In recounting his own trials and errors Becker offers his readers not a model to be slavishly imitated but an example to inspire. Throughout, his focus is on the elusive work habits that contribute to good writing, not the more easily learned rules of grammar and punctuation. Although his examples are drawn from sociological literature, his conclusions apply to all fields of social science, and indeed to all areas of scholarly endeavor. The message is clear: you don't have to write like a social scientist to be one.

Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide


Lois Tyson - 1998
    It provides clear, simple explanations and concrete examples of complex concepts, making a wide variety of commonly used critical theories accessible to novices without sacrificing any theoretical rigor or thoroughness.This new edition provides in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to literary analysis today: feminism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, reader-response theory, new criticism, structuralism and semiotics, deconstruction, new historicism, cultural criticism, lesbian/gay/queer theory, African American criticism, and postcolonial criticism. The chapters provide an extended explanation of each theory, using examples from everyday life, popular culture, and literary texts; a list of specific questions critics who use that theory ask about literary texts; an interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby through the lens of each theory; a list of questions for further practice to guide readers in applying each theory to different literary works; and a bibliography of primary and secondary works for further reading.

American Dictionary of the English Language


Noah Webster - 1839
    Webster traced roots in twenty-six languages, and gives examples from classical literature and the Bible. Comprehensive introductions are presented for language and grammar. It has been described by one Christian scholar as "the greatest reprint of the twentieth century." The added biography by Rosalie Slater, "Noah Webster, Founding Father of American Scholarship and Education," describes his contribution to many fields and records his conversion to Christ.

An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition


James Lipton - 1968
    Lipton in the Books of Venery that were the constant study of anyone who aspired to the title of gentleman in the fifteenth century. When Mr. Lipton's painstaking research revealed that five hundred years ago the terms of venery had already been turned into the Game of Venery, he embarked on an odyssey that has given us a "slouch of models," a "shrivel of critics," an "unction of undertakers," a "blur of Impressionists," a "score of bachelors," and a "pocket of quarterbacks." This ultimate edition of An Exaltation of Larks is Mr. Lipton's brilliant answer to the assault on language and literacy in the last decades of the twentieth century. In it you will find more than 1,100 resurrected or newly minted contributions to that most endangered of all species, our language, in a setting of 250 witty, beautiful, and remarkably apt engravings.

Native Tongues


Charles Berlitz - 1982
    This book is a unique storehouse of surprising, thought provoking, fascinating and useful facts about human speech and the written word.

Reading Between the Signs: Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters


Anna Mindess - 2006
    With collaboration of three distinguished Deaf consultants, Mindess explores the implications of cultural differences at the intersection of the Deaf and hearing worlds. Used in interpreter training programs worldwide.

A World of Art


Henry M. Sayre - 1994
    College level text for art appreciation.

How Babies Talk: The Magic and Mystery of Language in the First Three Years of Life


Roberta Michnick Golinkoff - 1999
    Now, as researchers make new forays into the mystery of the development of the human brain, authors Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, both developmental psychologists and language experts, offer parents a powerfully insightful guidebook to how infants--even while in the womb--begin to learn language. Along the way, the authors provide parents with the latest scientific findings, developmental milestones, and important advice on how to create the most effective learning environments for their children. This book takes readers on a fascinating, vitally important exploration of the dance between nature and nurture, and explains how parents can help their children learn more successfully.

Linguistic Anthropology


Alessandro Duranti - 1993
    The theories and methods of linguistic anthropology are introduced through a discussion of linguistic diversity, grammar in use, the role of speaking in social interaction, the organization and meaning of conversational structures, and the notion of participation as a unit of analysis. Linguistic Anthropology will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students.