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Author: Michael C. Corballis
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022628719X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 273
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Book Description
Background to the problem -- The Rubicon -- Language as miracle -- Language and natural selection -- The mental prerequisites -- Thinking without language -- Mind reading -- Stories -- Constructing language -- Hands on to language -- Finding voice -- How language is structured -- Over the Rubicon
Author: Michael C. Corballis
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022628719X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 273
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Book Description
Background to the problem -- The Rubicon -- Language as miracle -- Language and natural selection -- The mental prerequisites -- Thinking without language -- Mind reading -- Stories -- Constructing language -- Hands on to language -- Finding voice -- How language is structured -- Over the Rubicon
Author: David Shariatmadari
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1324004258
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
A linguist’s entertaining and highly informed guide to what languages are and how they function. Think you know language? Think again. There are languages that change when your mother-in-law is present. The language you speak could make you more prone to accidents. Swear words are produced in a special part of your brain. Over the past few decades, we have reached new frontiers of linguistic knowledge. Linguists can now explain how and why language changes, describe its structures, and map its activity in the brain. But despite these advances, much of what people believe about language is based on folklore, instinct, or hearsay. We imagine a word’s origin is it’s “true” meaning, that foreign languages are full of “untranslatable” words, or that grammatical mistakes undermine English. In Don’t Believe A Word, linguist David Shariatmadari takes us on a mind-boggling journey through the science of language, urging us to abandon our prejudices in a bid to uncover the (far more interesting) truth about what we do with words. Exploding nine widely held myths about language while introducing us to some of the fundamental insights of modern linguistics, Shariatmadari is an energetic guide to the beauty and quirkiness of humanity’s greatest achievement.
Author: Robert C. Pinckert
Publisher: Prentice Hall
ISBN: 9780139320040
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 244
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Book Description
Author: Max Cryer
Publisher: Exisle Publishing
ISBN: 1921966017
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 434
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Book Description
Have you ever wondered where terms like 'end of your tether', 'gets my goat' or 'letting ones hair down' come from? Or why we call some people 'geezers', 'sugar daddies' or 'lounge lizards'? Or where the words 'eavesdropping', 'nickname' and 'D-Day' come from? They are just a few of the many words and phrases that language expert Max Cryer examines in this fact-filled and fun new book. Max explains where these curious expressions come from, what they mean and how they are used. Along the way he tells a host of colourful anecdotes and dispels quite a few myths - Did Churchill originate the phrase 'black dog'? And if 'ivory tower' can be found in the Bible, why has its meaning changed so drastically? Curious English Words and Phrases is a treasure trove for lovers of language. Informative, amusing and value for money, this book is 'the real McCoy'. From 'couch potato' to 'Bob's your uncle', you'll find the explanation here!
Author: M. J. Harper
Publisher: Icon Books Company
ISBN: 9781840468359
Category : Anglo-Saxons
Languages : en
Pages : 208
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Book Description
This is a truly original blistering attack on the standard history of Britain and the origins of the English language. Think you know where the English language came from? Think again. In gloriously corrosive prose, M.J. Harper destroys the cherished national myths of the English, the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish and - to demonstrate his lack of national bias - the French. He shows that: most of the entries in the Oxford English Dictionary are wrong; the whole of British place-name theory is misconceived; Latin is not what it seems; the Anglo-Saxons played no major part in our history or language; and middle English is a wholly imaginary language created by well-meaning but deluded academics. Iconoclastic, unsentimental and truly original, "The History of Britain Revealed" will change the way you think about the history of the United Kingdom, the origin of the English language - and much else besides. It is an essential but rarely comforting read for anyone who believes that history matters.
Author: Michael C. Corballis
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022628722X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273
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Book Description
Evolutionary science has long viewed language as, basically, a fortunate accident—a crossing of wires that happened to be extraordinarily useful, setting humans apart from other animals and onto a trajectory that would see their brains (and the products of those brains) become increasingly complex. But as Michael C. Corballis shows in The Truth about Language, it’s time to reconsider those assumptions. Language, he argues, is not the product of some “big bang” 60,000 years ago, but rather the result of a typically slow process of evolution with roots in elements of grammatical language found much farther back in our evolutionary history. Language, Corballis explains, evolved as a way to share thoughts—and, crucially for human development, to connect our own “mental time travel,” our imagining of events and people that are not right in front of us, to that of other people. We share that ability with other animals, but it was the development of language that made it powerful: it led to our ability to imagine other perspectives, to imagine ourselves in the minds of others, a development that, by easing social interaction, proved to be an extraordinary evolutionary advantage. Even as his thesis challenges such giants as Chomsky and Stephen Jay Gould, Corballis writes accessibly and wittily, filling his account with unforgettable anecdotes and fascinating historical examples. The result is a book that’s perfect both for deep engagement and as brilliant fodder for that lightest of all forms of language, cocktail party chatter.
Author: Alfred Jules Ayer
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486113094
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 175
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Book Description
"A delightful book … I should like to have written it myself." — Bertrand Russell First published in 1936, this first full-length presentation in English of the Logical Positivism of Carnap, Neurath, and others has gone through many printings to become a classic of thought and communication. It not only surveys one of the most important areas of modern thought; it also shows the confusion that arises from imperfect understanding of the uses of language. A first-rate antidote for fuzzy thought and muddled writing, this remarkable book has helped philosophers, writers, speakers, teachers, students, and general readers alike. Mr. Ayers sets up specific tests by which you can easily evaluate statements of ideas. You will also learn how to distinguish ideas that cannot be verified by experience — those expressing religious, moral, or aesthetic experience, those expounding theological or metaphysical doctrine, and those dealing with a priori truth. The basic thesis of this work is that philosophy should not squander its energies upon the unknowable, but should perform its proper function in criticism and analysis.
Author: Rosemary C. Salomone
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190625619
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 489
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Book Description
A sweeping account of the global rise of English and the high-stakes politics of languageSpoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingua franca- - its common tongue. The language of business, popular media, and international politics, English has become commodified for its economic value and increasingly detached from any particular nation. This meteoric "riseof English" has many obvious benefits to communication. Tourists can travel abroad with greater ease. Political leaders can directly engage their counterparts. Researchers can collaborate with foreign colleagues. Business interests can flourish in the global economy.But the rise of English has very real downsides as well. In Europe, imperatives of political integration and job mobility compete with pride in national language and heritage. In the United States and England, English isolates us from the cultural and economic benefits of speaking other languages.And in countries like India, South Africa, Morocco, and Rwanda, it has stratified society along lines of English proficiency.In The Rise of English, Rosemary Salomone offers a commanding view of the unprecedented spread of English and the far-reaching effects it has on global and local politics, economics, media, education, and business. From the inner workings of the European Union to linguistic battles over influence inAfrica, Salomone draws on a wealth of research to tell the complex story of English - and, ultimately, to argue for English not as a force for domination but as a core component of multilingualism and the transcendence of linguistic and cultural borders.
Author: John Moore
Publisher: World Video Bible School
ISBN: 0615276946
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 114
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Book Description
In our world, everyone is searching for something. If you are searching for answers to questions regarding God, Jesus, hope, happiness, faith, life after death, good and evil, the church, the Bible, God's plan for you, or Jesus' love for you, the answers to these can be found in this book.This book includes extended question sections, including a "Section Review" after each section and a "Chapter Review" at the end of each chapter. To close-out the chapter there is a "Digging Deeper" section, which includes additional verses on the subject matter that are not used in the text with questions regarding those verses. The answer to every question can be found in the Answer Key section at the end of the book.
Author: Bill Brohaugh
Publisher: Writer's Digest Books
ISBN: 9781582974439
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This delightfully grim book of word histories uncovers previous meanings of words that would, if those meanings were apparent today, offend the sensitive, discomfit the squeamish, and irk the politically correct. Illustrations.
