The Prodigal Tongue

The Prodigal Tongue PDF Author: Lynne Murphy
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1524704881
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
CHOSEN BY THE ECONOMIST AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR An American linguist teaching in England explores the sibling rivalry between British and American English “English accents are the sexiest.” “Americans have ruined the English language.” Such claims about the English language are often repeated but rarely examined. Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English. By examining the causes and symptoms of American Verbal Inferiority Complex and its flipside, British Verbal Superiority Complex, Murphy unravels the prejudices, stereotypes and insecurities that shape our attitudes to our own language. With great humo(u)r and new insights, Lynne Murphy looks at the social, political and linguistic forces that have driven American and British English in different directions: how Americans got from centre to center, why British accents are growing away from American ones, and what different things we mean when we say estate, frown, or middle class. Is anyone winning this war of the words? Will Yanks and Brits ever really understand each other?

The Prodigal Tongue

The Prodigal Tongue PDF Author: Lynne Murphy
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1524704881
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Get Book Here

Book Description
CHOSEN BY THE ECONOMIST AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR An American linguist teaching in England explores the sibling rivalry between British and American English “English accents are the sexiest.” “Americans have ruined the English language.” Such claims about the English language are often repeated but rarely examined. Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English. By examining the causes and symptoms of American Verbal Inferiority Complex and its flipside, British Verbal Superiority Complex, Murphy unravels the prejudices, stereotypes and insecurities that shape our attitudes to our own language. With great humo(u)r and new insights, Lynne Murphy looks at the social, political and linguistic forces that have driven American and British English in different directions: how Americans got from centre to center, why British accents are growing away from American ones, and what different things we mean when we say estate, frown, or middle class. Is anyone winning this war of the words? Will Yanks and Brits ever really understand each other?

Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Solution to America's Literacy Crisis

Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Solution to America's Literacy Crisis PDF Author: Denise Eide
Publisher: Logic of English, Inc
ISBN: 1936706075
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
"English is so illogical!" It is generally believed that English is a language of exceptions. For many, learning to spell and read is frustrating. For some, it is impossible... especially for the 29% of Americans who are functionally illiterate. But what if the problem is not the language itself, but the rules we were taught? What if we could see the complexity of English as a powerful tool rather than a hindrance? --Denise Eide Uncovering the Logic of English challenges the notion that English is illogical by systematically explaining English spelling and answering questions like "Why is there a silent final E in have, large, and house?" and "Why is discussion spelled with -sion rather than -tion?" With easy-to-read examples and anecdotes, this book describes: - the phonograms and spelling rules which explain 98% of English words - how English words are formed and how this knowledge can revolutionize vocabulary development - how understanding the reasons behind English spelling prevents students from needing to guess The author's inspiring commentary makes a compelling case that understanding the logic of English could transform literacy education and help solve America's literacy crisis. Thorough and filled with the latest linguistic and reading research, Uncovering the Logic of English demonstrates why this systematic approach should be as foundational to our education as 1+1=2.

Logic as Grammar

Logic as Grammar PDF Author: Norbert Hornstein
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262081375
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
How is the meaning of natural language interpreted? Taking as its point of departure the logical problem of natural language acquisition, this book elaborates a theory of meaning based on syntactical rather than semantical processes. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

A New English Grammar, Logical and Historical: Introduction, phonology, and accidence

A New English Grammar, Logical and Historical: Introduction, phonology, and accidence PDF Author: Henry Sweet
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description


Type-Logical Semantics

Type-Logical Semantics PDF Author: Bob Carpenter
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262531498
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
Based on an introductory course on natural-language semantics, this book provides an introduction to type-logical grammar and the range of linguistic phenomena that can be handled in categorial grammar. It also contains a great deal of original work on categorial grammar and its application to natural-language semantics. The author chose the type-logical categorial grammar as his grammatical basis because of its broad syntactic coverage and its strong linkage of syntax and semantics. Although its basic orientation is linguistic, the book should also be of interest to logicians and computer scientists seeking connections between logical systems and natural language. The book, which stepwise develops successively more powerful logical and grammatical systems, covers an unusually broad range of material. Topics covered include higher-order logic, applicative categorial grammar, the Lambek calculus, coordination and unbounded dependencies, quantifiers and scope, plurals, pronouns and dependency, modal logic, intensionality, and tense and aspect. The book contains more mathematical development than is usually found in texts on natural language; an appendix includes the basic mathematical concepts used throughout the book.

Subject and Predicate in Logic and Grammar

Subject and Predicate in Logic and Grammar PDF Author: P.F. Strawson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351897144
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
P.F. Strawson has supplied a new introduction for this reissue of his modern classic originally published in 1974. Subject and Predicate in Logic and Grammar explores two conceptions of subject and predicate, one of which lies at the core of standard logic and the other more closely relates to surface forms of natural language. Strawson renders these two conceptions, and their divergences, intelligible by relating them both to the 'basic case' in which the subject-term designates a substantial spatio-temporal individual. Through his treatment of these conceptions, Strawson added to our understanding of both logic and general grammar, helping us trace formal characteristics of logic and its grammar to their roots in general features of thought and experience, and observing how the grammatical structure of a large group of non-formalized languages naturally develops in various ways, along other lines. This book, based originally on seminar material used at Oxford and Princeton and a series of lectures delivered at Irvine and University College London, has become an enduring landmark in the literature of logic and the philosophy of language.

Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews

Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews PDF Author: Robert Lowth
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description


Anaphora and Type Logical Grammar

Anaphora and Type Logical Grammar PDF Author: Gerhard Jäger
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402039050
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
Type Logical Grammar is a framework that emerged from the synthesis of two traditions: Categorial Grammar from formal linguistics and substructural logics from logic. Grammatical composition is conceived as resource conscious logical deduction. Such a grammar is necessarily surface oriented and lexicalistic. The Curry-Howard correspondence supplies an elegant compositional mapping from syntax to semantics. Anaphora does not seem to fit well into this framework. In type logical deductions, each resource is used exactly once. Anaphora, however, is a phenomenon where semantic resources are used more than once. Generally admitting the multiple use of lexical resources is not possible because it would lead to empirical inadequacy and computational intractability. This book develops a hybrid architecture that allows to incorporate anaphora resolution into grammatical deduction while avoiding these consequences. To this end, the grammar logic is enriched with a connective that specifically deals with anaphora. After giving a self-contained introduction into Type Logical Grammar in general, the book discusses the formal properties of this connective. In the sequel, Jäger applies this machinery to numerous linguistic phenomena pertaining to the interaction of pronominal anaphora, VP ellipsis and quantification. In the final chapter, the framework is extended to indefiniteness, specificity and sluicing.

Handbook of Logic and Language

Handbook of Logic and Language PDF Author: Johan F.A.K. van Benthem
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0444537279
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 1169

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Book Description
The logical study of language is becoming more interdisciplinary, playing a role in fields such as computer science, artificial intelligence, cognitive science and game theory. This new edition, written by the leading experts in the field, presents an overview of the latest developments at the interface of logic and linguistics as well as a historical perspective. It is divided into three parts covering Frameworks, General Topics and Descriptive Themes. - Completely revised and updated - includes over 25% new material - Discusses the interface between logic and language - Many of the authors are creators or active developers of the theories

Language, Truth and Logic

Language, Truth and Logic PDF 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.