AGR 201: Communicating Across Culture

This second edition of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language presents a mass of new information and introduces the subject of language to a fresh generation of students and general readers. The first edition of the book is probably the most successful general study of language ever published. This second edition extends the range of coverage to include advances in areas like machine translation, speech interaction with machines, and language teaching. There is new material on acoustics, physiological concepts of language, and World English, and a complete update of the language distribution maps, language-speaking statistics, a table of the world's languages, and further reading. All geopolitical material has been revised to take account of boundary changes. The book has been redesigned and is presented for the first time in full colour, with new pictures and maps added.

Before the first appearance of the Atlas of the World's Languagesin 1993, all the world's languages had never been accurately and completely mapped. The Atlasdepicts the location of every known living language, including languages on the point of extinction. This fully revised edition of the Atlasoffers: up-to-date research, some from fieldwork in early 2006 a general linguistic history of each section an overview of the genetic relations of the languages in each section statistical and sociolinguistic information a large number of new or completely updated maps further reading and a bibliography for each section a cross-referenced language index of over 6,000 languages. Presenting contributions from international scholars, covering over 6,000 languages and containing over 150 full-colour maps, the Atlas of the World's Languagesis the definitive reference resource for every linguistic and reference library.

The three volumes of Green's Dictionary of Slang demonstrate the sheer scope of a lifetime of research by Jonathon Green, the leading slang lexicographer of our time. A remarkable collection of this often reviled but endlessly fascinating area of the English language, it covers slang from thepast five centuries right up to the present day, from all the different English-speaking countries and regions. Every word and phrase is authenticated by genuine and fully-referenced citations of its use, giving the work a level of authority and scholarship unmatched by any other publication in thisfield.Green's Dictionary of Slang is a groundbreaking work. Quite simply, it is the most authoritative and comprehensive record of slang ever to be made available.

This series captures the language spoken on America's main streets and country roads, words and phrases passed along within homes and communities, from east to west, north to south, childhood to old age. Built upon an unprecedented survey of spoken English across America and bolstered by extensive historical research, DARE preserves the language with all its idioms and peculiarities.

Whether looking at the whistle languages of the Canary Islands or describing the layout of the human throat, this landmark book will enrich the lives of everyone who reads it.

This book sets out to answer a question that many linguists have been hesitant to ask: are some languages better than others? Can we say, for instance, that because German has three genders and French only two, German is a better language in this respect? Jarawara, spoken in the Amazonianjungle, has two ways of showing possession: one for a part (e.g. 'Father's foot") and the other for something which is owned and can be given away or sold (e.g. "Father's knife"); is it thus a better language than English, which marks all possession in the same way?R. M. W. Dixon begins by outlining what he feels are the essential components of any language, such as the ability to pose questions, command actions, and provide statements. He then discusses desirable features including gender agreement, tenses, and articles, before concluding with his view ofwhat the ideal language would look like - and an explanation of why it does not and probably never will exist. Written in the author's usual accessible and engaging style, and full of personal anecdotes and unusual linguistic phenomena, the book will be of interest to all general languageenthusiasts as well as to a linguistics student audience, and particularly to anyone with an interest in linguistic typology.

The Social Art is an engagingly written, highly accessible tour through the world of languages. Macaulay uses jokes, anecdotes, quotations, and examples to introduce readers to the full range of current linguistic knowledge, covering in 35 chapters, topics like language acquisition, phonology,morphology, syntax, semantics, dialects, conversation, narrative, swearing, and many others. In this revised and expanded second edition, Macaulay brings the book up to date with the last decade of progress in linguistics, adding more American examples, and updating bibliographies. Two new chapters have been added, on theories of language development and on the evolution of language. TheSocial Art is perfect for general readers and students who want to learn about what it is that linguists do.

The bulk of the world's population is multilingual, and one in seven Americans speak a language other than English at home. Multilinguals crave answers to question both basic and profound, questions relating to linguistic identity, schools, multiliteracy, how languages are actually learned, and why there are so many variations on individual success. Tokuhama-Espinosa combines solid research, humor, and real-life examples into 21 informative and entertaining essays about people who experience the world with multiple languages. This book tackles common misconceptions about polyglots (too many languages can cause brain overload, some languages are easier to learn than others, an adult cannot learn a foreign language as fast as a child, etc.) Other topics include: - Curriculum choice - Teaching languages using the multiple intelligences - How different education systems can influence multilingual skills - Language's relationship to mental tasks such as music and math - Languages from the womb and bilingualism from birth - The growth of the trilingual family - The societal situation of third culture kids (those growing outside of their parents' native country) - A special case for foreign language development - The emerging cross-area study of multilingualism and cosmopolitanism - Questions of linguistic identity - Challenges to normal foreign language learning, such as dyslexia, Downs Syndrome, and deafness

Using arresting case studies of how ordinary people understand the concepts of race, class, and gender, Celine-Marie Pascale shows that the peculiarity of commonsense is that it imposes obviousness--that which we cannot fail to recognize. As a result, how we negotiate the challenges of inequality in the twenty-first century may depend less on what people consciously think about "difference" and more on what we inadvertently assume. Through an analysis of commonsense knowledge, Pascale expertly provides new insights into familiar topics. In addition, by analyzing local practices in the context of established cultural discourses, Pascale shows how the weight of history bears on the present moment, both enabling and constraining possibilities. Pascale tests the boundaries of sociological knowledge and offers new avenues for conceptualizing social change. In 2008, Making Sense of Race, Class and Gender was the recipient of the  Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, of the American Sociological Association Section on Race, Gender, and Class, for "distinguished and significant contribution to the development of the integrative field of race, gender, and class."

In The Everyday Language of White Racism, Jane H. Hill provides an incisive analysis of everyday language to reveal the underlying racist stereotypes that continue to circulate in American culture. provides a detailed background on the theory of race and racism reveals how racializing discourse--talk and text that produces and reproduces ideas about races and assigns people to them--facilitates a victim-blaming logic integrates a broad and interdisciplinary range of literature from sociology, social psychology, justice studies, critical legal studies, philosophy, literature, and other disciplines that have studied racism, as well as material from anthropology and sociolinguistics Part of the Blackwell Studies in Discourse and Culture Series

An essential reference tool for any international student attending college in the U.S., this informative dictionary features the most common slang and idioms used on college campuses across the nation. With its easy-to-use format, conversational tone, and real-world advice from international students, readers will be able to make a smooth transition to any U.S. institution. From social slang to academic slang and everything in between, this unique dictionary will enhance any international student's college experience. -- Introduction by international students studying in the U.S. -- Learn the idioms and slang you'll most certainly encounter at any U.S. institution -- Covers everything from dining hall terms to party speak -- Dictionary-like style makes this an easy-to-use and informative guide

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