Perspectives on Language

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Perspectives on Language

• EN 620

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Websites for professional organizations

• Linguistic Society of America (http//www.lsadc.or
  g)
• American Association for Applied Linguistics
  (http//www.aaal.org)
• Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL)
  (http//www.cal.org)
• International Pragmatics Association
  (http//www.ipra.org)
• American Dialect Society (http//www.americandiale
  ct.org)
• Others?

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Gorgas Reference

• Guides to the worlds languages
• Quirk Comprehensive Grammar of English
• Oxford English Dictionary online
  (http//dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl)
• Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics

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Gorgas Reference

• LLBA Linguistics and Language Behavior
  Abstracts
• MLA Modern Language Association International
  Bibliography
• (http//www.lib.ua.edu/resources/databases)

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Important journals

• Language
• Language in Society
• Journal of Applied Linguistics
• Journal of Pragmatics
• Journal of Sociolinguistics (http//www.lib.ua.edu
  /resources/ejournals)

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Crystal The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
(second edition)

• Chap. 2 The equality of languages
• The meaning of equality in this context
• The myth of primitive languages
• The myth of the natural superiority of certain
  languages

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Crystal The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
(second edition)

• Chap. 3 The magic of language
• The belief that words control objects, people,
  and spirits (charms.advertising)
• Link to religion
• Verbal taboos (sex, the supernatural, excretion,
  death) euphemism and circumlocution
• Proper names

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Crystal The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
(second edition)

• Chap. 4 The functions of language
• The communication of ideas (referential/propositi
  onal/ideational)
• Emotional expression
• Social interaction
• The power of sound
• The control of reality
• Recording the facts
• The instrument of thought
• The expression of identity

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Language and the Human SpeciesBurling, Chap. 16

• Animal and human communication
• Signing apes
• Human nonverbal communication
• Fossils and brains
• Language in an evolving species
• The earliest language and growing complexity
• Linguistic evidence
• Language and cognition
• The effects of language

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Crystal The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
(second edition)

• Chap. 64 Language and other communication
  systems
• Definitions of language
• design features of communication
• Auditory-vocal channel
• Broadcast transmission and directional reception
• Rapid fading
• Interchangeability
• Total feedback
• Specialization
• Arbitrariness
• Discreteness
• Displacement
• Productivity
• Traditional transmission
• Duality of patterning

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The Uses of LanguageBurling, Chap. 1

• Communication and Cognition
• A Lexicon Words
• Syntax Ways of Joining Words
• Phonology Ways of Distinguishing among Words
• Learnability
• Adaptability

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Leech Svartvik A Communicative Grammar of
English (second edition)

• Part One A guide to the use of this book
• The way this book is organized
• Varieties of English
• Grammar in spoken and written English
• Intonation
• A note on phonetic symbols
• Geographical and national varieties
• Levels of usage formal and informal English

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Mc Crum, Cran, MacNeil The Story of English
(latest edition)

• Introduction
• Recordings of spoken language
• the English languages
• Everyday language
• The pervasiveness of change
• A particular genius of the language?
• How to popularize/academic consultants
• A sense of place
• The choice of the word variety over dialect

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The Story of English Chap. 1An
English-Speaking World

• English as a global language
• The British Empire
• The American Empire
• Forces of standardization and localization
• Accent RP and Network Standard
• New Englishes?
• Assets? (1) lack of grammatical gender on nouns,
  (2) simple and flexible grammar, (3) enormous
  vocabulary

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Crystal The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
(second edition)

• Chap. 19 Names (onomastics)
• Personal names phonology, morphology, syntax,
  semantics, pragmatics---social, cultural
• Place names motivations
• Tuscaloosa
• Longest Welsh place name

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Language and CivilizationBurling, Chap. 17

• Writing
• Writing and the urban revolution
• The alphabet
• Hangul writing of Korea
• Printing and the modern era
• The information age

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Graphic ExpressionCrystal, Chap. 32

• Japanese cornflakes example of 4 systems
• The history of writing
• Types of writing system
• Non-phonological systems
• Pictographic---ideographic
• Cuneiform
• Egyptian hieroglyphic
• Logographic
• Phonological systems
• Syllabic
• Alphabetic

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Crystal The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
(second edition)

• Chap. 31 Written and spoken language
• Attitudes writing supremespeech
  supremecompromise
• Differences relative permanence, availability of
  feedback, unique features (e.g. punctuation),
  restrictions in grammar and lexicon, level of
  formality
• Mutual influence
• Portraying the sound of speech verbal
  description, punctuation, spelling,
  capitalization, type spacing and size, letter
  repetition, italics