Author: Clifton Pye Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 022648131X Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 319
Book Description
The Mayan family of languages is ancient and unique. With their distinctive relational nouns, positionals, and complex grammatical voices, they are quite alien to English and have never been shown to be genetically related to other New World tongues. These qualities, Clifton Pye shows, afford a particular opportunity for linguistic insight. Both an overview of lessons Pye has gleaned from more than thirty years of studying how children learn Mayan languages as well as a strong case for a novel method of researching crosslinguistic language acquisition more broadly, this book demonstrates the value of a close, granular analysis of a small language lineage for untangling the complexities of first language acquisition. Pye here applies the comparative method to three Mayan languages—K’iche’, Mam, and Ch’ol—showing how differences in the use of verbs are connected to differences in the subject markers and pronouns used by children and adults. His holistic approach allows him to observe how small differences between the languages lead to significant differences in the structure of the children’s lexicon and grammar, and to learn why that is so. More than this, he expects that such careful scrutiny of related languages’ variable solutions to specific problems will yield new insights into how children acquire complex grammars. Studying such an array of related languages, he argues, is a necessary condition for understanding how any particular language is used; studying languages in isolation, comparing them only to one’s native tongue, is merely collecting linguistic curiosities.
Author: Elma Blom Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing ISBN: 9027287953 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 302
Book Description
Experimental Methods in Language Acquisition Research provides students and researchers interested in language acquisition with comprehensible and practical information on the most frequently used methods in language acquisition research. It includes contributions on first and child/adult second language learners, language-impaired children, and on the acquisition of both spoken and signed language. Part I discusses specific experimental methods, explaining the rationale behind each one, and providing an overview of potential participants, the procedure and data-analysis, as well as advantages and disadvantages and dos and don’ts. Part II focuses on comparisons across groups, addressing the theoretical, applied and methodological issues involved in such comparative work. This book will not only be of use to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, but also to any scholars wishing to learn more about a particular research method. It is suitable as a textbook in postgraduate programs in the fields of linguistics, education and psychology.
Author: Elma Blom Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing ISBN: 9027219966 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 303
Book Description
"Experimental Methods in Language Acquisition Research" provides students and researchers interested in language acquisition with comprehensible and practical information on the most frequently used methods in language acquisition research. It includes contributions on first and child/adult second language learners, language-impaired children, and on the acquisition of both spoken and signed language. Part I discusses specific experimental methods, explaining the rationale behind each one, and providing an overview of potential participants, the procedure and data-analysis, as well as advantages and disadvantages and dos and don ts. Part II focuses on comparisons across groups, addressing the theoretical, applied and methodological issues involved in such comparative work. This book will not only be of use to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, but also to any scholars wishing to learn more about a particular research method. It is suitable as a textbook in postgraduate programs in the fields of linguistics, education and psychology."
Author: Claire Bowern Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing ISBN: 9781588115126 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 398
Book Description
This book addresses controversial issues in the application of the comparative method to the languages of Australia which have recently come to international prominence. Are these languages 'different' in ways that challenge the fundamental assumptions of historical linguistics? Can subgrouping be successfully undertaken using the Comparative Method? Is the genetic construct of a far-flung 'Pama-Nyungan' language family supportable by classic methods of reconstruction? Contrary to increasingly established views of the Australian scene, this book makes a major contribution to the demonstration that traditional methods can indeed be applied to these languages. These studies, introduced by chapters on subgrouping methodology and the history of Australian linguistic classification, rigorously apply the comparative method to establishing subgroups among Australian languages and justifying the phonology of Proto-Pama-Nyungan. Individual chapters can profitably be read either for their contribution to Australian linguistic prehistory or as case studies in the application of the comparative method. Contributions by: B. Alpher; B. Baker; C. Bowern; C. Bowern & H. Koch; G. Breen; L. Campbell; I. Green & R. Nordlinger; L. Hercus & P. Austin; H. Koch; P. McConvell & M. Laughren; L. Miceli; G. O'Grady & K. L. Hale; J. Simpson & L. Hercus.
Author: Mark Durie Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0195362101 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 330
Book Description
Historical reconstruction of languages relies on the comparative method, which itself depends on the notion of the regularity of change. The regularity of sound change is the famous Neogrammarian Hypothesis: "sound change takes place according to laws that admit no exception." The comparative method, however, is not restricted to the consideration of sound change, and neither is the assumption of regularity. Syntactic, morphological, and semantic change are all amenable in varying degrees, to comparative reconstruction, and each type of change is constrained in ways that enable the researcher to distinguish between regular and more irregular changes. This volume draws together studies by scholars engaged in historical reconstruction, all focussing on the subject of regularity and irregularity in the comparative method. A wide range of languages are represented, including Chinese, Germanic, and Austronesian.
Author: Rod Ellis Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 1444336118 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 403
Book Description
This book examines current research centered on the second language classroom and the implications of this research for both the teaching and learning of foreign languages. It offers illuminating insights into the important relationship between research and teaching, and the inherent complexities of the teaching and learning of foreign languages in classroom settings. Offers an accessible overview of a range of research on instruction and learning in the L2 classroom Bridges the relationship between research, teachers, and learners Helps evolve the practice of dedicated current language teachers with research findings that suggest best practices for language teaching
Author: Matthew Lange Publisher: SAGE ISBN: 1446291286 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 210
Book Description
This bright, engaging title provides a thorough and integrated review of comparative-historical methods. It sets out an intellectual history of comparative-historical analysis and presents the main methodological techniques employed by researchers, including: - comparative-historical analysis, - case-based methods, - comparative methods - data, case selection and theory. Matthew Lange has written a fresh, easy to follow introduction which showcases classic analyses, offers clear methodological examples and describes major methodological debates. It is a comprehensive, grounded book which understands the learning and research needs of students and researchers.
Author: Robert Stephen Paul Beekes Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing ISBN: 902721185X Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 441
Book Description
This book gives a comprehensive introduction to Comparative Indo-European Linguistics. It starts with a presentation of the languages of the family (from English and the other Germanic languages, the Celtic and Slavic languages, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit through Armenian and Albanian) and a discussion of the culture and origin of the Indo-Europeans, the speakers of the Indo-European proto-language.The reader is introduced into the nature of language change and the methods of reconstruction of older language stages, with many examples (from the Indo-European languages). A full description is given of the sound changes, which makes it possible to follow the origin of the different Indo-European languages step by step. This is followed by a discussion of the development of all the morphological categories of Proto-Indo-European. The book presents the latest in scholarly insights, like the laryngeal and glottalic theory, the accentuation, the ablaut patterns, and these are systematically integrated into the treatment. The text of this second edition has been corrected and updated by Michiel de Vaan. Sixty-six new exercises enable the student to practice the reconstruction of PIE phonology and morphology.
Author: Rod Ellis Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1135136025 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 401
Book Description
Routledge Introductions to Applied Linguistics is a series of introductory level textbooks covering the core topics in Applied Linguistics, primarily designed for those beginning postgraduate studies, or taking an introductory MA course as well as advanced undergraduates. Titles in the series are also ideal for language professionals returning to academic study. The books take an innovative 'practice to theory' approach, with a 'back-to-front' structure. This leads the reader from real-world problems and issues, through a discussion of intervention and how to engage with these concerns, before finally relating these practical issues to theoretical foundations. Additional features include a glossary of key terms, and discussion questions. Following the back-to-front approach of the series, the book takes problematic issues in language pedagogy as its starting points. These are then examined in terms of second language acquisition. Each chapter begins with a look at the pedagogical proposals found in teacher guides and then asks ‘Do these proposals accord with what we know about how languages are acquired?’ Pedagogical topics covered include teaching methods, syllabus design, explicit instruction, comprehension versus production-based instruction, task-based instruction, authentic materials, the role of the learners’ first language in the classroom, error correction and catering for individual differences. Including a glossary of key terms and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter, and assuming no prior knowledge of second language acquisition, this is the ideal text for all students studying language teaching methods, language teacher education, English teaching methodology and second language acquisition modules in advanced undergraduate and postgraduate/graduate TESOL and Applied Linguistics courses.
Author: Clifton Pye
Author: Rod Ellis
Author: Elma Blom
Author: Elma Blom
Author: Claire Bowern
Author: Mark Durie
Author: Rod Ellis
Author: Matthew Lange
Author: Robert Stephen Paul Beekes
Author: Rod Ellis