Author : John A. Lucy
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 350 pages
File Size : 46,63 MB
Release : 1992-07-02
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780521387972
An examination of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis on the relationship between grammar and thought.
Author : John Leavitt
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 12,3 MB
Release : 2010-12-23
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 1139494872
There are more than six thousand human languages, each one unique. For the last five hundred years, people have argued about how important language differences are. This book traces that history and shows how language differences have generally been treated either as of no importance or as all-important, depending on broader approaches taken to human life and knowledge. It was only in the twentieth century, in the work of Franz Boas and his students, that an attempt was made to engage seriously with the reality of language specificities. Since the 1950s, this work has been largely presented as yet another claim that language differences are all-important by cognitive scientists and philosophers who believe that such differences are of no importance. This book seeks to correct this misrepresentation and point to the new directions taken by the Boasians, directions now being recovered in the most recent work in psychology and linguistics.
Author : John H. McWhorter
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 203 pages
File Size : 43,77 MB
Release : 2014-04-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0199361606
Japanese has a term that covers both green and blue. Russian has separate terms for dark and light blue. Does this mean that Russians perceive these colors differently from Japanese people? Does language control and limit the way we think? This short, opinionated book addresses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which argues that the language we speak shapes the way we perceive the world. Linguist John McWhorter argues that while this idea is mesmerizing, it is plainly wrong. It is language that reflects culture and worldview, not the other way around. The fact that a language has only one word for eat, drink, and smoke doesn't mean its speakers don't process the difference between food and beverage, and those who use the same word for blue and green perceive those two colors just as vividly as others do. McWhorter shows not only how the idea of language as a lens fails but also why we want so badly to believe it: we're eager to celebrate diversity by acknowledging the intelligence of peoples who may not think like we do. Though well-intentioned, our belief in this idea poses an obstacle to a better understanding of human nature and even trivializes the people we seek to celebrate. The reality -- that all humans think alike -- provides another, better way for us to acknowledge the intelligence of all peoples.
Author : John A. Lucy
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 23,27 MB
Release : 1996-04-04
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780521566209
John Lucy uses original, empirical data to examine the Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis: the proposal that the grammar of the particular language that we speak affects the way we think about reality. The author compares the grammar of American English with that of the Yucatec Maya, an indigenous language spoken in Southeastern Mexico, focusing on differences in the number marking patterns of the two languages. He then identifies distinctive patterns of thought relating to these differences by means of a systematic assessment of memory and classification preferences among speakers of both languages.
Author : Philip Gleason
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 393 pages
File Size : 27,11 MB
Release : 2019-12-01
Category : History
ISBN : 1421434806
Originally published in 1992. In this collection of essays, Philip Gleason explores the different linguistic tools that American scholars have used to write about ethnicity in the United States and analyzes how various vocabularies have played out in the political sphere. In doing this, he reveals tensions between terms used by academic groups and those preferred by the people whom the academics discuss. Gleason unpacks words and phrases—such as melting pot and plurality—used to visualize the multitude of ethnicities in the United States. And he examines debates over concepts such as "assimilation," "national character," "oppressed group," and "people of color." Gleason advocates for greater clarity of these concepts when discussed in America's national political arena. Gleason's essays are grouped into three parts. Part 1 focuses on linguistic analyses of specific terms. Part 2 examines the effect of World War II on national identity and American thought about diversity and intergroup relations. Part 3 discusses discourse on the diversity of religions. This collection of eleven essays sharpens our historical understanding of the evolution of language used to define diversity in twentieth-century America.
Author : Fern L. Johnson
Publisher : SAGE
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 50,76 MB
Release : 2000
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 9780803959125
Speaking Culturally examines the changing cultural demographics of the United States from a linguistic perspective. The author highlights the discourses associated with gender and with African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans.
Author : Denis Cunningham
Publisher : Multilingual Matters
Page : 230 pages
File Size : 30,17 MB
Release : 2006-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 1853598674
The Southwest Pacific from Southern China through Indonesia, Australia and the Pacific Islands constitutes the richest linguistic region of the world. That rich resource cannot be taken for granted. Some of its languages have already been lost; many more are under threat. The challenge is to describe the languages that exist today and to adopt policies that will support their maintenance.
Author : Claudia Mills
Publisher : Holiday House
Page : 307 pages
File Size : 44,10 MB
Release : 2021-10-19
Category : Juvenile Fiction
ISBN : 0823450694
The quest to save the words of a dying language - and to find the words to save what may be a dying friendship - lies at the heart of this exquisite verse novel. Sixth grader Betsy is the one who informs her best friend, Lizard, that thousands of the world's languages are currently threatened by extinction; Betsy's mother is a linguistics professor working frantically to study dying languages before they are lost forever. But it is Lizard who, gripped by the magnitude of this loss, challenges Betsy, "What if, instead of WRITING about dying languages, like your mom, you and I SAVED one instead?" As the girls embark on their quest to learn as much as possible of the near-extinct language of Guernésiais (spoken on the Isle of Guernsey, off the coast of France), their friendship faces unexpected strains. With Lizard increasingly obsessed with the language project, Betsy begins to seek greater independence from her controlling and charismatic friend, as well as from her controlling and charismatic mother. Then tragedy threatens Betsy's life beyond what any words can express, and Lizard does something unthinkable. Maybe lost friendships, like lost languages, can never be completely saved. An NCTE Notable Verse Novel A Charlotte Huck Recommended Book A Mighty Girl Best Book of the Year A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Book! A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Author : Lisa D. Delpit
Publisher : The New Press
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 46,88 MB
Release : 2006
Category : Education
ISBN : 1595580743
An updated edition of the award-winning analysis of the role of race in the classroom features a new author introduction and framing essays by Herbert Kohl and Charles Payne, in an account that shares ideas about how teachers can function as "cultural transmitters" in contemporary schools and communicate more effectively to overcome race-related academic challenges. Original.
Author : Sender Dovchin
Publisher : Springer
Page : 228 pages
File Size : 45,34 MB
Release : 2017-10-25
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 3319619551
This book analyses the language practices of young adults in Mongolia and Bangladesh in online and offline environments. Focusing on the diverse linguistic and cultural resources these young people draw on in their interactions, the authors draw attention to the creative and innovative nature of their transglossic practices. Situated on the Asian periphery, these young adults roam widely in their use of popular culture, media voices and linguistic resources. This innovative and topical book will appeal to students and scholars of sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, cultural studies and linguistic anthropology.
