Linguistic Simplicity and Complexity

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Author :
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
ISBN 13 : 1934078379
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis Linguistic Simplicity and Complexity by : John H. McWhorter

Download or read book Linguistic Simplicity and Complexity written by John H. McWhorter and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This series offers a wide forum for work on contact linguistics, using an integrated approach to both diachronic and synchronic manifestations of contact, ranging from social and individual aspects to structural-typological issues. Topics covered by the series include child and adult bilingualism and multilingualism, contact languages, borrowing and contact-induced typological change, code switching in conversation, societal multilingualism, bilingual language processing, and various other topics related to language contact. The series does not have a fixed theoretical orientation, and includes contributions from a variety of approaches.

Language Complexity

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Author :
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9789027231048
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (31 download)

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Book Synopsis Language Complexity by : Matti Miestamo

Download or read book Language Complexity written by Matti Miestamo and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language complexity has recently attracted considerable attention from linguists of many different persuasions. This volume – a thematic selection of papers from the conference Approaches to Complexity in Language, held in Helsinki, August 2005 – is the first collection of articles devoted to the topic. The sixteen chapters of the volume approach the notion of language complexity from a variety of perspectives. The papers are divided into three thematic sections that reflect the central themes of the book: Typology and theory, Contact and change, Creoles and pidgins. The book is mainly intended for typologists, historical linguists, contact linguists and creolists, as well as all linguists interested in language complexity in general. As the first collective volume on a very topical theme, the book is expected to be of lasting interest to the linguistic community.

Language Complexity as an Evolving Variable

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Author :
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191567663
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

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Book Synopsis Language Complexity as an Evolving Variable by : Geoffrey Sampson

Download or read book Language Complexity as an Evolving Variable written by Geoffrey Sampson and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-02-26 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a challenge to the widely-held assumption that human languages are both similar and constant in their degree of complexity. For a hundred years or more the universal equality of languages has been a tenet of faith among most anthropologists and linguists. It has been frequently advanced as a corrective to the idea that some languages are at a later stage of evolution than others. It also appears to be an inevitable outcome of one of the central axioms of generative linguistic theory: that the mental architecture of language is fixed and is thus identical in all languages and that whereas genes evolve languages do not. Language Complexity as an Evolving Variable reopens the debate. Geoffrey Sampson's introductory chapter re-examines and clarifies the notion and theoretical importance of complexity in language, linguistics, cognitive science, and evolution. Eighteen distinguished scholars from all over the world then look at evidence gleaned from their own research in order to reconsider whether languages do or do not exhibit the same degrees and kinds of complexity. They examine data from a wide range of times and places. They consider the links between linguistic structure and social complexity and relate their findings to the causes and processes of language change. Their arguments are frequently controversial and provocative; their conclusions add up to an important challenge to conventional ideas about the nature of language. The authors write readably and accessibly with no recourse to unnecessary jargon. This fascinating book will appeal to all those interested in the interrelations between human nature, culture, and language.

Simplicity and Complexity in Creoles and Pidgins

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Author :
Publisher : Battlebridge Publications
ISBN 13 : 9781903292150
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (921 download)

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Book Synopsis Simplicity and Complexity in Creoles and Pidgins by : Nicholas Faraclas

Download or read book Simplicity and Complexity in Creoles and Pidgins written by Nicholas Faraclas and published by Battlebridge Publications. This book was released on 2009 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Complexity Theory and Language Development

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Author :
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 9027264961
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (272 download)

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Book Synopsis Complexity Theory and Language Development by : Lourdes Ortega

Download or read book Complexity Theory and Language Development written by Lourdes Ortega and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2017-11-15 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is both a state-of-the-art display of current thinking on second language development as a complex system. It is also a tribute to Diane Larsen-Freeman for her decades of intellectual leadership in the academic disciplines of applied linguistics and second language acquisition. The chapters therein range from theoretical expositions to methodological analyses, pedagogical proposals, and conceptual frameworks for future research. In a balanced and in-depth manner, the authors provide a comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of second language development, with a wealth of insights that promise to break the status-quo of current research and take it to exciting new territory. The book will appeal to both seasoned and novice researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, bilingualism, cognitive psychology, and education, as well as to practitioners in second or foreign language teaching of any language.

Motivations for Research on Linguistic Complexity: Methodology, Theory and Ideology

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Author :
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA
ISBN 13 : 2889762912
Total Pages : 161 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (897 download)

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Book Synopsis Motivations for Research on Linguistic Complexity: Methodology, Theory and Ideology by : Kilu Von Prince

Download or read book Motivations for Research on Linguistic Complexity: Methodology, Theory and Ideology written by Kilu Von Prince and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2022-05-31 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Linguistic Complexity

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Author :
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
ISBN 13 : 3110229226
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis Linguistic Complexity by : Bernd Kortmann

Download or read book Linguistic Complexity written by Bernd Kortmann and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2012-05-29 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Linguistic complexity is one of the currently most hotly debated notions in linguistics. The essays in this volume reflect the intricacies of thinking about the complexity of languages and language varieties (here: of English) in three major contact-related fields of (and schools in) linguistics: creolistics, indigenization and nativization studies (i.e. in the realm of English linguistics, the “World Englishes” community), and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research: How can we adequately assess linguistic complexity? Should we be interested in absolute complexity or rather relative complexity? What is the extent to which language contact and/or (adult) language learning might lead to morphosyntactic simplification? The authors in this volume are all leading linguists in different areas of specialization, and they were asked to elaborate on those facets of linguistic complexity which are most relevant in their area of specialization, and/or which strike them as being most intriguing. The result is a collection of papers that is unique in bringing together leading representatives of three often disjunct fields of linguistic scholarship in which linguistic complexity is seen as a dynamic and inherently variable parameter.

Language Interrupted

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN 13 : 0195309804
Total Pages : 332 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

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Book Synopsis Language Interrupted by : John McWhorter

Download or read book Language Interrupted written by John McWhorter and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2007-06-18 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher description

Linguistic Complexity

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Linguistic Complexity by : Christiaan Wouter Kusters

Download or read book Linguistic Complexity written by Christiaan Wouter Kusters and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Growth and Maintenance of Linguistic Complexity

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Author :
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9789027230812
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis The Growth and Maintenance of Linguistic Complexity by : Östen Dahl

Download or read book The Growth and Maintenance of Linguistic Complexity written by Östen Dahl and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies linguistic complexity and the processes by which it arises and is maintained, focusing not so much on what one can say in a language as how it is said. Complexity is not seen as synonymous with “difficulty” but as an objective property of a system — a measure of the amount of information needed to describe or reconstruct it. Grammatical complexity is the result of historical processes often subsumed under the rubric of grammaticalization and involves what can be called mature linguistic phenomena, that is, features that take time to develop. The nature and characteristics of such processes are discussed in detail, as well as the external and internal factors that favor or disfavor stability and change in language.

Measuring Grammatical Complexity

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199685304
Total Pages : 387 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (996 download)

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Book Synopsis Measuring Grammatical Complexity by : Frederick J. Newmeyer

Download or read book Measuring Grammatical Complexity written by Frederick J. Newmeyer and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the question of whether languages can differ in grammatical complexity and, if so, how relative complexity differences might be measured. Chapters approach the question from the point of view of formal grammatical theory, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics, and take phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics into account.

Complexity in Language

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107054370
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Complexity in Language by : Salikoko S. Mufwene

Download or read book Complexity in Language written by Salikoko S. Mufwene and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about dynamical, social-interactional aspects of the emergence of complexity in language, explained by linguists, cognitivists, and modelers.

Measuring Grammatical Complexity

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Author :
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191508446
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

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Book Synopsis Measuring Grammatical Complexity by : Frederick J. Newmeyer

Download or read book Measuring Grammatical Complexity written by Frederick J. Newmeyer and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-10-30 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the question of whether languages can differ in grammatical complexity and, if so, how relative complexity differences might be measured. The volume differs from others devoted to the question of complexity in language in that the authors all approach the problem from the point of view of formal grammatical theory, psycholinguistics, or neurolinguistics. Chapters investigate a number of key issues in grammatical complexity, taking phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic considerations into account. These include what is often called the 'trade-off problem', namely whether complexity in one grammatical component is necessarily balanced by simplicity in another; and the question of interpretive complexity, that is, whether and how one might measure the difficulty for the hearer in assigning meaning to an utterance and how such complexity might be factored in to an overall complexity assessment. Measuring Grammatical Complexity brings together a number of distinguished scholars in the field, and will be of interest to linguists of all theoretical stripes from advanced undergraduate level upwards, particularly those working in the areas of morphosyntax, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and cognitive linguistics.

The Unfolding of Language

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Author :
Publisher : Metropolitan Books
ISBN 13 : 1466837837
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

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Book Synopsis The Unfolding of Language by : Guy Deutscher

Download or read book The Unfolding of Language written by Guy Deutscher and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2006-05-02 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blending the spirit of Eats, Shoots & Leaves with the science of The Language Instinct, an original inquiry into the development of that most essential-and mysterious-of human creations: Language "Language is mankind's greatest invention-except, of course, that it was never invented." So begins linguist Guy Deutscher's enthralling investigation into the genesis and evolution of language. If we started off with rudimentary utterances on the level of "man throw spear," how did we end up with sophisticated grammars, enormous vocabularies, and intricately nuanced degrees of meaning? Drawing on recent groundbreaking discoveries in modern linguistics, Deutscher exposes the elusive forces of creation at work in human communication, giving us fresh insight into how language emerges, evolves, and decays. He traces the evolution of linguistic complexity from an early "Me Tarzan" stage to such elaborate single-word constructions as the Turkish sehirlilestiremediklerimizdensiniz ("you are one of those whom we couldn't turn into a town dweller"). Arguing that destruction and creation in language are intimately entwined, Deutscher shows how these processes are continuously in operation, generating new words, new structures, and new meanings. As entertaining as it is erudite, The Unfolding of Language moves nimbly from ancient Babylonian to American idiom, from the central role of metaphor to the staggering triumph of design that is the Semitic verb, to tell the dramatic story and explain the genius behind a uniquely human faculty.

Language Contact in the Early Colonial Pacific

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107015103
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Language Contact in the Early Colonial Pacific by : Emanuel J. Drechsel

Download or read book Language Contact in the Early Colonial Pacific written by Emanuel J. Drechsel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-27 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents a historical-sociolinguistic description and analysis of Maritime Polynesian Pidgin. It offers linguistic and sociohistorical substantiation for a regional Eastern Polynesian-based pidgin, and challenges conventional Eurocentric assumptions about early colonial contact in the eastern Pacific by arguing that Maritime Polynesian Pidgin preceded the introduction of Pidgin English by as much as a century. Emanuel J. Drechsel not only opens up new methodological avenues for historical-sociolinguistic research in Oceania by a combination of philology and ethnohistory, but also gives greater recognition to Pacific Islanders in early contact between cultures. Students and researchers working on language contact, language typology, historical linguistics and sociolinguistics will want to read this book. It redefines our understanding of how Europeans and Americans interacted with Pacific Islanders in Eastern Polynesia during early encounters and offers an alternative model of language contact.

Morphological Complexity

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107120640
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Morphological Complexity by : Matthew Baerman

Download or read book Morphological Complexity written by Matthew Baerman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-22 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book characterises the diverse morphological complexity we find in the languages of the world. Richly illustrated, examples are drawn from dozens of different languages and are subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis. It will be ideal reading for academic researchers and graduate students of linguistics, with a special interest in morphology and English language.

Complex Processes in New Languages

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Author :
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9027288771
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (272 download)

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Book Synopsis Complex Processes in New Languages by : Enoch O. Aboh

Download or read book Complex Processes in New Languages written by Enoch O. Aboh and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2009-12-17 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, there has been a new interest in evaluating ‘complex’ structures in languages. The implications of such studies are varied, e.g., the distinction between supposedly more complex and less complex languages, how complexity relates to human knowledge of language, and the role of the reduction or increase of complexity in language change and creolization. This book focuses on the latter issue, but the conclusions presented here hold of typological ‘complexity’ in general. The chapters in this book show that the notion of complexity as conceived of in linguistics mainly centres on the outer manifestations of language (e.g., numbers of affixes). This exercise is useful in establishing the patterning of languages in terms of their degrees of analyticity or synthesis, but it fails to address the properties of the inner rules of these grammars, and how these relate to the computational system that governs the human language capacity. Put simply, issues of complexity should not be equated with the complexity observed in surface patterns of grammars alone.