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This book offers new data on the acquisition of functional categories in early child speech. Based on longitudinal corpora of five children acquiring Modern Greek as their first language it describes the development of single DPs consisting of definite and indefinite articles complex DPs that require the use of multiple definite articles — possessive constructions appositive constructions and Determiner Spreading a form of adjectival modification — and number and case marking in nouns and definite articles. Detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses show an incremental development of the DP. The findings address the debate concerning maturation versus continuity. Incremental acquisition of the DP argues in favour of a weak continuity approach to language acquisition. Whilst gradual acquisition of the DP remains unexplained within the Principles and Parameters Theory it is fully compatible within Minimalism as it is argued to result from the gradual acquisition of the features associated with the Greek DP.

This book introduces beginning students and non-specialists to the diversity and richness of African languages. In addition to providing a solid background to the study of African languages the book presents linguistic phenomena not found in European languages. A goal of this book is to stimulate interest in African languages and address the question: What makes African languages so fascinating? The orientation adopted throughout the book is a descriptive one which seeks to characterize African languages in a relatively succinct and neutral manner and to make the facts accessible to a wide variety of readers. The author’s lengthy acquaintance with the continent and field experiences in western eastern and southern Africa allow for both a broad perspective and considerable depth in selected areas. The original examples are often the author’s own but also come from other sources and languages not often referenced in the literature. This text also includes a set of sound files illustrating the phenomena under discussion be they the clicks of Khoisan talking drums or the ideophones (words like English lickety-split) found almost everywhere which will make this book a valuable resource for teacher and student alike.

Covering nearly one thousand years this volume explores medieval and modern English texts from fresh perspectives. Within the relatively new field of historical discourse linguistics the synchronic analysis of large textual units and consideration of text-external features in relation to discourse has so far received little attention. To fill that gap this volume offers studies of medieval instructional and religious texts and correspondence from the early modern period. The contributions highlight writer-audience relationships the intended use of texts descriptions of text-type and questions of orality and manuscript contextualization. The topics ranging from the reception of Old English texts to the conventions of practical instruction in Middle English to the epistolary construction of science in early Modern English are directly relevant to historical linguists discourse and text linguists and students of the history of English.

The Mbugu (or Ma'á) language (Tanzania) is one of the few genuine mixed languages reputedly combining Bantu grammar with Cushitic vocabulary. In fact the people speak two languages: one mixed and one closely related to the Bantu language Pare. This book is the first comprehensive description of these languages. It shows that these two languages share one grammar while their lexicon is parallel. In the distant past the people shifted from a Cushitic to a Bantu language and in the process rebuilt a language of their own that expresses their separate ethnic identity in a Bantu environment. This linguistic history is explained in the context of the intricate history of the people. The discussion of the processes that were involved in the formation of Ma'a/Mbugu is extremely relevant for both creole studies and for contact linguistics in general.

This book explores implications for applied linguistics of recent developments in technologies used in second language teaching and assessment language analysis and language use. Focusing primarily on English language learning the book identifies significant areas of interplay between technology and applied linguistics and it explores current perspectives on perennial questions such as how theory and research on second language acquisition can help to inform technology-based language learning practices how the multifaceted learning accomplished through technology can be evaluated and how theoretical perspectives can offer insight on data obtained from research on interaction with and through technology. The book illustrates how the interplay between technology and applied linguistics can amplify and expand applied linguists’ understanding of fundamental issues in the field. Through discussion of computer-assisted approaches for investigating second language learning tasks and assessment it illustrates how technology can be used as a tool for applied linguistics research.

This volume gives an up-to-date account of various situations of language contact and multilingualism in Europe especially from a historical point of view. Its ten contributions present newly collected data from different parts of the continent seen through diverse theoretical perspectives. They show a richness of topics and data that not only reveal numerous historical and sociological facts but also afford considerable insight into possible effects multilingualism and language contact might have on language change. The collection begins its journey through Europe in the British Isles. Then it turns to northern Europe and looks at how multilingualism worked in three towns that are all marked by border and contact situations. The journey continues with linguistic-historical and political-historical visits to Sweden and to Lithuania before the reader is taken to central Europe where we will deal with the influence of Latin on written German. As far as southern Europe is concerned the study continues on the Iberian peninsula where the relationship between Portuguese and Spanish is focused to be followed by Sardinia and Malta two islands whose unique geohistorical positions give rise to some consideration of multilingualism in the Mediterranean.

This book proposes a framework for describing languages through the description of relationships among lexicon morphology syntax and phonology. The framework is based on the notion of formal coding means; the principle of functional transparency; the notion of functional domains; and the notion of systems interaction in the coding of functional domains. The study is based on original analyses of cross-linguistic data.The fundamental finding of the study is that different languages may code different functional domains which must be discovered by analyzing the formal means available in each language. The first part of the book proposes a methodology for discovering functional domains and the second part describes the properties of various functional domains.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>The book presents new cross-linguistic analyses of theoretical issues including agreement; phenomena attributed to government; nominal classification; prerequisites for and implications of linear order coding; and defining characteristics of lexical categories.<br/>The study also contributes new analyses of specific problems in individual languages.

The Art of Commemoration focuses on a particular historical event that illustrates how nations define their own identities and establish mutual relations in their discourse: the Warsaw Uprising of August 1944 and its Commemoration in 1994. This Commemoration was an innovative and unique form of transnational communication because it brought together representative speakers from all parties involved. They considered the commemorated event from different perspectives: the victim (Poland) the former enemy (Germany) and the former allies (England USA France and other countries as well as Russia which liberated Poland but had not supported the Uprising). A letter from the Pope added a Catholic perspective.

The ‘art of commemoration’ consists in invoking the past events from one’s own perspective while simultaneously considering the other perspectives as well as in making sense of the past and present at the same time. This volume analyses the artful way in which the speakers coped with these complexities in a full discourse analytic reconstruction of each address.

In the American legal system valid witness-testimony is supposed to be invariable and unchanging so defense attorneys highlight seeming inconsistencies in victims’ accounts to impeach their credibility. This book offers an examination of how and why victims of domestic violence might seem to be ‘changing their stories’ in the criminal justice system which may leave them vulnerable to attack and criticism. Latinas’ Narratives of Domestic Abuse: Discrepant versions of violence investigates the discourse of protective order interviews where women apply for court injunctions to keep abusers away. In these encounters two different versions of violence each influenced by a range of ethnolinguistic intertextual and cultural factors are always produced. This ethnography of Latina women narrating violence suggests that before victims even get to trial their testimony involves much more than merely telling the truth. This book provides a unique look at pre-trial testimony as a collaborative and dynamic social and cultural act.