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The Grammar of Interaction : Epistemicity, information management and discourse in language use
Oct 2025
Book
This volume deals with the relations between grammar and interaction from different perspectives with the aim of unraveling the way in which a language — through the different forms of discourse from which it emerges — reflects certain social and community-based schemas; that is how language originates within the space shared by the speaker and the addressee(s). The first part (“Grammar and Interaction”) concerns how interaction may intervene in grammar; the second part (“The Grammar of Interaction”) approaches both notions and linguistic structures which are anchored in interaction while revolving around epistemicity evidentiality and modality. The third part (“Interaction as a Model for Discourse”) concerns how certain constructions emerge from interaction and are further used to model discourse. Finally the fourth and last part of the book (“Interaction as a Driver for Change”) focuses on how interaction may help to delimit linguistic categories.
Mathematical Modelling in Linguistics and Text Analysis : Theory and applications
Oct 2025
Book
This book is a panorama of contemporary quantitative linguistics as developed over decades. It highlights the main topics of QL: statistical laws of language taxonomy of linguistic phenomena authorial attribution quantitative analysis of syntax (e.g. dependency grammar) measurement of text difficulty and other phenomena at the intersection of linguistics literary studies semiotics and information science. It also reflects on the relevance of these time-honoured approaches in our new reality increasingly dominated by AI – both in terms of text material and methodology. Before our very eyes computers are achieving human-level linguistic competence. The era of LLMs and the growing dominance of machine-generated text is becoming reality. The scale of these changes initiated by the replacement of print with the digital universe is enormous. Today linguistics is closer than ever to mathematics and computer science and thus quantitatively-oriented linguists are particularly well-suited to address questions about the boundary between humans and machines in scientific research.
First Language Acquisition in Finno-Ugric Languages
Oct 2025
Book
This book is the first comprehensive state-of-the-art overview of the first language acquisition of four Finno-Ugric languages: Estonian Finnish Hungarian and North Saami. Ten chapters review research on phonological lexical and grammatical development bringing the research within the language family into one source enabling easy access to topics touching upon acquisition of the key linguistic domains cross-linguistic comparisons between the languages and discussion of the ways in which Finno-Ugric languages contribute to theory in the field of first language acquisition. The volume will appeal to students and scholars of language acquisition linguists psychologists clinicians and educational professionals.
Constructions in Contact 3 : Constructional schemas and patterns in language contact
Oct 2025
Book
Over the last decade Construction Grammar has become increasingly popular in the study of language contact and multilingualism. Indeed constructional approaches including Diasystematic Construction Grammar not only offer a useful theoretical framework for empirical studies but also provide a fresh look at fundamental questions in contact linguistics. This volume continues the series of works on Constructions in Contact (the first two volumes were published in 2018 and 2021). It presents new research on the constructionist modelling of language contact phenomena the impact of multilingualism on argument structure constructions and the role of phonological units in language contact. The volume thus combines classical areas of constructional research with innovative ones demonstrating the broad applicability of Construction Grammar for contact linguistics.
COVID-19 : Metaphor and metonymy across languages and cultures
Oct 2025
Book
The COVID-19 pandemic set off a maelstrom of social cultural and political changes—as well as some surprising linguistic ones. This volume explores these dramatic changes through the lens of Cognitive Linguistics analysing noteworthy examples of pandemic discourse to reveal correspondences and contrasts between different cultures’ conceptions of the illness and its aftermath. The contributions examine a variety of genres including newspaper articles storefront signs artistic creations personal interviews social media comments and political speeches. They look at communication in various domains—business media politics economics art and psychiatry. And they compare past and present showing how the modern pandemic both continued and interrupted previous patterns of discourse around illness and disease. These diverse analyses show how Cognitive Linguistics on the cutting edge of quantitative sociocultural and interdisciplinary turns in linguistics can be a powerful theoretical tool in uncovering parallels and variations in how different cultures communicate in times of crisis.
Footprints of Phrase Structure : Studies in syntax in honour of Tim Stowell
Oct 2025
Book
This volume presents a collection of state-of-the-art studies that illustrate recent advances in the understanding of human language grammar design and linguistic categories. The title of the volume aims at highlighting the mark that the work of Tim Stowell has had on the field of Linguistics since his dissertation Origins of Phrase Structure defended at the MIT in 1981. Stowell’s work established the principles that replaced individual phrase structure rules from previous generative models with general universal constraints setting off the articulation of formal grammars on a new journey. The papers gathered here demonstrate how that principled approach runs in the field today. The empirical evidence discussed in the papers comes from 15 different languages which makes the volume a point of reference for cross-linguistic analyses and testimony to the wealth of descriptive knowledge brought to the scientific community.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>A wide array of linguistic generations contributed to this volume ranging from legendary ones who established the field as we’ve known it to some who have only recently received their doctorates. This plainly demonstrates the time spanning impact of Stowell’s work and the deep footprint he has left in the field and in our lives.
Handbook of Terminology : Volume 4. Terminology planning in Europe
Sept 2025
Book
This book provides an overview of the various methods adopted for terminology planning in the languages under examination. Collectively the authors attempt to establish an overall understanding of terminology planning in Europe starting from an examination of the organizations engaged in terminology planning in different European linguistic contexts. Each chapter focuses on a specific language or language landscape focusing on issues such as:<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>- the defining features of these terminology planning institutions including their size structure funding sources specialization public recognition publication methods and collaborations with other organizations;<br/>- the responsibilities and operational procedures for example as regards standardization description evaluation quantification of results dissemination and terminometry;<br/>- terminology planning versus general language planning;<br/>- the historical development of these institutions and the future prospects for terminology planning in each language or language landscape.<br/>The individual authors provide an independent overview of one language landscape. Overall the book tells a fascinating story about how each language handles terminology as an essential linguistic factor in everyday society.
English across Borders : A reflexive approach to anglophone migrants’ repertoires
Sept 2025
Book
This book presents an account of English in the communicative repertoires of anglophone West-Africans living in Southwestern Germany. Adopting an ethnographically grounded perspective it analyzes how participants perceive and utilize English as well as other linguistic resources at their disposal in an environment where linguistic competence is routinely under scrutiny. The book traces how linguistic practices participate in the construction of socially meaningful spaces and images of personhood and how discourse about language enables participants to position themselves in relation to these constructions. In the process notions of languages and varieties themselves are used in surprising and sometimes conflicting ways. While these are at odds with descriptive linguistic terminology the book takes them seriously as expressing local understandings of the relationship among ways of speaking and social positions. At the theoretical level the book advances a shift in World Englishes research towards a reflexive approach grounded in linguistic anthropological perspectives.
Handbook of Pragmatics : 28th Annual Installment
Sept 2025
Book
This encyclopaedia of one of the major fields of language studies is a continuously updated source of state-of-the-art information for anyone interested in language use. The IPrA Handbook of Pragmatics provides easy access – for scholars with widely divergent backgrounds but with convergent interests in the use and functioning of language – to the different topics traditions and methods which together make up the field of pragmatics broadly conceived as the cognitive social and cultural study of language and communication i.e. the science of language use.
The Handbook of Pragmatics is a unique reference work for researchers which has been expanded and updated continuously with annual installments since 1995.
Also available as Online Resource: https://benjamins.com/online/hop
The Handbook of Pragmatics is a unique reference work for researchers which has been expanded and updated continuously with annual installments since 1995.
Also available as Online Resource: https://benjamins.com/online/hop
Cultural Conceptualizations of the SELF in Hong Kong English
Sept 2025
Book
This monograph offers a cultural-cognitive approach to the study of identity construction at a cultural group level and how it patterns language exemplified with Hong Kong English. For this cultural values political ideology language models and reported self- and other-perception as constitutive elements of the speech community’s cultural cognition are explored for the understanding of the cultural model of the SELF. Rooted in the disciplinary synthesis of Cultural Linguistics and World Englishes and its corpus-based approach this book offers new applications and methodological extensions in the study of the acculturation processes of Englishes around the world and the cognitive substrates that inform them. The present study showcases that human experience is fundamentally cultural. Hence this book will enlighten anyone interested in the workings of cognition as connected to language and culture i.e. researchers and students working in the fields of Cultural Linguistics Cognitive Linguistics World Englishes (linguistic) anthropology critical discourse analysis social science sociolinguistics cultural studies and political science.
Cultural models of GENDER and HOMOSEXUALITY in Indian and Nigerian English
Sept 2025
Book
The study presented in this book explores the cultural models of GENDER and HOMOSEXUALITY in Indian and Nigerian English drawing on the research fields of Cultural Linguistics Cognitive Sociolinguistics and World Englishes. With the help of different methodologies and empirical data in the form of sociolinguistic interviews multimodal film material and an online survey the study scrutinises cultural conceptualisations such as culture-specific conceptual metaphors or schemas and shows how they combine to larger interconnected cultural models which provide speakers with a conceptual logic for understanding and interpreting gender and homosexuality. The book further provides visualizations of these cultural models in the form of complex network representations. This scholarly work caters to readers interested in the culturally oriented strands of Cognitive Linguistics in sociolinguistics in World Englishes research and in questions on language gender and homosexuality. It offers valuable insights into the intricate connections between language culture and cognition.
The Progressive Revisited : Historical and Quantitative Studies in Germanic and Romance Languages
Sept 2025
Book
This volume consists of corpus-based analyses of progressive aspect constructions in Germanic and Romance. By adopting a variety of methodologies and theoretical frameworks these studies provide valuable insights into the development grammaticalization and use of various progressive structures across two subgroups of the Indo-European family. The progressive constructions under scrutiny range from widely studied and seemingly well understood constructions to relatively infrequent and obscure ones. Most chapters investigate a specific function of a particular progressive structure or a change affecting it. Some chapters cast new light on the pragmatic non-aspectual functions fulfilled by the progressive. All the chapters present a substantial amount of new empirical work. This collection thus provides a unique opportunity for linguists working on Romance languages to get an instant insight into similar phenomena in Germanic languages and vice versa. At the same time the volume addresses contemporary theoretical and methodological issues in corpus contact and historical linguistics showing that research on the progressive remains today as relevant and inspiring as ever.
Research Methods in Complex Dynamic Systems Theory Approaches to Second Language Development
Sept 2025
Book
This edited volume is a timely and significant contribution to second language development research from a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) perspective. The book addresses the growing need for consistent and practical methodologies for CDST research. Each chapter presents an innovative method or approach illustrating its use in concrete applications to empirical studies and highlighting its value in capturing the dynamic time-sensitive and interconnected nature of L2 development. The volume emphasizes a shift from static outcomes to developmental processes offering tools to explore intra-learner variability network analysis dynamic modeling and more. By bridging theory and practice it equips researchers with methodological guidance to investigate the process of second language development. Building on and extending previous volumes on CDST research methods by Verspoor et al. (2011) and Hiver and Al-Hoorie (2019) this book serves as a crucial reference for future CDST-informed research in Applied Linguistics.
Italo-Romance Heritage Languages : Multiple approaches
Sept 2025
Book
This volume brings together research on Italian and Italo-Romance varieties spoken as heritage languages across the world with contributions from different fields of linguistics and from diverse regions (the Americas Australia Europe). It offers a timely update on the state of the art combining studies on relatively well-documented communities with investigations of lesser-known groups and linguistic phenomena. A distinctive feature of the book is its search for a shared framework for studying Italo-Romance heritage language communities namely one that takes into account the wide range of linguistic resources present in these settings. The chapters include in-depth studies of Italian and Italo-Romance heritage languages as well as analyses of more complex repertoires such as communities where both Italian and dialect are spoken and onward migrant communities in Berlin and London.
Eyes on Text : Eye movements in reading and language processing
Sept 2025
Book
Eyes on Text presents a contemporary overview of research on eye movements in reading and language processing by spinning around the heptagon of cognitive science which consists of linguistics neuroscience philosophy anthropology artificial intelligence education in its corners. The book consists of four parts: basics methodology perspectives and bridging the gaps. After introducing the basic terminology in the first two chapters the book introduces the methodology of the research on eyes on text focusing on factors that shape experiment designs and data analysis. The book then introduces modeling perspectives (models of human text processing and eye movement control) empirical perspectives (eyes on text at various levels of language processing) and reader-oriented perspectives (children elderly readers reading disorders and nonnative reading processes) to the study of eyes on text. The final chapters of the book discuss the diversity of the current approaches and introduce several frontiers that allow bridging the gaps between the domains that conduct studies on eyes on text. It emphasizes the incorporation of the Human-in-the-Loop (HitL) paradigm into Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications as a promising approach to bridge the gaps between the domains also allowing designing personalized interfaces.
Child-centered Approaches to Applied Linguistic Research
Sept 2025
Book
In recent years child-centered research has garnered increasing attention among scholars working with children. However it remains under-explored within the field of applied linguistics. This gap is partly attributable to the conceptual complexity of the notion itself; “child-centered research” encompasses multiple interpretations and each significantly shapes research design and implementation. This edited volume offers a collection of reflective essays by leading scholars in the field of additional language learning and teaching with children. The contributors draw on their own research experiences to explore the complexities ethical dilemmas and methodological challenges they have encountered. They also propose future directions for the field emphasizing the importance of engaging more deeply with child-centered approaches. By bringing together voices from diverse research traditions this book aims to provoke critical discussion and inspire new thinking about research ethics and methodologies among researchers teacher educators and postgraduate students alike.
The Rhetorical Mind : Current issues
Sept 2025
Book
This book comprehends a unique collection of articles on the rhetorical tools with special reference to both discursive and verbo-visual metaphor. It focuses on monomodal and multimodal figurative representations in wine discourse in political discourse and in the sports media. Moreover it encompasses a discussion of the questionable role played by metaphor in scientific discourse concerning climate issues. The art and cognition and multimodality issues are empowered in this volume through the cognitive-oriented analysis of Andre Varda’s films Banksy’s graffiti and a comprehensive typological approach of the Tromp l’oeil technique.
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Romance Linguistics : In honor of Barbara E. Bullock and Almeida Jacqueline Toribio
Sept 2025
Book
The study of Romance linguistics has long been a vibrant and dynamic field enriched by diverse theoretical perspectives and a range of methodological innovations. This volume gathers contributions from leading scholars and emerging voices in the field to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive state-of-the-art survey of key issues in contemporary Romance linguistics. It offers a rich cross-section of the field’s current landscape with a particular focus on Spanish and French and explores how recent advancements in linguistic theory and methodology intersect with real-world language use in diverse social and cultural contexts.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/> At the heart of this volume is a tribute to the distinguished careers of Barbara E. Bullock and Almeida Jacqueline Toribio two scholars whose work has had a profound impact on the interdisciplinary study of Romance languages. Their groundbreaking research has not only shaped our understanding of key issues in syntax phonology and sociolinguistics but also set the stage for future innovations in the discipline. This collection brings together the legacy of their scholarship honoring their contributions while simultaneously advancing the field they have so profoundly influenced.<br/>
Storytelling, Identity Formation, and Resistance in Indigenous Cultures in Canada and the United States
Sept 2025
Book
Storytelling is a means of fostering a sense of identity belonging and continuity. Through stories Indigenous peoples understand and interpret the world and learn how to survive in spite of external forces such as colonialism. Storytelling has been studied by many scholars across myriad disciplines; however its importance in dealing with trauma and in shaping identity demand further study. This volume contributes to an understanding of the importance of storytelling in shaping identity and healing trauma and as a method of resistance among Indigenous peoples in North America. The book will attract readers interested in Native North American studies Canadian studies and cultural studies. In particular the audience will include scholars investigating the importance of storytelling and its impact on healing and resistance among Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States. The contributions in this volume cover a wide range of media: fiction and non-fiction works documentaries poetry activist work movies and TV series.
Decoding Movie Language through Multi-Dimensional Analysis and the Grammar of Graphics
Aug 2025
Book
This book offers a comprehensive and refined account of movie discourse through the application of Multi-Dimensional Analysis (MDA) to the American Movie Corpus a collection of authentic verified movie dialog transcriptions. Expanding on previous MDA-based research it broadens both the scope of data and the methodological framework by integrating the Grammar of Graphics to facilitate the interpretation of linguistic findings. The study addresses the longstanding debate on the authenticity of scripted dialog demonstrating the textual and linguistic proximity between movie language and spontaneous conversation. It includes genre-based and diachronic analyses offering a rigorous data-driven perspective on movie language as both a linguistic resource and a tool for teaching spoken grammar. Bridging corpus linguistics applied linguistics and media studies the book provides valuable insights for scholars educators and learners interested in spoken language ELT and telecinematic discourse while contributing a novel visualized approach to empirical language analysis.
The Person in Politics : Pronouns and political personalization in U.S. presidential campaigns
Aug 2025
Book
Personalization has become a central feature of political communication. Politicians appear on late-night talk shows smile from billboards and post family photos on social media – placing themselves at the heart of public discourse. As individual personalities take center stage abstract political ideologies and political collectives fade into the background. The Person in Politics explores the linguistic dimension of this shift through the cognitive semantic analysis of pronominal references. Drawing on a thorough account of how pronouns are used in American presidential nomination acceptance speeches and with what purpose this work investigates how politicians emphasize individual leadership and craft collective identities with personal pronouns. Offering valuable insights into the intersection of language and political campaign rhetoric this book is relevant for scholars of cognitive linguistics and political communication as well as practicioners seeking to navigate the evolving field of political discourse.
Local Grammar Approaches to Speech Act Studies : Apology in contemporary spoken British English
Aug 2025
Book
This book brings together corpus linguistics and pragmatics by extending the emerging corpus analytic framework of local grammar to speech act research aiming to enrich the toolkit of corpus-based speech act studies. It outlines four directions in which local grammar can be useful for investigating speech acts namely a local grammar approach to annotating speech acts developing local grammars of speech acts identifying speech act constructions via the lens of local grammars and applying local grammars into contrastive speech act studies. These directions are illustrated with studies on apology in contemporary spoken British English which shows that local grammar can be an innovative approach to advance speech act studies and that such research has significant implications and applications. The book should be of interest to researchers and students in corpus linguistics pragmatics construction grammar and L2 speech act research and teaching.
Evaluative Discourse Metaphor in Online Communities
Aug 2025
Book
This monograph introduces the Evaluative Discourse Metaphor model which argues that participants in public and semi-public online discourse (re)use evaluative metaphors to construct and maintain communities. We explore how such metaphors trigger others with similar forms though not necessarily the same evaluative targets generating discourse spaces unified by a shared evaluative ethos. The model draws on a discourse-based view of metaphor Hallidayan metafunctions Du Bois’s stance triangle and insights from computer-mediated communication with a focus on affordances and community-building. We define or redefine key concepts including single evaluative metaphors metaphorical complexes triggers bondicons and chains. Rather than departing from existing literature we integrate it into a framework valuable to scholars in metaphor studies digital ethnography discourse analysis and online communication.
Beyond Binaries in Address Research : Politeness and identity practices in interaction
Jul 2025
Book
Beyond binaries in address research: Politeness and identity practices in interaction shifts the focus of address studies away from the traditional T/V opposition and toward a more flexible contextually situated framework. The volume brings together linguistic phenomena that do not fit neatly within the formal/informal duality. The chapters explore several languages including European Portuguese Spanish varieties Caribbean Dutch Swedish German Bosnian Hungar-ian and Syrian Arabic. The analytical approaches are equally diverse challenging binary dis-tinctions through quantitative methods such as survey response analysis attitudinal experi-ments using the Matched Guise Test data clustering and qualitative analyses of interaction and metadiscourse. The ten chapters are accompanied by an introduction that situates the discussion within the broader critique of binary approaches to address over time.
This book will interest scholars engaged in address research broadly defined to include socio-linguistics language variation and change pragmatics politeness studies comparative linguis-tics and intercultural communication.
This book will interest scholars engaged in address research broadly defined to include socio-linguistics language variation and change pragmatics politeness studies comparative linguis-tics and intercultural communication.
Sociolinguistic Approaches to Arabic and Spanish in Contact
Jul 2025
Book
This volume brings together empirical research in sociolinguistics that focuses on Arabic and Spanish contact across different geopolitical sociocultural and digital spaces. Bridging historical and modern sociolinguistic perspectives this volume challenges the marginalization of Arabic-Spanish contact as well as Judeo-Spanish in linguistic research shedding light on the enduring global relevance of the study of these languages and their contexts.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/> With contributions employing diverse methodologies – quantitative qualitative and mixed-methods approaches – this collection examines topics such as multilingualism identity language variation and language ideologies and attitudes. The volume also features research regarding the contemporary sociolinguistic dynamics of Arabic and Spanish in education familial and religious contexts. This volume is essential for scholars of sociolinguistics historical and contemporary linguistics language policy and planning and language education. Finally the volume offers novel insights that expand the field and inspire new directions in Spanish and Arabic linguistics.<br/>
Metaphors in Audiovisual Translation
Jul 2025
Book
As metaphors are fascinating linguistic and cultural phenomena and as they have a great potential to cause translation problems it is no wonder that a great deal has been written about them both in metaphor studies and in translation studies. They are severely under-researched from the perspective of audiovisual translation however. This is surprising considering the added layers of complexity caused by the multimodality of audiovisual texts and the special conditions and constraints of dubbing and subtitling. This monograph seeks to remedy this as it investigates how metaphors are handled in three different genres of televisual light entertainment. If a metaphor is verbalized in the dialogue while being visualized on screen and if that metaphor is not normally used in the target language the task of the audiovisual translator becomes very challenging indeed. The research shows that audiovisual translators go to great lengths of creativity and complexity to do metaphors justice and maintain harmony with sound and image.
Dutch and Contact Linguistics : The Dutch language outside the Low Countries
Jul 2025
Book
Whilst the Dutch language cannot be considered a world language in the manner of English Spanish Portuguese or French the fact that speakers of Dutch have sailed to the four corners of the earth means that it cannot be overlooked in language-contact studies. This volume brings together scholars from across the globe to showcase the many varied outcomes of contact between Dutch and other languages in Europe Africa Asia and the Americas. These outcomes include language learning translation multilingualism codeswitching lexical borrowing grammatical interference the emergence of contact varieties such as creoles and language shift or ‘first-language attrition’. Other subjects that the volume covers include the circulation of Dutch loanwords translanguaging sprachbund studies taboo words animal names call names language beliefs Dutch as a heritage language and Dutch in online spaces. In short the contributions in this volume tell the story of the many outcomes of contact between Dutch and other languages across the centuries and across the world.
Semantic-Pragmatic Change from Intersubjective to Textual Meanings
Jun 2025
Book
This is the first comprehensive volume to explore the tendency from ‘intersubjective’ to ‘textual’ functions in semantic-pragmatic change. It challenges the influential hypothesis based on the pioneering works by Traugott i.e. the unidirectionality of change from objective to subjective and then to intersubjective meanings. In this framework textual meanings precede (inter)subjective ones. Questioning this established trajectory the contributions in this volume offer fresh perspectives on the development of intersubjective and textual functions. The chapters provide new empirical data about different constructions (modals conditionals discourse markers non-lexical items etc.) across a variety of largely unrelated languages (Ainu Mandarin Chinese English German Japanese Italian Sicilian Spanish).<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>This book collects a multifaceted reflection for researchers interested in language change especially at the interface of semantics and pragmatics providing readers with an opportunity to better understand the crucial processes of textualization and intersubjectification.
Dialect on Air : Bahamian Creole in historical radio broadcasts
Jun 2025
Book
Despite the increasing interest in diachronic linguistic studies such research remains particularly scarce for creole varieties largely due to the limited availability of historical data on non-standard languages. This book addresses this gap by introducing a soap opera from the early 1970s as a source of historical creole data. It presents the first real-time analysis of selected grammatical and phonological features of Bahamian Creole English. Situated within the framework of comparative sociolinguistics the study provides quantitative variationist analyses of the zero copula BE-levelling verbal negation low vowels (i.e. the lexical sets of BATH PALM START and TRAP) and the closing diphthongs of MOUTH and PRICE. This book will appeal not only to those interested in the analysis of creole and non-standard varieties but also to those studying language variation and change more broadly.
Research at the Intersection of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics : Studies in honor of Kimberly L. Geeslin
Jun 2025
Book
This volume honors the scholarly legacy of Kimberly L. Geeslin. Geeslin’s pioneering work on variation in the Spanish copula system united and extended research in the fields of second language acquisition and sociolinguistics. Geeslin laid the foundation for a growing subfield of investigation that explores how interlanguages vary in systematic and socially meaningful ways across various modules of language; how variation in learner language relates to the speakers contexts and experiences learners are in contact with; and how variable features develop over learning trajectories. This volume connects established and up-and-coming scholars conducting research on second language sociolinguistic variation and exemplifies the present and future of this line of inquiry. Together these chapters reconsider important questions pose and test new methods and challenge long-standing practices to advance both second language acquisition and sociolinguistics. The volume’s collaborative format also pays homage to Kim Geeslin’s unparalleled mentorship and field-wide influence.
Second Language Cognitive Task Complexity : A research synthesis
Jun 2025
Book
This book addresses the topic of cognitive task complexity as it has been investigated in second language (L2) task-based research. This interest is premised on the notion that communication tasks may differ systematically in the types and amounts of cognitive complexity they present to L2 learners and these differences may have predictable effects on L2 performance learning and other outcomes. Adopting a research synthetic approach the authors pursued the first ever comprehensive review of experimental and quasi-experimental studies published over the first 30 years of relevant research that drew comparisons between tasks designed to differ in levels and types of cognitive complexity. Findings from included studies (N = 296) illuminated critical patterns and gaps in the tasks cognitive complexity operationalizations outcome measures and moderating variables investigated. Meta-analytic comparisons of the most replicated variables identified substantial beneficial as well as detrimental effects between a few task designs and certain measures of performance uncovering heretofore unknown patterns of cause and effect. The book concludes with a detailed consideration of what is now known about L2 cognitive task complexity as well as the ways in which research should be improved providing an essential interpretive benchmark and a foundation for future investigations.
Identity Perspectives from Peripheries
Jun 2025
Book
Data dubbed “peripheral” or previously unaccounted for have inspired new methods new models and theories of language and new ways of understanding language and communication within pragmatics. The chapters in the volume extend this perspective to include language users and their identities as central taking into account the ideologies that mediate their perception of language use. Identities and peripheries are approached geographically (Europe North America Africa Asia; dialectal variation) socially (gender age social status) medially (traditional electronic and multimedia) occupationally (trade congregation) and from the points of view of healthcare and of professional relations. The volume includes the editors’ introductory overview of challenges in the field and chapters divided into three parts Building the Peripheral Stage; Identities in Interaction; and Gender Narratives and Peripheries. By particularizing a variety of linguistic peripheries the volume fosters a deeper understanding of human interaction.
The Second Language Acquisition of English Tense, Aspect and Modality
Jun 2025
Book
After a comprehensive description of the French and English tense aspect mood/modality (TAM) systems in Chapter 1 an overview of key theoretical perspective and applied perspectives from the morpheme-order studies to examples of internal and external interfaces in monolingual child acquisition is presented in Chapter 2. The literature review of L2 studies illustrates the subtleties of TAM properties in Chapter 3. It is followed by the rigorous methodology of a cross-sectional empirical study designed to test the L2 acquisition of the English TAM system along with pretest results in Chapter 4. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of data obtained from written production tasks cloze tests and completion tasks completed by French EFL and ESL learners and a NS comparison group appear in Chapters 5 6 and 7. The results discussed in Chapter 8 address the explanatory power of the Interface and Feature Reassembly hypotheses while directions for future research are offered in Chapter 9. Scholars will appreciate how new data carefully analyzed in its nuances and complexities bring us closer to better understanding the challenges L2 learners face.
Grammar in Action : Building comprehensive grammars of talk-in-interaction
Jun 2025
Book
Grammar in Action: Building comprehensive grammars of talk-in-interaction investigates the possibility of writing comprehensive grammars of languages based on analyses of interaction. The volume combines two traditions in language studies that have hitherto been separate: Interactional Linguistics which analyzes instances of language use in naturally occurring interactions and Descriptive Grammars which describe the grammatical regularities of languages. The authors are skilled researchers in Interactional Linguistics. They analyze interactional phenomena in Danish English Finnish French German Italian and Swedish making concrete proposals about how grammatical phenomena might be described in a comprehensive interactional grammar. The volume also proposes solutions to problems that an interactional grammar faces for instance the written language bias the role of prosody and the body in the grammar how to approach different target audiences and how a web-based grammar could be useful for rendering the complexities of grammar in interaction.
Love, Sex, and the Sacred : A metaphor analysis of Hungarian folk songs
Jun 2025
Book
Most Hungarian folksongs are about SEX – according to a widely accepted opinion of ethnographers. But what is SEX about? How is it connected to LOVE and what does THE SACRED have to do with these? <br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory this book reveals the profound connections between the three concepts highlighting the spiritual roots of romantic love in a premodern religious context. Within this framework we can gain a better understanding of the true role of women in traditional religious societies – a role often misunderstood or perhaps misjudged by contemporary perspectives as unjust oppressed exploited and pathetic. However such perspectives might overlook valuable lessons that could still resonate today.<br/>The volume cuts across linguistics philosophy cultural anthropology and religious studies by offering a compelling look at how metaphors in folk poetry serve as a window into a worldview where the concept of LOVE and SEXUALITY transcend the physical boundaries of life.
Terminology throughout History : A discipline in the making
May 2025
Book
Terminology throughout History: A discipline in the making is a collection of individual contributions by leading terminology scholars from around the globe who describe historical developments of terminology as a discipline and a field of practice. Its aim is to provide a comprehensive written record of the history of terminology as it evolves from a set of practices to a discipline in its own right. Terminology has witnessed considerable theoretical and methodological developments in recent decades. These changes need to be understood within the context of their historical foundations. The book has three main focus areas. The first examines the prehistory of terminology going back to the Ancient World leading to the second where the pioneers of modern terminology Eugen Wüster in particular are placed in their historical context. The final section is an account of how terminology developed in some twenty countries and language communities.
Early Language Education in Instructed Contexts : Current issues and empirical insights into teaching and learning languages in primary school
May 2025
Book
This volume presents state-of-the-art research in early foreign language (L2) education in instructed contexts with a special focus on primary school (ages 5-12). Over the past two decades early language teaching has become an important factor in both academic inquiry and education policy. Studies have attested to the value of early L2 learning but also revealed specific features and challenges which highlights the need for more high-quality empirical research. This book addresses this need by presenting current international research on early L2 teaching and learning in regular and CLIL contexts in the primary school setting. Uniting insights from 12 countries the studies shed light on current issues such as teaching and assessment practice emerging L2 literacy instruction teaching materials and teachers’ parents’ and learners’ perspectives. The volume thus contributes significantly to the advancement of early language education and is an essential resource for researchers and educators in the field.
Field Research on Translation and Interpreting
May 2025
Book
This volume constitutes a significant step in establishing field research as a central methodological approach in translation and interpreting studies. Following an integrative approach it addresses both translation and interpreting across professional paraprofessional and non-professional settings. The chapters in this volume focus on lived experiences in diverse real-world contexts—including refugee centres UN missions NGOs virtual environments and the workplaces of specialised translators. They offer rich insights into the situated and dynamic nature of translation and interpreting practices and discuss common aspects and challenges such as the researchers’ reflexivity ethical considerations and the role of materiality in fieldwork. By shedding light on underexplored areas and offering critical reflections on field research methodology the volume contributes to expanding the boundaries of translation and interpreting studies and deepening our understanding of translation and interpreting in their social and material contexts.
Published with the support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).
Published with the support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).
Null Objects from a Cross-Linguistic and Developmental Perspective
May 2025
Book
The volume Null Objects from a Cross-Linguistic and Developmental Perspective brings together theoretical and empirical contributions on missing object constructions revealing a nuanced and multifaceted phenomenon that poses challenges to current theories of null objects. The selected papers highlight the significance of the interplay between formal constraints and semantic properties (namely definiteness and animacy) in the licensing of null objects cross-linguistically. The formally oriented papers contribute to ongoing discussions on the mechanisms underlying the derivation of null objects. The differences between null objects that are licensed by rich agreement and those that are agreement independent are also addressed. From a developmental perspective the papers on null objects in language acquisition including second language learning further provide valuable insights into the intricate processes underlying the acquisition of referential expressions. The role of animacy emerges as a central question particularly in the context of Portuguese varieties where differences in pronominal systems contribute to variation in null object distribution.
Spanish Sociolinguistics in the 21st Century : Current trends and methodologies
May 2025
Book
This volume features the latest advancements in Spanish sociolinguistics drawing from the 10th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS10). Organized into three sections its nine chapters explore crucial issues in bilingualism and sociolinguistic variation (morpho-syntactic phonetic phonological and lexical/pragmatic) within the Spanish-speaking world across diverse geographical areas such as Arizona New York City Puerto Rico Galicia Melilla Catalonia Philadelphia Colombia and Argentina. The collection highlights the dynamic evolution of 21st-century sociolinguistic methodologies from traditional sociolinguistic interviews and oral corpora to innovative approaches like social media analysis cutting-edge computational methods and natural language processing. The volume not only commemorates the achievements in the field since the inaugural 2002 Workshop but also provides accessible insights into the most current developments and techniques making it an essential resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students linguists social scientists and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the evolving landscape of Spanish sociolinguistics today.
Aproximación a la traducción de referentes culturales en el ámbito audiovisual y literario / Approach to the translation of cultural references in the audiovisual and literary fields
May 2025
Book
En todas las lenguas existen numerosos referentes y conceptos idiosincrásicos. Esas especificidades sociales lingüísticas gestuales materiales incluso ideológicas sometidas a continuas reescrituras e interpretaciones a través de los tiempos que no tienen a menudo equivalentes exactos o funcionales en otras lenguas y culturas suponen inevitables dificultades para comprenderlas desde otros horizontes y como no para traducirlas.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/> En las últimas décadas la importancia de los referentes culturales en el mundo de la traducción y la interpretación viene generando mucho interés convirtiéndose en uno de los pilares teórico-prácticos fundamentales en traductología y dando origen por consiguiente a una inagotable a la par que variada producción científica. Este volumen pretende ser una aproximación a la traducción de referentes culturales en el ámbito audiovisual y literario.<br/><br/>There are numerous idiosyncratic references and concepts in every language. These social linguistic gestural material and even ideological specificities are subject to continuous rewriting and interpretations through time which often do not have exact or functional equivalents in other languages and cultures. These specificities pose inevitable difficulties to understand these languages and cultures from other horizons and of course to translate them.<br/>The importance of cultural references in the world of translation and interpretation has generated much interest in recent decades. It has become one of the major theoretical-practical pillars in translation studies giving rise therefore to an inexhaustible and varied scientific production. This volume aims to be an approach to the translation of cultural references in the audiovisual and literary fields.
Mobile Eye Tracking : New avenues for the study of gaze in social interaction
May 2025
Book
Situated within the flourishing domain of pragmatics this volume explores the crucial role of gaze in human interaction with a particular focus on the potential of mobile eye tracking to advance our methodology and understanding of multimodal communication. Readers will find a comprehensive balanced exploration of the benefits and challenges associated with taking eye tracking out of the lab to record authentic interaction in real-life settings. By integrating insights from pragmatics the contributions highlight the function of gaze as a resource for coordination cooperation and joint sense-making in human interaction. The chapters are written by leading scholars in the field as well as younger researchers. They offer in-depth methodological discussions alongside detailed case studies from static and mobile interaction settings. The book makes a strong case for the use of mobile eye tracking in addition to video cameras. It provides researchers with a solid and state-of-the-art foundation on which to make informed choices about recording technologies for their own work. The volume is a must-read for scholars in multimodal conversation analysis interactional linguistics as well as cognitive linguists linguistic anthropologists and psychologists with a strong interest in new ways of studying gaze in social interaction.<.p>
This ebook is Open Access under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Corpus Linguistics for Language Learning Research
May 2025
Book
This book serves as an introduction to corpus linguistics (CL) for graduate students and researchers in Applied Linguistics especially in the domains of language learning and teaching. It provides a structured and accessible approach for those new to CL equipping readers with the foundational concepts and tools required to analyse language corpora autonomously in research related to language learning and teaching. It also contextualises CL’s development over the past four decades offering critical reflections on its practices and applications. Each chapter integrates recommended readings and highlights central concepts guiding readers in applying CL methods to their own studies. By the end of the book readers will have gained the knowledge and practical expertise needed to apply corpus linguistics methods in conducting robust and innovative research.
Style as Motivated Choice : In memory of Peter Verdonk (1934–2021)
May 2025
Book
This volume of stylistic scholarship is dedicated to the memory of one of the most inspirational and kindest stylistics scholars of the late 20th and early 21st centuries Peter Verdonk (1934-2021). Verdonk was Professor of Stylistics at the University of Amsterdam and one of the founding members of the Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA). Many of his colleagues from PALA have contributed chapters to this volume. Each author has chosen as their starting point one of Verdonk’s ideas on literary and linguistic style. Through his many nuanced and illuminating stylistic analyses Verdonk’s works explore questions pertaining to: How can we recognise styles and stylistic features? How is style used in literary and non-literary contexts? What is the relationship between text and discourse and between production and reception? And centrally how can we consider ‘style’ as ‘motivated choice’. The chapters in this volume are erudite and inspirational. Reflecting Verdonk's own influence on the discipline of stylistics and his career-long support of younger scholars they will motivate new stylistics researchers and students for decades to come.
Germanic Interrelations : Studies in memory of Hans Frede Nielsen
May 2025
Book
This volume celebrates Hans Frede Nielsen’s contribution to the field of Germanic studies and his work as founding editor of the journal and book series North-Western European Language Evolution. Twenty peer-reviewed articles explore a broad range of topics involving North and West Germanic languages. Some studies focus on early runic inscriptions others deal with features of modern varieties. All align in one way or another with Nielsen’s fields of interest especially historical linguistics and cover aspects of phonology syntax morphology etymology toponyms ethnonyms dialectology text linguistics linguistic historiography and language contact.
A Comparative Literary History of Modern Slavery : The Atlantic world and beyond. Volume II: Slavery, memory and literature
Apr 2025
Book
The second volume of A Comparative Literary History of Modern Slavery: The Atlantic world and beyond explores literary memory of enslavement in post-slavery societies on four continents (North- and South America Africa and Europe). The twenty-two contributors to this volume relate the memory work of literature to central questions of cultural memory testimony and the formation of archives. ‘Literature’ here as in the other volumes of this series is understood in the broadest sense as textual visual auditory cinematic and performative genres. The volume asks: What are the central metaphors storylines and topoi of literary representations of slavery? What kind of identities and political realities are created or enabled by the texts? What are the performative effects of literary language? Post-slavery literature is caught in a double endeavor: vivifying the past making identification possible while acknowledging the moral distance and the difficulties of remembering that past. The volume is divided into six sections that take up different aspects and problems of literary memory of slavery: counter-memories/memories of resistance the body as material archive fictionality of history writing the bricolage of history authorship/authenticity and the necessity of creative approaches to a history that is troublesome and full of accumulated erasures. A previous volume Vol. 1 explored slavery and the emotions. The next volume Vol. 3 will explore authorship and literary culture in relation to slavery.
Broadening the Horizon of TBLT : Plenary addresses from the second decade of the International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching
Apr 2025
Book
First launched in 2005 the biennial International Conferences on Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) have become an established event for a broad range of participants and a key feature of the conferences has been the invited plenary (keynote) addresses. This edited volume brings together a selection of plenaries given at conferences between 2015 and 2023 and exemplifies the contributions being made by prominent and internationally recognised TBLT scholars on a variety of issues pertinent to TBLT theory and practice. The volume is framed around how the horizon of TBLT has broadened over the past decade and how the plenaries presented during this past decade have helped to take our knowledge and understanding of TBLT further. This volume will be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders including teachers researchers and postgraduate students who would like to gain an overview of key dimensions of the field in the last decade.
World Englishes in their Local Multilingual Ecologies
Apr 2025
Book
World Englishes coexist and interact with local languages in multilingual ecologies. Multilingual speakers use the languages in their ecologies for different functions with different interlocutors and at different proficiency levels. Attitudinal responses to the languages vary. Speaker groups are heterogenous manifesting only partial overlap regarding language repertoires use proficiencies and attitudes. The languages in multilingual ecologies may shift in status over time. Some languages may be lost while new languages appear. Strong regional languages and English typically persist. The volume explores multilingual ecologies around the globe and the position of English within them. Case studies are drawn from Africa East South and Southeast Asia the Middle East and Europe all written by distinguished scholars in the field who consider both standardized and non-standardized forms of English. The volume argues for a more inclusive study of World Englishes incorporating speakers’ social backgrounds as well as the other languages in their repertoires.
This ebook is Open Access under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
Imperative-Based Dialogic Constructions and Discourse Units
Apr 2025
Book
This book weaves together constructions imperatives dialogicity and discourse units. How can that be? This is precisely the question it sets out to answer by working at the crossroads of Construction Grammar (CxG) Corpus Linguistics (CL) and Interactional Linguistics (IL). Profiting from this cross-fertilising synergy the book singles out BELIEVE (YOU) ME BELIEVE IT OR NOT THINK AGAIN and MIND YOU as its objects of study offers an empirical analysis of their properties and situates them within an entrenched and far-reaching yet conveniently ‘camouflaged’ network of dialogic perspectivisation. In so doing the book provides novel insights into the mental state verbal fillers of the constructions alongside their imperative-induced non-compositionality and dialogicity which motivate their function as discourse unit framing agents and per extension discourse operators. The book thus makes a case for CxG’s ability to go beyond its word- or phrase-based ‘comfort zone’ and address phenomena at a micro- meso- and macro-discourse level with across-the-board benefits.
New Perspectives on Mauritian Creole and Reunion Creole : Standardization, grammar and language use
Apr 2025
Book
In the South-West Indian Ocean Mauritius and Reunion are part of a group of islands where French-based Creoles are spoken. In spite of their geographical proximity Mauritian Creole and Reunion Creole are strikingly different in their morphosyntax. The first part of this volume describes some structural properties of their grammars. Both languages also differ in the degree to which they are standardized and used in education and in public spaces. One of the goals of this volume is to examine their social status and their use in writing especially after the introduction of Mauritian Creole as a subject in schools as one of the ancestral languages. French and Bhojpuri are also part of the multilingual Mauritian context. One chapter in this volume analyses the role of Bhojpuri in the formation of Mauritian Creole while another studies the pronunciation of Mauritian French.