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Deconstructing Creole is a collection of studies aimed at critically assessing the idea of creole languages as a homogeneous structural type with shared and peculiar patterns of genesis. Following up on the critical discussion of notions of ‘creole exceptionalism’ as historical and ideological constructs this volume tests the basic assumptions that underlie current attempts to present ‘creole structure’ as a special type from typological as well as sociohistorical perspectives. The sum of the findings presented here suggests that careful empirical investigation of input varieties and contact environments can explain the structural output without recourse to an exceptional genesis scenario. Echoing calls to dissolve the notion of ‘creolization’ as a special diachronic process this volume proposes that theoretically grounded approaches to the notions of simplicity complexity transmission etc. do not warrant considering so-called ‘creole’ languages as a special synchronic type.

What counts as evidence in linguistics? This question is addressed by the contributions to the present volume (originally published as a Special Issue of Studies in Language 28:3 (2004). Focusing on the innateness debate what is illustrated is how formal and functional approaches to linguistics have different perspectives on linguistic evidence. While special emphasis is paid to the status of typological evidence and universals for the construction of Universal Grammar (UG) this volume also highlights more general issues such as the roles of (non)-standard language and historical evidence. To address the overall topic the following three guiding questions are raised: What type of evidence can be used for innateness claims (or UG)?; What is the content of such innate features (or UG)?; and How can UG be used as a theory guiding empirical research? A combination of articles and peer commentaries yields a lively discussion between leading representatives of formal and functional approaches.

Receptive multilingualism refers to the language constellation in which interlocutors use their respective mother tongue while speaking to each other. Since the mid-nineties receptive multilingualism is promoted by the European commission on par with other possibilities of increasing the mobility of the European citizens. Throughout the last ten years a marked increase in the research on this topic has been observable. This volume reveals new perspectives from different theoretical frameworks on linguistic analyses of receptive multilingualism in Europe. Case studies are presented from contemporary settings along with analyses of historical examples theoretical considerations and finally descriptions of didactical concepts established in order to transfer and disseminate receptive multilingual competence. The book contains results from research carried out at the Research Center on Multilingualism at the University of Hamburg as well as contributions by various international scholars working in the field of receptive multilingualism.

This book which was originally published as a Special Issue of Journal of Language & Politics 4:1 (2005) takes the war in Iraq as an exemplary case through which to demonstrate the changing nature of contemporary power. The book convincingly argues that the effective study of international politics depends today upon our understanding of the interplay between hard (military economic) and soft (symbolic) power. One might say between the politics of territory guns or money and the language of narrating the world in coherent and persuasive stories. Bringing together different strands of discourse analysis with social historical and to an extent political analysis all contributions seek to illustrate the ways in which a variety of public genres from political speeches to computer games and from educational material to newspaper reports produce influential knowledge about the war and shape the ethical and political premises upon which the legitimacy of this war and a ‘vision’ of the emergent world order rests.

With contributions by researchers from India Europe North America and the Caribbean In Translation – Reflections refractions transformations touches on questions of method and on topics – including copyright cultural hybridity globalization identity construction and minority languages – which are important for the disciplinary development of translation studies but also of interest to other fields as well most notably comparative literature cultural studies and world literature. The volume provides a forum for new voices to be heard alongside those of well-established scholars and for current concerns to express themselves often focusing on practices in areas of the world other than Europe or North America which have until now tended to dominate the field. Acknowledging difference and celebrating it the contributions conceive of translation as a process which reconstitutes and transforms which brings renewal and growth an interaction in a new context a new reading a new writing.

The South Asian languages mainly Indo-Aryan and Dravidian have become a focus of interest in the formal study of language as a natural consequence of the research program of the Principle and Parameters approach and an enforced interest in exploring the parametrical space of human language. The contributions to the present volume combine theoretical reasoning in syntax and phonology with a comparative research agenda in which South Asian languages figure prominently. The topics range from issues of clause structure serial verb constructions cleft- and question formation to the question of what the proper syntactic format of modification should be issues of binding theory and raising and issues of complementation the clausal periphery and clausal typing. The collection of articles concludes with two chapters on Dravidian and comparative phonology and a chapter on the shaping of phonological awareness by different writing systems. The authors and the editors devote this piece of work to Professor K.A. Jayaseelan one of present-day India’s most influential linguists.

New opportunities in the global workplace have heightened interest in business studies. In response to this trend this book presents an in-depth analysis of a corpus of authentic business studies lectures focusing on spoken academic disciplinary and professional features (e.g. speech rate interactive devices specialized lexis) that are crucial to comprehension but often problematic for non-native speakers. The investigation adopts an original multi-pronged approach including quantitative qualitative and comparative analyses. It utilizes techniques drawn mainly from corpus linguistics and discourse analysis but also integrates observational and ethnographic methods to provide unique extra-linguistic insights. The study is thus a full-circle interpretive account of this dynamic spoken genre where academia and profession converge. The book shows how business studies lectures are characterised by a synergy of discourses and communicative channels that reflect the community of practice highlighting the need to help international business students develop multiple literacies to overcome present and future challenges.

This volume contains a careful selection of papers concerned with actual research questions on anaphoric reference a subject of current interest with various linguistic subdisciplines. This is reflected in this book as it methodically covers broadly invested approaches from cognitive neurolinguistic formal and computational perspectives each contribution representing the respective ‘state of the art’ on a high theoretical and empirical level. The volume contains three thematic parts: Anaphors in Cognitive Text- and Discourse Linguistics; The Syntax and Semantics of Anaphors; and Neurolinguistic Studies on the reception of anaphoric reference. The contributions investigate several Indo-European languages.

This book deals with the oft-neglected tensions between perspicuity and fuzziness in specialised communication. It describes the manifestations functions and implications of indeterminacy phenomena in a range of LSP specialisations where it has been customary to expect precision and consistency. The volume presents case studies and methodological frameworks that draw on theoretical anthropological and cognitive linguistics safety-critical translating history and theory of terminology studies development of ontologies software localisation jurisprudence macroeconomics and interoperability of digital knowledge representation resources. With chapters by leading scholars drawn from eleven countries this book contributes to the benchmarking of indeterminacy scholarship in LSP studies and is a fitting tribute to its dedicatee Professor Heribert Picht who even in retirement remains a constant presence in LSP and terminology studies. The book should be of interest to scholars of the aforementioned areas.

In this collective volume the origins neurosocial support and therapeutic implications of (pre)verbal intersubjectivity are examined with a focus on implications of the discovery of mirror neurons. Entailing a paradigmatic revolution in the intersection of developmental social and neural sciences two radical turnabouts are entailed. First no longer can be upheld as valid Cartesian and Leibnizian assumptions about monadic subjects with disembodied minds without windows to each other except as mediated by culture. Supported by a mirror system specified in this volume by some of the discoverers modes of participant perception have now been identified which entail embodied simulation and co-movements with others in felt immediacy. Second no longer can be retained the Piagetian attribution of infant egocentricity. Pioneers who have broken new research grounds in the study of newborns protoconversation and early speech perception document in the present volume infant capacity for interpersonal communion empathic identification and learning by altercentric participation. Pertinent new findings and results are presented on these topics:<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>(i) Origins and multiple layers of intersubjectivity and empathy<br/>(ii) Neurosocial support of (pre)verbal intersubjectivity participant perception and simulation of mind<br/>(iii) From preverbal sharing and early speech perception to meaning acquisition and verbal intersubjectivity<br/>(iv) New windows on other-centred movements and moments of meeting in therapy and intervention. (Series B)