2020 collection (131 titles)

In this his latest book, Sangster presents a comprehensive theory that takes the cognitive view of language in a promising new direction, based upon how linguistic signs relate to one another at different levels of consciousness. At the rational level, where signs are necessarily experienced in context, they are primarily polysemic. At the transpersonal or pre-contextual level, however, they are monosemic, constituting a dynamic and self-organizing relational structure capable of producing a potentially infinite variety of contextual applications. The two levels are united by a stochastic or somatic selection process called contextualization, where feedback from experience assures the evolution of the system. The relational structure itself is composed of archetypes of space and time consciousness that derive from the evolution of the linguistic sign from the signaling behavior of antecedent species. Detailed analyses are provided to explain how the archetypes structure meaning in both the grammatical and lexical spheres, as well as in syntax.

Starting with the premise that aesthetic choices reveal the ideological stances of translators, the author of this research monograph examines works of fiction by postcolonial African authors writing in English or French, the genesis and reception of their works, and the translation of each one into French or English. Texts include those by Nuruddin Farah from Somalia, Abdourahman Ali Waberi from Djibouti, Jean-Marie Adiaffi from Côte d’Ivoire, Ayi Kwei Armah from Ghana, Chenjerai Hove from Zimbabwe, and Assia Djebar from Algeria, and their translations by Jacqueline Bardolph, Jeanne Garane, Brigitte Katiyo, Jean-Pierre Richard, Josette and Robert Mane, and Dorothy Blair.

The author highlights the aural poetics of these works, explores the sound motifs underlying their literary power, and shows how each is articulated with the writer’s literary heritage. She then embarks on a close examination of each translator’s background, followed by a rich analysis of their treatments of sound. The translators’ strategies for addressing sound motifs are contextualized in the larger framework of postcolonial literatures and changing reading materialities.

This volume comprises cutting edge research on language contact and change. The chapters present a wide scope of settings in which Spanish is in contact with other languages, such as Catalan, English, and Quechua; a large breadth of geographical areas (e.g., United States, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina); and varied participant groups, ranging from dialect contacts, second-language learners and heritage speakers to balanced bilinguals and code-switchers. Taken together, the chapters provide rich empirical descriptions of data pertaining to different levels of language, diverse – naturalistic and experimental – methodological approaches to data collection, as well as theoretical implications of the findings. The interdisciplinary perspective adopted by the authors contributes to the linguistic analysis and offers important insights into theoretical linguistics in general, and into theories of sociolinguistics, language variation, bilingualism, and second language acquisition.

This book examines the role of interlocutors and their individual differences (IDs) in second language (L2) development from four theoretical lenses: the cognitive-interactionist approach, sociocultural theory, the variationist approach, and complex dynamic systems theory. A theoretical overview to each approach is written by a preeminent scholar in the framework, and each overview is followed by an empirical study that demonstrates how interlocutor IDs can be fruitfully researched within that framework. To maximize readability and impact, the chapters follow common organizing questions, inviting the engagement of L2 researchers, students, and teachers alike.Collectively, the chapters in the current volume initiate a cohesive discussion of the theoretical roles of the interlocutor within these four popular approaches to SLA; illustrate how interlocutor IDs influence L2 opportunities and/or development; present innovative, original empirical research on interlocutors and their IDs within each approach; and provide theoretical, empirical, and methodological guidance for future research on interlocutors and their IDs. A powerful contribution of this volume, highlighted in the concluding chapter’s synthesis, is the common call across all four approaches for the irrefutable role and need for research on interlocutors and their IDs. The volume also demonstrates how, despite theoretical and methodological differences, the four approaches are advancing congruently toward a more robust understanding of the multifaceted and dynamic nature of all interlocutors and their IDs, and thus toward a more complete and accurate picture of their influence on L2 development.

This volume is intended as an innovating reader for both interpreting practitioners as well as scholars, engaging with the multifaceted question addressed in the title “Why linking up with video?”. The chapters in this volume deal with this question from different perspectives. On the one hand, the volume continues the ongoing discussion on the pros and cons of video-based interaction for the interpreting profession, exploring the implications and applications when interpreters and their clients link up through video technology. On the other hand, the chapters also explore the potential of video technology for research on interpreting, hence raising the question in which way high-quality video recordings of interpreters in the booth, participants involved in interpreter-mediated talk, etc. may be instrumental in gaining new insights. In this sense, the volume strongly ties in with the fast-growing field of multimodal (interaction) studies, which makes use of video recordings to study the relationship between verbal and nonverbal resources, such as gestures, postural orientation, gaze and head movements, in the construction of meaning in communication.