This is our backup site. Click here to visit our main site at MellenPress.com

Subject Area: Language Arts

A Case Study of the Factors in the Development of Spanish Linguistic Accuracy and Oral Communication: Skills. Motivation and Extended Interaction in the Study Abroad Context
 Isabelli-García, Christina L.
2004 0-7734-6348-8 173 pages
This study examines the impact of a one-semester study abroad experience in Argentina on the second language acquisition of five North American university Spanish learners. The goal is three-fold: (1) to measure development of linguistic accuracy of (a) tense selection, (b) aspect selection, (c) subject-verb agreement and (d) adjectival agreement; (2) to measure development of oral skills in performing the functions of narration, description and opinion; and (3) to relate patterns of social contact via analysis of social network logs to development in oral ability as measure by gains in linguistic accuracy and oral communication skills over time. The author submits that the two vital factors that lead to acquisition gains in the study abroad context are motivation and extended significant target language interaction with native speakers in social networks. The study shows through qualitative and quantitative data that those who had high motivation were those that had more extended networks, which correlated with gains in linguistic accuracy and development in performing discourse functions.

A COGNITIVE APPROACH TO THE SEMANTICS OF THE GERMAN PASSIVE
 Arnett, Carlee
2004 0-7734-6319-4 225 pages
Hopper & Thompson’s (1980) seminal article on transitivity brought forth renewed interest in the passive and other correlates of transitivity. Langacker (1982) and others working with the Cognitive Grammar (CG) framework argue that the passive voice is an independent construction and that it is not a reorganization of the active voice. Language specific problems for the German passive include the use of the dative case to mark certain passive participants, passives formed from verbs and preposition combinations and impersonal passives. This study provides a semantic analysis of all the types of passive constructions found in German and shows that these construction types are related. A corpus of written data is used and the focus is on radial categories of meaning in Modern German.

A COMPARATIVE AND DIALECTICAL LEXICON OF VARIATIONS IN MODERN SPANISH VOCABULARY:
Tracking Linguistic Differences Across Cultural, National, and Dialectical Boundaries
 Florián, Lorenzo R.
2010 0-7734-1437-1 388 pages
This is the first linguistic resource of its kind. The innovation of this study is its comparison of the lexicons of all Spanish-speaking countries. It includes English translations and Spanish definitions.

A SURVEY OF SWAHILI SONGS WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
 Knappert, Jan
2004 0-7734-6443-3 560 pages
This massive book of Swahili songs, with English translations, contains 28 chapters of categorized songs. Contains a long introduction setting the songs in historical context.

A Translation of Miguel Hernádez: Passiones, Cárcel y Muerte de un Poeta (Passions, Imprisonments, and Death of a Poet)
 Ferris, José Luis
2018 1-4955-0635-5 920 pages
This book is the first English translation of José Luis Ferris’ Passions, Imprisonments, and Death of a Poet, a biographical tale about Spanish Poet Miguel Hernandez and his life before and after the Spanish Civil War. A controversial figure in Spanish poetry, this book introduces Miguel Hernandez to non-Spanish audiences

An Analysis of Hiberno-English in the Early Novels of Patrick Macgill: Bilingualism and Language Shift from Irish to English in County Donegal
 Amador-Moreno, Carolina P.
2006 0-7734-5808-5 368 pages
This study is a linguistic analysis of two novels by the early twentieth-century Donegal writer Patrick MacGill. Both Children of the Dead End and The Rat Pit enjoyed great popularity in England and the USA, though not in Ireland itself, where they were not so well received. From a linguistic point of view, these two novels form a particularly interesting source of data for the study of the dialectal variety known as Hiberno-English (or Irish English), as the author purports to give an accurate portrayal of the types of English spoken in Donegal in a period of ongoing bilingualism and language shift from Irish to English.

Chapter 1 contains an introduction to the author’s biographical, literary and linguistic background. This is supplemented with a description of the English of Donegal. Chapter 2 is devoted to an analysis of the syntax and grammar of the two novels, such as the use of the definite article, the reflexive pronoun or the cleft sentence, among other features. Chapter 3 pays special attention to the vocabulary found in the novels. The grammatical, syntactic and lexical features analyzed here are heavily influenced by the Irish language and bear striking similarities with the type of structures produced by second language learners, which allows us to look at this variety of English in a different light. This work will appeal to scholars interested in Irish English, languages in contact and Irish Literature in English.

AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE 140 LANGUAGES OF CHINA:
Speakers, Dialects, Linguistic Elements, Script and Distribution
 Shearer, Walter
2017 1-4955-0570-7 1648 pages
This 3 volume set of encyclopedias provides an up-to-date, comprehensive and detailed overview of these languages, which are spoken by an important portion of the world’s population and include language families of significant interest to the science of linguistics. It fills a major gap in the global linguistic knowledge available in English.

ANA IBÁÑEZ, ISABEL MARTIN ÍN SALINAS, MARÍA SANGÜESA, MARTA SANZ PASTOR: SHORT STORIES AND MICROSTORIES BY 21ST CENTURY SPANISH WOMEN WRITERS (hardcover)
 Hidalgo-Calle, Lola
2024 1-4599-1295-9 158 pages
With this second book we are pleased to introduce four Spanish women writers of the twenty-first century. Each of the authors from this select group is currently writing and publishing in Spain. Here we present a selection of their works in Spanish and translated into English. It also should be mentioned that these writers also publish in a variety of genres such as novel, poetry, essay and drama.


ANTON BRUCKNER'S LAST ADAGIO: THE DECOMPOSING SELF
 Petty, Jonathan Christian
2022 1-4955-0991-5 188 pages
This work employs tenets of Group Mental System theory in considering the musical syntax and affective semantics of Anton Bruckner's last adagio. "The main tenet of this theory is that the sole linguistic object of music, language of the emotions, is Self. Musical language qualifies Self by qualifying its affect (emotions, moods, dispositions). ...[I]t is of particular interest to consider those musical works in which alterations to the Self play a direct role." -Jonathan Christian Petty

Bilingual Education in Pre-Independent Irish-Speaking Ireland, 1800-1922: A History
 O'Donoghue, Tom
2006 0-7734-5636-8 216 pages
In recent years, there has been a great interest worldwide in the development of bilingual education policies, as well as interest in associated research and innovations reported in the academic literature. Yet, bilingual education is not a recent phenomenon. Rather, it has a rich and diverse history. This book is offered as a contribution to a small but growing corpus of studies in the field. It is an historical account of the Bilingual Program of Instruction introduced in selected primary schools in Irish-speaking districts in Ireland between 1904 and 1922. The general historical context is outlined, and the nature of the Program, the extent to which it was disseminated, and the inadequacies of teacher training for its implementation are considered. Teacher development of bilingual methods is also examined. This is followed by an exposition on the broad pattern of responses to the Bilingual Program in the various Irish-speaking districts around the country, and an overview of developments leading up to the phasing out of the Program shortly after the establishment of the Irish free state in 1922. The book concludes with an overview of the major milestones in language education policy in Ireland in the post-independence years.

Bobbio Missal 700 A. D.
 Berry, Paul
2010 0-7734-1351-0 280 pages
This study examines the basis for the union between the Latin language and Christianity. In the presentation of the case, 100 manuscript pages were selected from the oldest complete Latin Mass Book, the 7th century document known as The Bobbio Misal. A photo reproduction of each of the 100 folio pages discussed is presented across from a modern typeface transcription with a English translation at the bottom of the page.

Consistent Incorporation of Professional Terminologies Into the World’s Languages: The Linguistic Engine of a Global Culture
 Gueldry, Michel
2010 0-7734-1313-8 432 pages
The 17 case studies presented in this volume show the increasing need for foreign language programs in a global society. The work advocates for a combination of foreign language studies with career oriented disciplinary studies.The volume explores resources, curricular models and methods, assessment and examples of successfully integrated language and content education.

Defining American Indian Literature: One Nation Divisible
 Berner, Robert L.
1999 0-7734-8039-0 164 pages
The study of contemporary American Indian writers is complicated by problems in definitions which critics, scholars, teachers and editors so far have not addressed adequately. The subject of this study is not the traditional mythology, folklore, and song of particular tribes, but the literary uses of this material, particularly in the latter half of this century and particularly by Indian writers. The questions are basic: 1) What is an Indian writer? 2) What are the legitimate literary uses of Indians and their culture? 3) Can an American Indian literary tradition be defined? And 4) What is the relation of writing by Indians to American literature as a whole? Beside several non-Indian writers (Edwin Corle, Frank Hamilton Cushing, Charles L. McNichols, Jerome Rothenberg) the book deals with several representative Indian writers (Lance Henson, Maurice Kenny, Thomas King, Adrian C. Louis, N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Gerald Vizenor, James Welch) and also cites Paula Gunn Allen, Jim Barnes, Peter Blue Cloud, Diane Glancy, Joy Harjo, Geary Hobson, Linda Hogan, Duane Niatum, Simon Ortiz, Carter Revard, and Wendy Rose.

Essays on Old, Middle, Modern English and Old Icelandic
 Gruber, Meredith Crellin
2000 0-7734-7858-2 544 pages
Twenty-two scholars examine ancient and modern classics, ranging from Beowulf and Paradise Lost to Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead. Topics include Old English charms, Christian poetry, humour and riddles, Old Icelandic sagas, epic dragons, and women's roles.

From Language as Speech to Language as Thought
 Westendorp, Grard
2006 0-7734-5682-1 336 pages
What sets mankind apart from all other species is not the naked skin, the upright stance, the use of tools or the capacity for thought and emotion. Not even the ability to speak makes the difference. The true ‘sapiens factor,’ the element which turned ape into man, was the transition from verbal communication to verbal thought.

Our forebears started out like any other great ape. Even the development of speech did not help to improve life much compared to that of other hominoids. But around 40,000 years ago, human cultural evolution exploded. Something very impressive takes place within a time span that would normally pass unnoticed. Compared with the preceding pace of evolution, there is an explosion of innovation. A new factor is at play here – what is the ‘sapiens factor’? Available data strongly indicate that what moved our forebears away from all other mammals, including other hominids, was not their use of words to communicate, but that they used them in a new way. Our ancestors moved the handy denominators for reality, which words are, from the realm of communication into the realm of thought.

Galatian Language A Comprehensive Survey of the Language of the Ancient Celts in Greco-Roman Asia Minor
 Freeman, Philip
2001 0-7734-7480-3 124 pages
The Celtic language of Galatian is a unique example of a language which migrated into the heart of the Greco-Roman world during classical times and there survived for centuries. This study collects and analyses for the first time the entire corpus of the Galatian language, using inscriptions, papyri, and references in the classical authors. The study also explores the linguistic viability of Galatian in ancient Asia Minor and the relation of Galatian to the Celtic languages of western Europe.

Ghanaian English Pronunciation
 Adjaye, Sophia
2005 0-7734-6208-2 356 pages
This book is intended to help meet the need for published works on African Englishes in general and Ghanaian English in particular. To date it is the most comprehensive analysis of the English accent used by Ghanaians, an accent that differs in a number of significant ways from the varieties of English spoken in the majority of West African countries. Using empirical phonetic data collected from a representative group of informants, the volume discusses segmental, contextual and suprasegmental features of Ghanaian English. This entails a thorough examination of the range of variant pronunciations for each consonant and vowel phoneme and of such processes as assimilation and elision. Word accentuation (stress) and intonation are also analyzed to reveal the established Ghanaian accentual patterns as well as the interaction between word-level pitch movement and sentence-level pitch contours. The comparative/contrast approach used helps identify standardized forms in the Ghanaian English accent while at the same time noting regional and/or educational variation. The analysis therefore highlights the existence of a cline of phonological systems based on the socio-educational backgrounds of Ghanaian speakers.

This book will enhance the literature on World Englishes in addition to being a great help to teachers and students of Ghanaian English. The volume also appeals to a wide range of linguists, including phoneticians and phonologists, dialectologists or sociolinguists and individuals interested in English studies or second language acquisition.

Guide to Russian Words and Expressions that Cause Difficulties
 Rojavin, Marina
2004 0-7734-6302-X 242 pages
This represents a qualitative step forward in the pedagogical process of teaching and learning a foreign language. It is based on a comparative semantic analysis of Russian synonyms, antonyms, related words, cognates, and everyday expressions as contrasted with their English equivalents and is centered on explaining the contents of these words. It helps in bridging the gap between studying Russian grammar and the specific use of particular words in discourse, especially in contrasting or similar pairs or sets. It is indispensable for familiarizing learners with the semantic meanings of words. It better facilitates the students’ ability to learn and gain proficiency in the practical use of the Russian language. Learners will appreciate the inclusion of important Russian linguistic and cultural elements.

Historical Development of Surrealism and the Relationships Between Hemispheric Specializations of the Brain
 Quinn, Shelley
1992 0-7734-9738-2 224 pages
A new procedure for literary analysis of surrealist imagery, using various procedures: a summary of recent developments in hemispheric studies, discussion of the language and communicative properties of the two hemispheres of the brain, analysis of language modes and types of image - memory, dream, imagination, etc. - and examination of poems and poets that have been called surrealist.

How Educated English Speak English. Pronunciation as Social Behaviour
 Wotschke, Ingrid
2008 0-7734-5095-0 368 pages
A reconsideration of the conception of educated speech in England has become vital in view of recent sociolinguistic change, which made easily recognizable regional affiliations and further-reaching cosmopolitan tendencies involved in the patterning of current educated speech. Recognising the fundamental role of regional accent in the historical development of the English language, the book is meant to lay the foundations for a revised concept and a model of current educated pronunciation. This book contains fifteen color plates and fifteen black and white illustrations.

Key Signifier as Literary Device
 Kim, Heerak Christian
2006 0-7734-5524-8 180 pages
This book represents the definitive explanation of the literary device of the Key Signifier, a phrase which was coined by the author at the 2005 International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Singapore. This book serves as a handbook for understanding the literary device and for learning how to identify and use it in one’s own composition, work of art, film or TV media.

Metaphorical Basis of Language a Study in Cross-Cultural Linguistics, or the Left-Handed Hummingbird
 Kelley, E. Morgan
1992 0-7734-9534-7 396 pages
Recognizing the device of hidden meaning in a language opens up new possibilities in exploring the prehistoric past. This books presents some mechanisms for deciphering such hidden or lost meanings and uses that to introduce a series of essay on language history change.

Phonological Working Memory and Second Language Acquisition
 French, Leif M.
2006 0-7734-5820-4 220 pages
There has been little research on the role phonological memory plays in different aspects of children’s second language development. The present study investigated the developmental relation between phonological memory and second language acquisition in grade 6 Francophone children enrolled in a 5-month intensive English program in Quebec’s Saguenay region.

Reflections on the Aesthetics of Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism a Prosody Beyond Words
 Sellin, Eric
1993 0-7734-9361-1 172 pages
Analyzes the aesthetic thrust of the three most important avant-garde movements in the twentieth century, defining both similarities and differences in their poetics. In compelling essays like "A Will to Art," "Modern Drama and Nonverbal Poetics," "Le Chapelet du hasard: Ideas of Order in Dada-Surrealist Imagery," "Three Modes of Semantic Accrual," and "The Aesthetics of Ambiguity," Sellin explores the inner workings of the creative impulses and the resulting poetic structures which inhere in the creative works of these early avant-garde movements.

Role of Language in the Struggle for Power and Legitimacy in Africa
 Goke-Pariola, Abiodun
1993 0-7734-9351-4 212 pages
Using Nigeria as a case study and drawing copious illustrations from other African countries, in particular, Tanzania and the Republic of South Africa, this work discusses the significance of language in the process by which post-colonial African societies have been constructing their identity. It engages in both an historical and contemporary analysis of the central role of European - and, sometimes, African - languages in the process of state construction and in group conflicts. Its adoption of a multidisciplinary approach provides valuable background information for scholars and teachers in African politics, linguistics, literature, education, and International Studies.

The Latin Language and Christianity
 Berry, Paul
2004 0-7734-6530-8 244 pages
This monograph establishes the directional bearing which Latin has given to the Church through each successive age from the 1st century to the 20th. Lingua Latina has served as nothing less than the transport vehicle of Christianity itself. So densely has history woven the strands of Latin into the texture of Christianity, that any attempt to detach the language is to remove the backing from the tapestry. The conclusion of the monograph will indicate that any attempt to detach the faith from this groundline, so historically valid, would amount to nothing less than a departure of the Church from its magnetic north.

THE MUSICAL PORTRAYAL OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE SELF IN THE OPERA MADAMA BUTTERFLY: A STUDY OF PUCCINI'S TONAL LANGUAGE
 Petty, Jonathan Christian
2022 1-4955-0990-7 188 pages
This work applies tenets of Group Mental System theory to the Madama Butterfly: "The main tenet of this theory is that the sole linguistic object of music, language of the emotions, is Self. Musical language qualifies Self by qualifying its affect (emotions, moods, dispositions). ...[I]t is of particular interest to consider those musical works in which alterations to the Self play a direct role. One such work is Puccini's Madama Butterfly." -Jonathan Christian Petty

The Romanian Dialect of Moldova: A Study in Language and Politics
 Dyer, Donald L.
1999 0-7734-8037-4 220 pages
For half a century, Soviet linguists tried to drive a wedge between the Romanians of Moldova and their ethnic and linguistic kindred across the river in Romania. Attempts were made to create an independent literary language called ‘Moldavian', which according to Soviet linguistics and their followers was lexically, phonologically, even grammatically distinct from standard Romanian. These attempts failed, but for most of the Soviet period, the Romanian of Moldova.

The present work examines through a series of contemporary essays the history of Soviet language policy in Moldova. Special attentions is paid to the actual dialectal features of Moldovan Romanian, its borrowed lexical stock from Russian and the relationship between the Romanian of Moldova and other languages spoken in the region, such as Bulgarian and Gagauz. A special feature is a series of interviews in the appendices, with both politicians and academicians, including Mircea Snegur, President of Moldova.

Toward an Aesthetic Language of Social Justice: A Theory of Black Arts
 Hall, Van-Anthoney Lawrence
2016 1-4955-0413-1 184 pages
This study critically examines Black aesthetic theory. The sociopolitical sensibilities of Black aesthetics may be viewed as a response or a critical “talking back” to the power structures in society that consciously perpetuate a dominant narrative of the beautiful or what it means to be beautiful. Ultimately it attempts to situate Black aesthetics in the context of education as a language through which to make meaning of the term social justice.

U. S. Foreign Language Deficit and Our Economic and National Security: A Bibliographic Essay on the U. S. Language Paradox
 Stein-Smith, Kathleen
2013 0-7734-4545-5 288 pages
How has the American deficiency in foreign language study affected foreign policy, diplomacy, the economy, and most of all national security. This book showcases how the use of a second language can be helpful in political and economic circumstances. Various policy initiatives are analyzed to discuss their efficiency in bringing languages to American citizens. A recent study found that only 25% of Americans are fluent in a foreign language. Stein-Smith argues that once you remove the first generation immigrant population from those numbers you are left with an extremely negligible number of citizens who can functionally speak a foreign language. This is problematic for many social, political, and economic reasons. In a globalizing world America needs to be competitive by teaching foreign languages to its populace.

USING PHOTOGRAPHS TO LEARN A SECOND LANGUAGE:
A New Approach for TESOL
 Wood, David John
2015 1-4955-0423-9 228 pages
“Wood offers an interesting, innovative, if not slightly unconventional, methodology for language teaching [he] presents and studies a new approach he calls Photo Communication in which the second language classroom rejects traditional textbooks and instead relies upon the student’s own personal history as revealed by photos. The students’ photos then become both the material and the method for language study.”
-Dr. Carolyn Gascoigne,
University of Nebraska, Omaha




Volume 1: History of Metaphors of Nature
 Norwick, Stephen A.
2006 0-7734-5592-2 492 pages
Modern European languages have a large number of metaphors which represent the whole of nature. Many of these, such as Mother Nature, the celestial harmony, the great chain of being, and the book of nature, are used in natural science and in literature. Most of these words can be traced back into prehistory where they arose mythologically from the same small set of images. Metaphors have a powerful influence on the framing of scientific hypothesis making, and so these words have guided the history of natural science, for good or ill, for several millennia. Newtonian mechanics, for example was motivated by the idea of celestial harmony, whereas Darwin used the images of the great chain of being and Mother Nature, and James Hutton created modern geology and ecology by mixing the images of nature as the macrocosm, and as a machine.

The images elicited by these phrases have also been important in the development of the positive feeling for nature, which existed in the Hellenic and Hellenistic society, which was lost in the Middle Ages, and which has been developing again since the Renaissance, and especially since Earth Day, 1970. Each chapter in this book is a parallel longitudinal history of a word or phrase which represents the whole of nature, and which has influenced natural science and general literature, and especially North American Nature writing. Ironically, as natural science developed, and enabled our technological society to destroy natural areas more and more rapidly, science strengthened the fundamental images of nature, and was used by nature writers to encourage a revaluing of the natural world.

Word-Order of Aelfric
 Davis, Graeme
1997 0-7734-8649-6 312 pages
One of the most interesting issues in Old English syntax is word-order or element-order. This volume provides a descriptive study of word-order (or element-order) within specified clause types in a corpus drawn from Ælfric's Catholic Homilies and Supplementary Homilies. A sample of 11,543 clauses has been analyzed, divided into fourteen clause categories. A survey of the element-order within each category is presented, with copious examples and full statistics. Attention is paid both to the order of single elements in relation to the verb phrase, and to patterns of element-order within clauses. An extensive description of the position of the adverbial element is included. The rhythmic and non-rhythmic prose of Ælfric is contrasted, showing that although there is a broad similarity between the two styles, significant differences do nonetheless exist. The results show both that there are marked tendencies within element-order which approach the status of rules, and also that there is a substantial measure of stylistic freedom.

Writing in Greek But Thinking in Aramaic: A Study of Vestigial Verbal Communication in the Gospels
 Reiter, C. Leslie
2012 0-7734-4062-3 204 pages
In this monograph the author investigates the syntactic construction found in the Semitic languages known as verbal coordination as it relates to the translation and therefore the interpretation of the scriptures. In the course of his analysis, the author also discusses grammaticalization that has occurred to translate the function of the word from Hebrew to Greek. According to the author, translations of this construction account for certain awkward expressions in the Greek Gospel texts, particularly Mark and John, because the writers were thinking in Semitic and writing in Greek. There are significant implications for Bible scholars, translators and linguists.

Zulu Novels of C. L. S. Nyembezi
 Kunene, Daniel P.
2007 0-7734-5450-0 220 pages
This study spotlights language as a tool of scholarly discourse in analyzing the stories created with it by one writer, C.L.S. Nyembezi, while also considering the Zulu language’s own process of self-revelation within its socio-cultural context. It is shown that Zulu has qualities not present in the English language which call particular attention to such elements as are unique to its literature. This study questions whether or not any culture has the right to claim exclusive ownership of the criteria of literary excellence.