Showing titles in Linguistics

Spoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingua franca—its common tongue. The language of business, popular media, and international politics, English has become commodified for its economic value and increasingly detached from any particular nation. This meteoric "rise of English" has many obvious benefits, but very real downsides as well. In The Rise of English, Rosemary Salomone offers a commanding view of the unprecedented spread of English and the far-reaching effects it has on global and local politics, economics, media, education, and business.

On New Year's Eve, an elderly ticket porter, Toby "Trotty" Veck, a hardworking but poor man, is disillusioned with the state of the world. He is appalled by newspaper reports of crime and immorality, and fears for the future prospects of his daughter, Meg, who is to be married on New Year's Day. Trotty has always fancied that the bell chimes of the nearby church offer him encouragement when he is most in need. On this particular night, he is drawn to the church tower, where he is greeted by the spirits of the bells and their goblin attendants who show him a vision of the future.

En Sépalo decir, María Paula pondrá a nuestra disposición todas las herramientas que necesitamos para vencer los principales obstáculos que nos impiden una buena comunicación. Aquí conoceremos cuáles son las principales barreras comunicativas y cómo superarlas; también, nos hablará de las claves prácticas para las conversaciones del día a día, haciendo que cada persona se pueda convertir en un excelente comunicador, aquel que logra empatizar con su mensaje y construir puentes. Este es un audiolibro para todo aquel que quiera fortalecer vínculos y relaciones.

毎日あたりまえに使っている日本語。だが、ふと疑問に思うことはないだろうか。そもそも漢字はいつから日本にあるのか?「シミュレーション」を「シュミレーション」とつい発音してしまうのはなぜだろ

“Los niños que terminen pueden ir al recreo”, dice la maestra. Julia se queda sentada en su pupitre hasta que le explican que con “niños” la maestra se refiere también a las niñas. Más tarde, en gimnasia, el profesor dice: “Los niños que quieran formar parte del equipo de fútbol que levanten la mano”. Julia alza la mano, pero el profesor, incómodo, le dice que se refería solo a los niños. Julia está estupefacta; no entiende nada. Como la niña de esta anécdota, todas las mujeres tienen que aprender a deducir desde pequeñas cuándo están incluidas y cuándo no en el masculino genérico.

En 2021, le site Ethnologue, le Centre de recherche sur l'intelligence linguistique, estimait à plus de 7000 le nombre de langues parlées dans le monde, auxquelles s'ajoutent des milliers de dialectes. La raison d'être fondamentale et l'origine exacte de cette ingénieuse invention demeurent sujet de controverse parmi les spécialistes. Par ailleurs, tous s'accordent sur le fait que les langues parlées s'accommodent d'adaptation, de nuances, d'emprunts et de transformations astucieuses, étonnantes, voire amusantes.

Brought to you by Penguin. A riveting, masterfully researched account of the bold innovators who adapted the Chinese language to the modern world, transforming China into a super-power in the process What does it take to reinvent the world's oldest living language? China today is one of the...

L'italiano ha alle sue spalle una storia secolare, buona parte della quale è fatta da parole, forme e costrutti presenti fin dal Medioevo. Ma un'altra parte, non piccola, costituita da materiale oggi perduto, è finita nell'ampio deposito della lingua scomparsa, che questo audiolibro visita seguendo le linee linguistiche e culturali attraverso cui la selezione è avvenuta.

In Highly Irregular, Arika Okrent tells the story of the many influences - from invading French armies to stubborn Flemish printers - that made our language the way it is today. Both an entertaining send-up of linguistic oddities and a deeply researched history of English, Highly Irregular is essential for anyone who has paused to wonder about our marvelous mess of a language.

Successful word coinage—those that stay in currency for a good long time—tend to conceal their beginnings. We take them at face value and rarely when and where they were first minted. Engaging, illuminating, and authoritative, Ralph Keyes' The Hidden History of Coined Words explores the etymological underworld of terms and expressions and uncovers plenty of hidden gems.

Attaqué par des clones de combat non identifiés, l'Empire s'enfonce lentement dans le chaos. Des mégapoles entières ont été dévastées par des explosions nucléaires et les troupes impériales échouent à rétablir l'ordre. Tandis que l'Empereur convoque la noblesse pour confondre l'instigateur de ces attaques concertées, maître Kobayashi se réveille sur une planète paisible où l'a emmené l'Enfant, cet énigmatique messie qui n'a encore livré aucun de ses secrets.

Dix jours après l'ouverture des portes du ciel, le Cosmos s'incarne aux quatre coins de l'univers. A l'échelle des hommes, le seigneur de Latroce continue son œuvre de fureur et de chaos, animé par une colère inépuisable. Maître Kobayashi, quant à lui, arpente la voie de l'Enfant, essayant de trouver le véritable sens à son enseignement : "Semez le Chaos dans l'Harmonie, comme le projectile sème le trouble dans l'eau immobile. Répandez de l'Ordre dans le Désordre quand le Faux gagne sur le Juste.

Ils ont beau être quelque 300 millions de locuteurs français dans le monde, il arrive qu'à cause des nombreuses dissemblances dont la langue française est truffée, Français (de France), Québécois, Belges, Suisses, Haïtiens, Maliens, Zaïrzois, et beaucoup d'autres qui ont le français en partage, ne se comprennent pas toujours. Cette diversité de langues, dans la langue crée nécessairement des quiproquos, des confusions et des malentendus qui peuvent parfois être fâcheux.

This amazing collection of poetry from the famous Greek Anthology spans over 1,500 years of ancient Greek and Byzantine history. The selections in this recording were chosen and translated by famed classicist J. W. Mackail.

An 10996. Dans les déserts suspendus de la planète sacrée Sor'Ivanyia, un des dix-huit mille mondes de l'Empire, pousse la Fleur de Dieu. Ce remède à de nombreux maux est aussi un vecteur privilégié pour accéder au divin. Grâce à la Fleur de Dieu, l'Homme sait désormais ce qui advient de la mémoire après la mort. Alors qu'un impitoyable seigneur de la guerre fomente un coup d'état, la formule chimique de la Fleur de Dieu est dérobée par une organisation anarchiste paradoxalement très organisée.

From paddy wagon to rush hour, New York City has given us a number of our popular words and phrases, along the way fashioning a recognizable dialect all its own. Often imitated and just as often ridiculed, New York English has its own identity, imbued with the rich cultural history of (as New Yorkers tell it) the greatest city in the world. In You Talkin' to Me?, E. J. White explores the hidden history of English in New York City - a history that encompasses social class, immigration, culture, economics, and, of course, real estate.

This 1880 book is about the Pepper family of five children and their widowed mother, Mamsie, a seamstress in a small New England town. Mamsie faces poverty with a brave heart, a smiling face, and the help of her children Ben, the eldest at the age of 11; Polly, always eager to cook for the family; the two little ones, Joel and Davie, and the baby Phronsie. The book has been a favorite of children, parents, and teachers for generations, and has inspired countless imaginations with its tender tales of the ways in which courage and good cheer overcome adversity.

This is a bitter, satiric comedy which concerns a wealthy, lecherous old man who pretends to be dying in order to profit from his greedy acquaintances.

Where do our everyday words come from? The bagel you eat for breakfast, the bumf you have to wade through at the office, and the bus that takes you home again: we use these words without thinking about their origins or how their meanings have changed over time. Simon Horobin takes the listener on a journey through a typical day, showing how the words we use to describe routine activities - getting up, going to work, eating meals - have surprisingly fascinating histories.

Vera; or, The Nihilists is Oscar Wilde’s first play. It features Russian revolutionaries who seek to assassinate a reform-minded Emperor, and is loosely based on the life of Vera Zasulich who shot the Governor of St. Petersburg in 1878. Contemporary events in Russia, as published in the British press of the time, clearly influenced the plot and characters. The first public performance of Vera; or, The Nihilists was in New York City in 1883. The play was a failure and folded after one week. It remains fascinating as part of a study into the development of Wilde's work.