Language, Society and Culture

Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code-Mixing

2011-11-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

"Bilingual speech makes an important contribution to the field of language contact....This is an obligatory reference for those working in the field of language contact from a grammatical persrpective. It is a clear point of departure that future researchers cannot ignore if they seek to give a comprehensive explanation of the code-mixing facts that Muysken presents in his book." Language in Society

Book Description

This book provides an indepth analysis of the different ways in which bilingual speakers switch from one language to another in the course of conversation. Pieter Muysken identifies three distinct patterns of mixing and explores how different mixing strategies depend on the contrasting grammatical properties of the languages involved, the degree of bilingual competence of the speaker and various social factors. The book synthesises a vast array of recent research in a rapidly growing field of study which has much to reveal about the structure and function of language.

Islamic Art and Culture: A Visual History

2009-06-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

Now more than ever, Islam and Islamic culture is a topic that is as misunderstood as it is fascinating. In this exquisite oversized volume spanning 1200 years of history, celebrated scholar Professor Nasser D. Khalili presents a benchmark visual history of the peoples, the cultures, and the artworks that have defined the Islamic world. From Spain to Indonesia, North Africa to China, more than fifty of the
world’s nations are of the Muslim faith. The material culture of the Muslim people is accordingly rich and varied, ranging from taking in architectural projects on a huge scale and minutely detailed miniature paintings, exquisitely patterned silk textiles and bold yet sophisticated calligraphy.

Written histories of the art of the Islamic lands have until now either been very general or highly focused on particular regions or types of artifacts. Now the spectacular format of Islamic Art and Culture provides the reader to view the magnificent sweep of the arts of Islam in a unique and accessible way. Diverse developments throughout the Islamic world are compared simultaneously across time and place, and specific objects and buildings seen in the light of key events in Muslim history. From calligraphy to carpets, armor to architecture, this book voluptuously reveals the immense heritage handed down through Islamic artists over the centuries, and examines their relationship to their Western peers.

Language and Society (Cambridge Approaches to Linguistics)

2009-05-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Review
"Downes's Language and Society is the clearest and most reliable introduction to the field of sociolinguistics available today." William Labov, University of Pennsylvania

"Of textbooks on the market, Downes's is arguably the best, providing the most thorough overview of the subject." Language

Product Description
This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Downes' textbook is an accessible introduction to the social aspects of language and their various explanations. Topics covered include domains of language use, language change, code-switching, speech as social action, and the nature of meaning and understanding. This new edition includes an up-to-date analysis of language standardization, language conflict and planning.

Language in the USA: Themes for the Twenty-first Century

2009-05-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

This textbook furnishes a comprehensive survey of current language issues in the U.S., exploring the nature of language variation in the United States and its social, historical and political significance. The book is divided into three sections: Part I, American English; Part II, Other Language Varieties; and Part III, The Sociolinguistic Situation in the U.S.A.

Review
'the publishers have rightly decided that a completely new book is in order to illustrate recent findings and new foci of the "21st century". ... Finegan provides a useful survey, ... and recent atlases, which includes an intelligent use of maps. The chapter interestingly shows that very different methods of data collection and analysis over the years have generally confirmed the findings of the earlier studies.' Anglia

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics by Janet Holmes (Author)

2009-05-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

What is sociolinguistics? This introductory textbook provides a penetrating answer to this question, explaining basic sociolinguistic concepts through a wide range of examples, and by drawing on 'classic' approaches to the subject as well as from the most recent research. The book is conveniently divided into three sections: * Section one shows how language is used in multilingual speech communities and explains the varying patterns of language use. Janet Holmes examines how and why languages change within society and highlights the factors that lead to the displacement of one language by another and sometimes the death of a language. * Section two explores social reasons for language change, looking at language change in monolingual communities and the features of a variety of dialects. The author shows how and why differing racial and social groups develop and maintain speech variations. * The final section assesses how attitudes to language affect speech and shows that linguistic responses depend on a variety of contextual factors - for example, the status of the person being addressed and our reasons for speaking. This new edition has been updated thoroughly throughout, and adds new sections on social constructionist approaches to language and gender, and the concept of community of practice. There is also a completely new chapter on language, cognition and culture, which introduces students to the ideas of Benjamin Lee Whorf, as well as to the wider implications of the important concept of linguistic relativity. Containing a series of student exercises and suggestions for further reading, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics is an essential introductory text for students of sociolinguistics and anyone interested in the study of language.

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics)

2009-05-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

by Ronald Wardhaugh (Author)
"I stated in the introductory chapter that all languages exhibit internal variation, that is, each language exists in a number of varieties

Review
“As in earlier editions of this book, Wardhaugh aims here to cover the main topics for an introductory course while keeping pace with contemporary research… Wardhaugh maintains an informed, critical and thought-provoking discussion throughout the book [and] incorporates some 130 new references, accompanying discussions of quantitative methodology, English as a global language and even ‘queer linguistics’… The inclusion of more recent scholarship, combined with his own transparency, make this latest edition an engaging introduction to sociolinguistics.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

Praise for previous editions...

"The standard text in advanced undergraduate courses and introductory graduate courses." Language

"Among the various introductions to sociolinguistics, this one certainly stands out in its comprehensiveness... it offers a wealth of relevant and correct information." Sociolinguistica

Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

2009-05-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

Why have 1500 separate languages developed in the Pacific region? Why do Danes understand Norwegians better than Norwegians understand Danish? Is Ebonics a language or a dialect?
Linguistics tends to ignore the relationship between languages and the societies in which they are spoken, while sociology generally overlooks the role of language in the constitution of society. In this book Suzanne Romaine provides a clear, lively, and accessible introduction to the field of sociolinguistics and emphasizes the constant interaction between society and language. She shows how our linguistic choices are motivated by social factors, and how certain ways of speaking come to be vested with symbolic value, drawing from evidence from studies of cultures and languages all over the world.
This new edition incorporates new material on current issues in the study of gender as well as other topics such as the linguistic dimension to the ethnic conflict in the Balkans, and the controversy over Ebonics in the United States.

The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do

2009-05-09T04:23:00.000-07:00

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
French-born marketing consultant and psychoanalyst Rapaille takes a truism—different cultures are, well, different—and expands it by explaining how a nation's history and cultural myths are psychological templates to which its citizens respond unconsciously. Fair enough, but after that, it's all downhill. Rapaille intends his theory of culture codes to help us understand "why people do what they do," but the "fundamental archetypes" he offers are just trumped-up stereotypes. He often supports jarring pronouncements ("The Culture Code for perfection in America is DEATH") with preposterous generalizations and overstatements, e.g., Japanese men "seem utterly incapable of courtship or wooing a woman." Writing with the naïveté of someone who has learned about the world only through Hollywood films, he seems unaware that every person living within a nation's borders doesn't necessarily share the same cultural biases and references. Rapaille's successful consulting career is evidence that he's more convincing in the boardroom than he is on the page. Amid the overheated prose and dubious factoids, it's easy to overlook the book's scattered marketing proposals and employee-management tips. (June 6)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“This book is just plain astonishing! Filled with profound insights and ideas that have enormous consequences for today’s organizations. If you want to understand customers, Constituencies, and crowds, this book is required reading.”

--Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business, University of Southern California and author of On Becoming a Leader

Celebrate Connections among Cultures

2009-05-09T04:21:00.000-07:00

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3–Colorful, inviting photographs introduce readers to connections among cultures from around the world. The book looks at celebrations among the Tibetans and Sherpas of the Himalaya, Tuareg of the Sahara, Aborigines of Australia, Sami of the Arctic Circle, Yanomami of the Amazon, Inuit of North America, and Balinese of South Asia, and includes corresponding entries from the U.S. Reynolds clearly shows that while every culture has its own traditions and reasons for celebrating, these events have much in common–people gather together, eat and drink, decorate themselves, make music, dance, and use fire. The excellent-quality photographs and the brief, engaging text come together to promote the theme: We are one human family celebrating life on Earth! A pronunciation guide, author's note, and map are appended. A welcome addition to multicultural literature.–Alexa Sandmann, Kent State University, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 3-5. Far from a generic view of "primitive" peoples, this photo-essay draws on Reynolds' experiences while she lived with a variety of families around the world. Beautiful color photos show how indigenous peoples everywhere "mark changes, express thanks, and honor important people and events," with feasts, costumes, music, and more--from the Tibetans in the Himalayas, the Tuareg in the Sahara, and the Yanomami in the Amazon rain forest to families across the U.S. With each photo, Reynolds includes a brief explanation of the source of the tradition and how it is celebrated now. It's a lot for one small book to handle, but the lively photos and the connections Reynolds makes will encourage children to go on to the titles in the appended bibliography and to the books in Reynolds' Vanishing Culture series to find out more. Hazel Rochman

A Culture of Respect

2009-05-09T04:18:00.000-07:00

Providing useful definitions of respect in terms that are easily understood by youngsters, this picture book expresses the importance of valuing adults and classmates alike. Combining cheerful illustrations with simple language, this useful guide explains the basics of respectful behavior to young children. It emphasizes the value of a climate of mutual respect among teachers and classmates and the
immediate and long-term benefits to students who practice these behaviors—from special privileges within the classroom, to achieving future sucess in life. Focusing on the specific needs of African American school children, this helpful resource is a perfect tool for teachers who wish to foster a sense of courtesy, allowing for a calmer, more focused classroom.

About the Author
Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu is an educational consultant and the author of more than 20 books, including Black Students. Middle Class Teachers.; Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys; Keeping Black Boys Out of Special Education; and Motivating and Preparing Black Youth for Success. He lives in Chicago.

Leading in a Culture of Change

2009-05-09T04:13:00.000-07:00

Review
"At the very time the need for effective leadership is reaching critical proportions, Michael Fullan's Leading in a Culture of Change provides powerful insights for moving forward. We look forward to sharing it with our grantees."
—Tom Vander Ark, executive director, Education, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

"Fullan articulates clearly the core values and practices of leadership required at all levels of the organization. Using specific examples, he convinces us that the key change principles are equally critical for leadership in business and education organizations."
—John Evans, chairman, Torstar Corporation

"In Leading in a Culture of Change, Michael Fullan deftly combines his expertise in school reform with the latest insights in organizational change and leadership. The result is a compelling and insightful exposition on how leaders in any setting can bring about lasting, positive, systemic change in their organizations."
—John Alexander, president, Center for Creative Leadership

"Michael Fullan's work is remarkable. He masterfully captures how leaders can significantly improve their learning and performance, even in the uncontrollable, chaotic circumstances in which they practice. A tour de force."
—Anthony Alvarado, chancellor of instruction, San Diego City Schools

"Too often schools and businesses are seen as separate and foreign places. Michael Fullan blends the best of knowledge from each into an exemplary template for improving leadership in both."
—Terrence E. Deal, coauthor of Leading with Soul

"The sign of outstanding and inspired leadership is the ability to lead rather than be led by the forces of change. How do leaders in private, public, and not-for-profit sectors meet the challenges of today's complex world? This book shows the way."
—Veronica Lacey, president and CEO, The Learning Partnership

"Michael Fullan debunks the notion that there is a 'one-size-fits-all' blueprint for managing change. Leading in a Culture of Change is an excellent book for all educators and business leaders. Readers will gain powerful new insights into developing the core capabilities required for effective leadership under conditions of complex change."
—Kenneth Lalonde, executive vice president, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

"A great book for leaders everywhere who are truly interested in learning and cultivating the leadership potential in others."
—Marilyn Knox, president, Nutrition, Nestle Canada Inc.

"Michael Fullan has no truck with simplistic solutions or superheroes. Instead he helps leaders understand the paradoxes of complex cultural change-leaders from all sectors will learn from his insights."
—Heather Duquesnay, director and chief executive, National College for School Leadership, England

"Leading in a Culture of Change describes vividly the kind of leadership necessary to bring about successful change in modern times. At its heart is building capacity-a powerful message."
—Michael Barber, head, Standards and Effectiveness Unit, Department for Education and Employment, London, England --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Phonetics , the Study of the Production and Perception of Speech SoundsP

2009-02-13T23:40:00.000-08:00

Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of the production and perception of speech sounds. It is concerned with the sounds of languge, how these sounds are articulated and how the hearer percieves them. Phonetics is related to the science of acoustics in that it uses much the same techniques in the analysis of sound that acoustics does. There are three sub-disciplines of phonetics:

* Articulatory Phonetics: the production of speech sounds.
* Acousitc Phonetics: the study of the physical production and transmission of speech sounds.
* Auditory Phonetics: the study of the perception of speech sounds.

source: geocities.com

Do You Know What Linguistics is ?

2009-02-13T23:33:00.000-08:00

The following information is about the science which studies called Linguistics.

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It endeavours to answer the question--what is language and how is represented in the mind? Linguists focus on describing and explaining language and are not concerned with the prescriptive rules of the language (ie., do not split infinitives). Linguists are not required to know many languages and linguists are not interpreters.

The underlying goal of the linguist is to try to discover the universals concerning language. That is, what are the common elements of all languages. The linguist then tries to place these elements in a theoretical framework that will describe all languages and also predict what can not occur in a language.

Linguistics is a social science that shares common ground with other social sciences such as psychology, anthropology, sociology and archaeology. It also may influence other disciplines such as english, communication studies and computer science. Linguistics for the most part though can be considered a cognitive science. Along with psychology, philosophy and computer science (AI), linguistics is ultimately concerned with how the human brain functions.

The fields of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and language acquisition are considered the core fields of study and a firm knowledge of each is necessary in order to tackle more advanced subjects.
source : www.geocities.com

The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Culture

2009-01-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

In The Japanese Mind, Roger Davies offers Westerners an invaluable key to the unique aspects of Japanese culture. Readers of this book will gain a clear understanding of what really makes the Japanese, and their society, tick.

Among the topics explored: aimai (ambiguity), amae (dependence upon others’ benevolence), amakudari (the nation’s descent from heaven), chinmoku (silence in communication), gambari (perseverence), giri (social obligation), haragei (literally, "belly art"; implicit, unspoken communication), kenkyo (the appearance of modesty), sempai-kohai (seniority), wabi-sabi (simplicity and elegance), and zoto (gift giving), as well as discussions of childrearing, personal space, and the roles of women in Japanese society. Includes discussion topics and questions after each chapter.

With Respect to the Japanese: A Guide for Americans

2009-01-19T01:57:00.000-08:00

I work at a Japanese Company and recently participated in across-cultural learning class. This book was provided as apre-requisite to the class. I was able to get more out of this book than any other book on this subject that I had previously read. The book explains how children are raised in the Japanese Environment, their belief/value system, and how that translates into their eventual adult/working life environment. I have recommended this book to both people inside my company and Companies I deal with on a daily basis. It has taken some of the "mystery" out of the Japanese Culture for me.

Introduction to Japanese Culture

2009-01-19T01:55:00.000-08:00

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his is an essential overview of Japanese life and society today.

About the Author
Narumi Yasuda, born in Kagawa Prefecture in 1947, is a leading landscape photographer whose work has appeared on calendars and in numerous magazines and other publications, including Michinoku Bojo (Journey into Northern Japan), Furusato no Shiki wo Yuku: Nihon no Joki-Kikansha (Steam Locomotives through the Japanese Countryside), Japan: An Invitation, Nippon: Land of Beauty and Tradition, and Beautiful Japan.

Daniel Sosnoski is an American writer who has lived in Japan since 1985. His experiences as an editor of travel and cultural guides have taken him the length and breadth of Japan and given him an appreciation of the country’s natural beauty. He continues to explore and discover new elements of the land and its people.

Japanese Culture

2009-01-19T01:52:00.000-08:00

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For nearly three decades Japanese Culture has garnered high praise as an accurate and well-written introduction to Japanese history and culture. This widely used undergraduate text is now available in a new edition. Thoroughly updated, the fourth edition includes expanded sections on numerous topics, among which are samurai values, Zen Buddhism, the tea ceremony, Confucianism in the Tokugawa period, the story of the forty-seven ronin, Mito scholarship in the early nineteenth century, and mass culture and comics in contemporary times.

Cultural and Language Diversity and the Deaf Experience

2008-10-31T04:38:00.000-07:00

"Parasnis' 'Cultural and Language Diversity and the Deaf Experience' will be a valuable addition to the library of professionals who provide services to Deaf people. It will also be of considerable interest to researchers, instructors, and professionals in minority education and bilingualism. All will be informed by the varied perspectives of the impact of language and culture on the experience of membership in a minority group." Contemporary Psychology "Nonspecialists will find that this book provides an intriguing and provocative introduction to Deaf culture, and specialists in deafness-related professions will appreciate this volume for its broad coverage of socioculture issues that impact the lives of Deaf children and adults."

Janet R. Jamieson, Contemporary Psychology "The book, Culture, Language Diversity and the Deaf Experience, is an elegant and comprehensive exposition of one side of this long-standing debate in deaf education -- the side which portrays deaf people as comprising a bilingual and bicultural minority group whose native language is a signed rather than a spoken language (ASL/LSQ). In three well-organized sections, the editor...assembles readable articles...drawing from a wide variety of experts with both academic and personal experience in the field of deafness. The articles are the ultimate product of colloquia on the same topic that were held earlier at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf." McGill Journal of Education "...the section with personal essays makes the book especially attractive for a wider audience. This innovative and interdisciplinary volume is highly recommended for all interested in linguistic and cultural diversity: linguists, psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, sign language interpreters, researchers and educators involved in the education of the Deaf, and last, but not least, all those who deal with the experience of living in the Deaf and Hearing worlds on a daily basis." SocioLinguistics

Language, Culture, and Society: A Book of Readings

2008-10-31T04:34:00.000-07:00

Twenty-four articles representing a diversity of interests and approaches have been brought together in this collection intended to define and develop topics of central interest to language, culture, and society. Opening pieces include enduring, classic writings by Boas, Sapir, Whorf, Mead, and others, giving the volume an important historical orientation. These contributions form the groundwork for the wide sampling of more recent and contemporary works that follows.

The selections chosen for Language, Culture, and Society, Second Edition, reflect several major themes within the field: language in relation to thought and cognition; language in relation to the cultural partitioning of the environment; language in relation to self-as-social; language in relation to social differentiation; and language in relation to its emergence as a sociocultural phenomenon. The editor's helpful introductions point out significant ideas and trace the development of the twenty-four contributions that form a diverse, well-balanced, and up-to-date volume.

Language, Culture, and Communication: The Meaning of Messages

2008-10-31T04:31:00.000-07:00

North American Indian Music

2008-10-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Reviewed with Geraldine Woods' The Navajo.

Gr. 5-7. Two titles in the Watts Library--Indians of the Americas series offer glimpses of Native American culture and history. Woods' title about the Navajo includes the Navajo creation tale, describes the land where the tribe has lived for centuries, and looks at housing and clothing, ceremonies and spiritual life, and the clan system. Also mentioned are the Navajo code talkers, who devised the only unbreakable code in World War II, and the continuing dispute over land with the Hopi, as well as a brief look at contemporary concerns and successes. North American Indian Music describes the many uses of music since ancient times and explains the unique beat, rhythm, and melody that characterize much Indian music. Subsequent chapters focus on music from specific tribes.

The colorful photos in both titles enhance the texts nicely, but some of the drawings of historical events are inappropriate and of poor quality. The authors cite their information sources, but both titles show an outsider's perspective. Each book concludes with a glossary, a bibliography, and time line. Whenever possible, teachers should provide native sources to complement this series. Karen Hutt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

From Indians to Chicanos: The Dynamics of Mexican-American Culture

2008-10-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

Considered a pioneering achievement when first published nearly two decades ago, From Indians to Chicanos--now in a completely revised second edition--continues to offer readers an informed and penetrating approach to the history of Chicano development. Anthropologist-historian Diego Vigil shows a perceptive and knowledgeable background in brief, clear outlines of each stage of Mexican-American history, charting the culture change sequences in the Pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial, Mexican Independence and Nationalism, and Anglo-American periods.

He analyzes not only the events and the underlying conditions that affect them but also the dynamics that shaped contemporary Chicano life. The author has absorbed an enormous amount of information and has condensed it in a very readable and understandable fashion. Vigil's ethnohistorical introduction to the Mexican- American experience in the United States is simple yet comprehensive so that readers clearly understand historical developments and the specific socioeconomic, sociocultural and sociopsychological forces involved.

India - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette (Culture Smart!)

2008-10-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include:

* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken

"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times

A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples

2008-10-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

Dispelling myths, answering questions, and stimulating thoughtful avenues for further inquiry, this highly absorbing reference provides a wealth of specific information about over 200 North American Indian groups in Canada and the United States. Readers will easily access important historical and contemporary facts about everything from notable leaders and relations with non-natives to customs, dress, dwellings, weapons, government, and religion. This book is at once exhaustive and captivating, covering myriad aspects of a people spread across a continent.

Divided into ten geographic areas for easy reference, this work illustrates each Native American group in careful detail. Listed alphabetically, starting with the tribal name, translation, origin, and definition, each entry includes significant facts about the group's location and population, as well as impressive accounts of the group's history and culture. Bringing entries up-to-date, Barry Pritzker also presents current information on each group's government, economy, legal status, and land holdings. Whether interpreting the term "tribe" (many traditional Native American groups were not tribes at all but more like extended families) or describing how a Shoshone woman served as a guide on the Lewis and Clark expedition, Pritzker always presents the material in a clear and lively manner.
In light of past and ongoing injustices and the momentum of Indian and Inuit self-determination movements, an understanding of Native American cultures as well as their contributions to contemporary society becomes increasingly important. A magnificent resource, this book liberally provides the essential information necessary to better grasp the history and cultures of North American Indians.

Language, Culture, and Communication: The Meaning of Messages

2008-10-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

Using data from cultures and languages throughout the world to highlight both similarities and differences in human languages—this text explores the many interconnections among language, culture, and communicative meaning. It examines the multi-faceted meanings and uses of language and emphasizes the ways that language encapsulates speakers' meanings and intentions.

Nancy Bonvillain is one of the top anthropological linguists in America. This is one of the best text books on the subject that's ever been written. It includes clear explanations and excellent cross-cultural examples. It follows the major traditions set by American linguists and anthropologists in the study of language description, language structure, language acquisition, language change, and the ways in which language reflects differences in cultural values, beliefs, and practices cross-culturally. It's a handy book to use in the undergraduate linguistic anthropology course and students enjoy it.

Language, Culture, and Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology

2008-10-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

Zdenek Salzmann, a native of Prague, is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst . A specialist in Native American languages and folklore, he has held guest professorships at Yale University and the University of Freiburg in Germany. He has been visiting professor at several universities in the Czech Republic. At present, he is adjunct professor at Northern Arizona University . With his wife, Joy, he is the author of Native Americans of the Southwest (Westview Press, 1997).

Language: Readings in Language and Culture

2008-10-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

This collection of essays touches on all the major points of Linguistics (very briefly) and is a great introduction to the field. The different authors all have a slightly different style, but it is not jarring and does not interfere with the ability to pull information out of the text. I have read other intro to linguistics books and none have been as interesting or informative as this one. I highly recommend this book to anyone who plans to take a college 'english language' or linguistics class, and to anyone interested in linguistice but deosn't know where to start.

Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning

2008-10-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

This book identifies the many facets of culture that influence second language learners and teachers. The paperback edition identifies the many facets of culture that influence second language learners and teachers. It addresses the impact of culture on learning to interact, speak, construct meaning, and write in a second language, while staying within the sociocultural paradigms specific to a particular language and its speakers. By providing a comprehensive introduction to research from other disciplines on the interaction between language and culture, this volume offers an important contribution to the field of second language acquisition.

Context and Culture in Language Teaching (Oxford Applied Linguistics)

2008-10-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

This superb book, much cited in recent articles and studies, popularized the notion that culture is not something "out there", as conceived and taught in many language classrooms, but something created in interaction between people separated culturally, historically and socially. As Brian Street remarked about 6 years ago, "culture is a verb". This book has been instrumental in changing notions of what culture is and how it can be explored in all its rich manifestations--whether in the classroom or out.

The depth and sophistication of the book, far from being inhibitory, invites constant re-readings and new insights: 6 years of reading and re-reading has not exhausted the possibilities. Kramsch's remarkable blend of incisive yet delicately nuanced phrasing, yields a startling clarity of thought and style rare in academic discourse these days. The temptation to plagiarize is hard to resist. It is a pleasure to read this book, and if the term "food for thought" were ever well applied, it would be to this book.

Because of its inter-disciplinary approach and ground-breaking nature, this book should be read by anyone in fields remotely connected to language and culture--not just teachers mainly concerned with applying insights to the classroom. Language teaching is often dumbed-down and reduced to a matter of simply applying the currently-accepted methodology; Kramsch has revealed that language teaching can be (and should be) an intellectual endeavour. She has done nothing less than to revolutionize the nature of the field. We have everything to thank her for it.

Language, Culture, and Teaching: Critical Perspectives for a New Century (Volume in the Language, Culture, and Teaching Series

2008-10-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Bringing over 30 years to the topic of bilingual education, Nieto meticulously takes langauge and language learning apart by revealing it as a organ for cultural expression. To expand a child's literacy, to teach them the cummunicative value of language,--especially in a bilignual way--, a teacher and a school must develop an accepting, affirming philosophy. They must listen to students and bolster their solidarity as a cultural of students and as cultures of students by abandoning the traditional ESL or TESOL models. Teachers must strive to understand the linguistic concepts of second langauge acquisition in order to best instill literacy in their students.

All of those concepts require frequent revisits of this book. It reads quite well, but stay frosty. If you skim too much, you will miss a valuable nugget of information. I suggested reading the book in whatever order that you wish the second time because you will fine that each chapter can stand alone once you understand her primary thesis. Also, read it in small pieces while you teach your children about literacy (especially early childhood teachers). Then you will know how to apply it with much more fluidity within your teaching philosophy.

American Sign Language Green Books, A Teacher's Resource Text on Grammar and Culture (American Sign Language Series)

2008-10-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

This book is designed for a teacher as part of the "Green Books" American Sign Language series; however, it is a very useful guide to ASL Grammar and Culture for anyone studying American Sign Language seriously (I, myself, am not a teacher, but have a copy of the book).

I was introduced to the book when I first began learning sign language, and it was very confusing to me. I would have benefited, at the time, much better from an ASL dictionary or simpler sign book. My recommendation to those of you who have just begun learning (or would like to learn) ASL would be NOT to buy this book just YET! Start with something less daunting and sophisticated (after all, it is designed for those already familiar with ASL and preparing a class curriculum).

What the book will give you is an excellent explanation of the sociolinguistic nature of American Sign Language--something you typically will not receive from a ASL Dictionary. For example: how sentences are structured, topicilization, rhetorical questions, relative clauses, expression of time, pronominalization, subject and object usage, the use of classifiers, locatives ... to name a few.

All in all, this is a terrifically detailed, well researched, informative and valuable book; yet, not for a beginning student.

Language, Culture, and Society: A Book of Readings

2008-10-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

Twenty-four articles representing a diversity of interests and approaches have been brought together in this collection intended to define and develop topics of central interest to language, culture, and society. Opening pieces include enduring, classic writings by Boas, Sapir, Whorf, Mead, and others, giving the volume an important historical orientation. These contributions form the groundwork for the wide sampling of more recent and contemporary works that follows. The selections chosen for Language, Culture, and Society, Second Edition, reflect several major themes within the field: language in relation to thought and cognition; language in relation to the cultural partitioning of the environment; language in relation to self-as-social; language in relation to social differentiation; and language in relation to its emergence as a sociocultural phenomenon.

The editor's helpful introductions point out significant ideas and trace the development of the twenty-four contributions that form a diverse, well-balanced, and up-to-date volume.

Race, Language, and Culture

2008-10-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

This volume is a collection of the most important essays written by Franz Boas on the science of anthropology.

"Franz Boas is the father of American anthropology and one of the founders of the field of modern anthropology. The book, Race, Language, and Culture, is a collection of some of his most important essays."—David Schneider, University of Chicago

"An exceptional book. Exceptional because it brings into one volume sixty-two papers written by the most influential figure in American anthropology. . . . Exceptional in that it exhibits the wide range of interests and scientific exactness which made it possible for one man to exert such a profound influence on the growing science of anthropology. . . . This is a volume every student of anthropology will wish to possess; it will also have a wide distribution among other students of the social sciences, and all interested in the problems of race."—Fay-Cooper Cole, American Anthropologist

Language and Culture

2008-10-14T17:07:00.001-07:00

This is the first book-length treatment in English of the interactions of language and culture. Though focused on North American anthropology and linguistics, all major cross currents in the field from Europe and America are covered, from Boas to structuralism and on through postmodernism. The two key issues are how language might influence culture, and how language structure may be used as a model for nonlanguage-based systems. Like Siamese twins, these two themes of linguistic relativity and semiotics have much in common, and the ideas raised in language and culture studies have relevance to cultural anthropology, sociology, folklore, literary criticism, cognitive science, and linguistics.

This book is unique not only in being the sole organic treatment of this important part of linguistic anthropology, but also in its historiographic organization, which allows the reader to see how the field developed along with major issues. At the same time, the relations to the other areas of linguistic anthropology-- sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, paralinguistics, cognitive anthropology, and literary studies--are clearly shown.

Language and Culture (Oxford Introductions to Language Study

2008-10-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

Recent social and political changes have focused attention on the debate about the relationship between language and culture. This book offers an accessible survey of key concepts such as social context and cultural authenticity, using insights from fields which include linguistics, sociology and anthropology.

This intro. to culture is an excellent distillation of language and culture, suited especially for anyone who has read her previous book published by Oxford Univ. Press CONTEXT AND CULTURE. Context and Culture (C&C)has many illuminating examples from literature, speech and and media. Kramsch writes densely--every word counts--and readers will find that there is always something new to learn on every reading. It's no surprise that Widdowson, remarkable for his incredibly tight prose, was her editor. Kramsch is a razor-sharp thinker and an accomplished writer. An intellectual of the best sort.

So, to best appreciate this short intro. to culture, read C&C first.

To the frustrated engineering-student-teacher assistant, irritated that such simple ideas as "culture", "communication" and "understanding" are made less simple by Kramsch: Perhaps these concepts are not so simple after all.

Childhood Speech, Language & Listening Problems: What Every Parent Should Know

2008-09-27T01:13:00.000-07:00

Description
Does your child have trouble speaking or listening?

This fully revised and updated edition of the essential guide explains what you can do to help

Have you noticed that your child has difficulty getting the right words out, following directions, or being understood? If so, speech-language pathologist Patricia Hamaguchi -who has been helping children overcome problems like these for more than twenty years-has now revised and updated her highly effective guide to help you determine what's best for your child. Find out all you need to know about:
* Autism/PDD, central auditory processing disorders, dyspraxia, bilingual language development, adoption issues, thumb-sucking, and more
* How to recognize the most common speech, language, and listening problems
* When to get help for your child and when to wait
* Where to find the right specialist and what to ask
* How to read and understand the jargon-filled evaluation report
* The very latest changes in philosophy, treatment approach, labeling, laws, programs, and resources
* How the problem may affect your child academically, socially, and at home
* Tips for helping your child at home

"Provides valuable information for parents of children with speech, language, and listening problems."----Sandra C. Holley, Ph.D., Former President, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

From the Publisher
Designed for parents who suspect their child may have some type of communication problem. Explains what is considered ``normal'' for a child's development then describes symptoms of various common disorders. Demonstrates how to distinguish between a problem that will probably be outgrown, from one that requires outside help. Also explains how to get help, what tests are likely to be done and how to understand the diagnosis. Includes activities parents can do with their children at home to help them progress. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Parents Guide to Speech and Language Problems

2008-09-27T01:09:00.000-07:00

ct Description

Your definitive guide for helping your speech-impaired child--cowritten by two in-the-trenches experts

When a child has communication problems-- diagnosed or not--parents are first looking for a place to go for help. The Parent’s Guide to Speech and Language Problems is a one-stop resource, offering not just the most up-to-date medical information but also advice and encouragement from a mom who’s been there.

Review: By L. Bisel "L. B"
This book is an excellent resource for anyone who has a child with speech and language difficulties. There is an enormous amount of information but it is very well organized, and easy to reference in a hurry. The quotes throughout from parents who have "been there" make you feel like you aren't alone. It's very easy to feel overwhelmed when you first get a diagnosis, but this book helps the process of really understanding what you can do to help your child, and the support that is available.

Accessing politeness axes: forms of address and terms of reference in early English correspondence

2008-09-27T01:05:00.000-07:00

Description
This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Pragmatics, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

There are certain areas of study where present-day pragmatics can learn from history. This article focuses on the socio-pragmatic aspects of forms of address and terms of reference in late 16th-century English correspondence. The aim of the study is to explore the extent to which the use of forms of address and reference, and the factors which influence their choice, can be seen to have any general trends. A further goal is to relate these trends in historical data to such contemporary views as Brown and Levinson's [Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987] politeness theory, Comrie's [Linguistic politeness axes: speaker-addressee, speaker-referent, speaker-bystander. Pragmatics Microfiche 1.7: A3, Department of Linguistics, University of Cambridge, 1976] politeness axes, and Bell's [Language style as audience design. Language in Society 13, 145-204] audience design. The material itself, the Corpus of Early English Correspondence (CEEC), gives a unique opportunity to explore the influence of factors like relative power and social distance on the use of forms of address and reference in the highly stratified society of the Renaissance period. The study shows that referential terms are often derived from the range of direct address formulae. In direct address, when the social status of either the addressee or the referent is very high, it seems to override the influence of social distance. In reference, the reasons for the choice of an appropriate term are more complex, and the parameters set for, e.g., positive and negative politeness can no longer be seen as equally valid.

Terms of Address (Contribution to the Sociology of Language)

2008-09-27T01:04:00.000-07:00

Diachronic Perspectives on Address Term Systems (Pragmatics and Beyond New Series

2008-09-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

Pragmatics (Oxford Introductions to Language Study)

2008-09-27T00:58:00.000-07:00

Description
This is an introduction to pragmatics, the study of how people make sense of each other linguistically. The author explains, and illustrates, basic concepts such as the co-operative principle, deixis, and speech acts, providing a clear, concise foundation for further study.

This book is all you could ask for in terms of an easy introduction to pragmatics. It is concise, simple, well-planned, clear, and full of useful examples.

Slightly over a hundred pages, this is an ideal read if you're looking for basic knowledge on pragmatics in general. I know no better book for that.

Highly recommended. In addition, this was the reference book in one my classes on pragmatics, so if university teachers consider it good enough for their classes, you can consider it good enough for yourself. And good enough, it sure is.

Pragmatics (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics)

2008-09-27T00:55:00.000-07:00

Description
Those aspects of language use that are crucial to an understanding of language as a system, and especially to an understanding of meaning, are the acknowledged concern of linguistic pragmatics. Yet until now much of the work in this field has not been easily accessible to the student, and was often written at an intimidating level of technicality. In this textbook, however, Dr Levinson has provided a lucid and integrative analysis of the central topics in pragmatics - deixis, implicature, presupposition, speech acts, and conversational structure.

A central concern of the book is the relation between pragmatics and semantics, and Dr Levinson shows clearly how a pragmatic approach can resolve some of the problems semantics have been confronting and simplifying semantic analyses. The complexity of these issues is not disguised, but the exposition is always clear and supported by helpful exemplification. The detailed analyses of selected topics give the student a clear view of the empirical rigour demanded by the study of linguistic pragmatics, but Dr Levinson never loses sight of the rich diversity of the subject. An introduction and conclusion relate pragmatics to other fields in linguistics and other disciplines concerned with language usage - psychology, philosophy, anthropology and literature. Many students in these disciplines, as well as students of linguistics, will find this a valuable textbook.

The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Book

2008-09-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

Great little bits of trivia divided up by decade, with nice pics to accompany the questions. Answers are in the back of the book!

From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century

2008-09-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

Description

Take a walk . . . down memory lane, you Boomers and Gen Xers! From ABBA to Zoom is sure to grab anyone born in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, or '80s. Whether you grew up watching The Huckleberry Hound Show, Johnny Quest, or Sesame Street, this cultural encyclopedia is sure to draw you into a nostalgic and fun-filled read that you just can't put down.

American pop culture aficionado David Mansour spent 18 years accumulating an extensive collection of dolls, lunch boxes, board games, TV memorabilia, and other items from the 1960s through the '90s. That fascination, along with his lifelong lists-from "best toys" to "all-time coolest singers"-were the genesis for this wide-ranging volume of Boomer and Generation X treasures.

Readers will relish the mere mention of some of their greatest childhood and adolescent connections, then rush to learn the well-researched details behind those icons. Farrah Fawcett's feathered hair, James Bond movies, Lost in Space, Woodstock-it's all here! In page after page, more than 3,000 references arranged alphabetically make this a true trip through the Boom Times. Totally groovy!

About the Author

David Mansour is an avid pop-culture collector, particularly of dolls, lunch boxes, board games, action figures, books, records, and all things late 20th century. David, a professional hairstylist, lives in Kansas City, Mo.

Subud and the Javanese Mystical Tradition (Nias Monographs, 76)

2008-09-09T22:44:00.000-07:00

Subud and the Javanese Mystical Tradition (Nias Monographs, 76)

The book on societey : "Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology"

2008-08-31T16:12:00.000-07:00

Description
RACE, CLASS, AND, GENDER, includes many interdisciplinary readings. The author's selection of very accessible articles show how race, class, and gender shape people's experiences, and help students to see the issues in an analytic, as well as descriptive way. The book also provides conceptual grounding in understanding race, class, and gender; has a strong historical and sociological perspective; and is further strengthened by conceptual introductions by the authors. Students will find the readings engaging and accessible, but may gain the most from the introduction sections that highlight key points and relate the essential concepts. Included in the collection of readings are narratives aimed at building empathy, and articles on important social issues such as prison, affirmative action, poverty, immigration, and racism, among other topics.

About the Author
Margaret L. Andersen (B.A., Georgia State University; M.A., Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies at the University of Delaware. She is the co-editor of the best-selling anthology, RACE, CLASS AND GENDER, Sixth Edition (Wadsworth, 2007; with Patricia Hill Collins), author of THINKING ABOUT WOMEN: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SEX AND GENDER, Seventh Edition (Allyn and Bacon, 2006); SOCIOLOGY: THE ESSENTIALS, Fourth Edition (Wadsworth, 2007; also co-authored with Howard F. Taylor), and UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY: AN INTRODUCTORY READER, Second Edition (Wadsworth, 2004; co-edited with Kim Logio and Howard F. Taylor). She is a recipient of the University of Delaware’s Excellence-in-Teaching Award and the College of Arts and Science Distinguished Teaching Award, former president of the Eastern Sociological Society, and chair of the National Advisory Board for the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University, where she has been a visiting professor. She has received the American Sociological Association Jessie Bernard Award (2006) for broadening the horizons of sociology to include the study of women and has also received the 2004-2005 SWS Feminist Lecturer, an award given annually to a social scientist who has made significant contributions to the study of women in society.

Patricia Hill Collins is Wilson Elkins Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Charles Phelps Taft Emeritus Professor of African American Studies and Sociology at the University of Cincinnati. She is the author of numerous articles and books including BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS: AFRICAN AMERICANS, GENDER AND THE NEW RACISM (Routhledge, 2004) and BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT: KNOWLEDGE, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND THE POLITICS OF EMPOWERMENT (Urwin Hyman 1990; Rothledge, 2000) which won the Jessie Bernard Award of the American Sociological Association and the C. Wright Mills Award of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Her forthcoming book is FROM BLACK POWER TO HIP HOP: RACISM, NATIONALISM, AND FEMINISM (Temple University Press, 2005).

Social Class and Stratification: Classic Statements and Theoretical Debates

2008-08-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

Social Class and Stratification: Classic Statements and Theoretical Debates

2008-08-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

Description
Bringing together the classic statements on social stratification, this collection offers the most significant contributions to ongoing debates on the nature of race, class, and gender inequality.

American Social Classes in the 1950s: Selections from Vance Packard's The Status Seekers (The Bedford Series in History and Culture)

2008-08-31T04:04:00.000-07:00

Review: By Christopher W. Chase "Christopher W. Chase"

Vance Packard's "The Status Seekers" is a well known compendium and analysis of the nature and development of social classification during the 1950's-a period marked by explosive growth of the U.S. economy, especially among young white families. The thesis of the book, as explained by Packard, is that rather than the creation of a largely classless society in which "all" were gaining the benefits of democratic capitalism, the creation of an "affluent" society simply highlighted and created new stratifications, both horizontal, and vertical, of social class based on race, religion, behavioral and consumptive practices.

Packard sought to demonstrate his thesis by compiling and synthesizing then current sociological studies, as well as conducting informal interviews among members of various economic classes, policy experts, and professionals in different cities, towns, and states. There is little in the book that represents original thought, but the form, promotion and style of the book made it a best-selling nonfiction work among the general public.

It was precisely these qualities that drew so much ire from many critics, especially those drawn from the circles of New York intelligentsia-it was often attacked for its own pretense to provinciality and romanticism of an agrarian, frontier past. The Status Seekers nonetheless stands as a significant work in American Studies, precisely because of its ability to bring scholarly information, especially regarding the vertical stratifications of race and religion, to bear on the nature of class in America, and stands out as a dissenting voice in the consensus ideology and politics of containment that ruled public discourse at the time. Other criticisms of the book, such as the charge that it portrayed status seeking voyeuristically and hypocritically--- insofar as buyers used it to advance their own status---- are charges more appropriate to the willingness of the buying public to commodify and use as a tool any weapon in the fight to gain greater status. While books are meant to be read, conveying information about such timely topics is bound to get caught up in the politics of the very phenomenon studied. That is not Packard's fault.

There are other criticisms, more from a contemporary standpoint, that could be made of Packard's work. It is true that he took from conservative liberalism a predisposition to see affluence as the problem, rather than the lack of it for so many people within the society he studied. It is also true that he played more to the prejudices of the day, especially regarding race and gender, and failed to aggressively question some of the roots of the problems he sought in terms of these prejudices. But the point of his text was not to make a critique of American institutions as such, but rather the interpretations of those institutions as held and manipulated by consumers for their own benefit.

On the one hand, we should chalk this up to Packard's Cold War liberalism. Moreover, as pointed out in the excellent introductory essay by Daniel Horowitz, Packard was once a socialist radical, but experienced the realpolitik of Stalin's Soviet Union negotiations with Hitler, and correctly understood the USSR as a form of state capitalism (much like C. L. R. James). It would be worst sort of ex post facto presentism to hold these sorts of criticisms too hard against Packard.

Christopher W. Chase - PhD Fellow - Michigan State University

Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective

2008-08-31T04:01:00.000-07:00

Review: By Midwest Book Review

Social Stratification In Sociological Perspective is a college-level treatise on social issues affecting class, race and gender appears in its second edition to discuss the evolving field of stratification. College students will find a survey of stratification research, with articles in different sections examining the field and its broader issues and controversies. This comprehensive reader may well serve as a classroom text on the topic for sociology courses.

Editorial Reviews
Review of Radical Political Economics
"Grusky's book is unique.... It is an active text forcing the essays out of an intellectual vacuum and into an environment where they are up against other essays with differing view points.... A service to the complex field of stratification research, whether for the beginning student, where it serves as an excellent introduction to the field, or for the more experienced individual, where it can serve as a top-notch reference.... Highly recommendable."

Class: A Guide Through the American Status System

2008-08-30T17:42:00.000-07:00

Review: By Renee Thorpe
Bitingly witty and embarassingly well focused look at the main classes within American society.

Yes, there is an American aristocracy, but they aren't driving around in Ferraris or living in Beverly Hills. There is even a sort of aristocracy amongst the working class people whom Fussell generally refers to as proles.

Fussell's sharp eye has found and catalogued an amazing array of signs that indicate class in America. Try to spot these signs at your next social gathering, or even subject your own living room to the survey at the end of the book (frighteningly accurate way to determine one's class)!

This is a book based on pigeon-holing people, and that is probably what most annoyed readers can't stand about Fussell. But class distinctions do exist, like 'em or not. The middle class hope to rise in class by sending their kids to Harvard or Yale, the Proles hope to do the same by getting more money. Lucky "X Class" people don't give a hoot about such climbing, and fortunately more of us are just veering sideways into that final category which Fussell charts as a kind of class alternative.

Actually, the book could also be a helpful guide to those with a need to temporarily masquerade as a member of a given class... Unfortunate but true that you will get better service at a jeweler's or other tony shop if you dress not so much "up" but into the highest class you can accurately manage. And if you want to blend in at the truck stop, there are plenty of hot tips to be gleaned from this book.

Yes, yes, we should best judge each other only by virtues like honesty and willingness to help, but the book is about class, that dazzling (and now not so mysterious) thing.

Not without the odd mistake (I argue that books piled around the living room are not so much a sign of the upper class as an intellect), it is an excellent, juicy

The Dialect of Modernism: Race, Language, and Twentieth-Century Literature (Race and American Culture)

2008-08-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

Description
The Dialect of Modernism uncovers the crucial role of racial masquerade and linguistic imitation in the emergence of literary modernism.

Rebelling against the standard language, and literature written in it, modernists, such as Joseph Conrad, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams reimagined themselves as racial aliens and mimicked the strategies of dialect speakers in their work. In doing so, they made possible the most radical representational strategies of modern literature, which emerged from their attack on the privilege of standard language.

At the same time, however, another movement, identified with Harlem, was struggling to free itself from the very dialect the modernists appropriated, at least as it had been rendered by two generations of white dialect writers. For writers such as Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Zora Neale Hurston, this dialect became a barrier as rigid as the standard language itself.

Thus, the two modern movements, which arrived simultaneously in 1922, were linked and divided by their different stakes in the same language. In The Dialect of Modernism, Michael North shows, through biographical and historical investigation, and through careful readings of major literary works, that however different they were, the two movements are inextricably connected, and thus, cannot be considered in isolation. Each was marked, for good and bad, by the other.

Review

"All readers...will be hard-pressed to deny North's revisionary insight for twentieth-century literary studies: black dialect as performance is an unrecognized bridge between modernism and the Harlem Renaissance. With North's generative paradigm, we can examine the movements together in new ways."--American Literature
"[A] long overdue study....This may be the most significant rereading of traditional American modernists in years."--South Atlantic Review
"Michael North's new book makes an indispensable contribution to the study of transatlantic modernism....Of the many recent attempts to historicize modernism, North's stands out as what will surely become an enduring model of literary and sociological analysis."--Novel

American English: Dialects and Variation (Language in Society)

2008-08-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

Review
“This book has become a staple in the study and instruction of American English… The second edition provides the same balance of detail, clarity, breadth and sophistication offered by the first edition, but with an improved organization and up-to-date information. It is clear that the authors took seriously the task of revising and updating this new edition so that its users could enjoy the maximum benefits of its structure and contents. They will be pleased to know that their efforts were not in vain. The book will undoubtedly continue to be used as one of the key texts in the instruction of American dialects for many years to come.” Journal of Sociolinguistics

"This is an indispensable book, not just for students but for anyone who wants to know how the English language varies in the United States and how this variation has been studied… It is comprehensive, comprehensible and dense with detail." Language in Society (of the previous edition)

"The strengths of the book include its style and the authors’ consideration of how the book might actually be used as a text… the chapters are divided into subsections with helpful headings; exercises calling for creative responses by students are scattered throughout… each chapter ends with a short annotated bibliography for further readings." Language (of the previous edition)

Description
This book provides a very readable, up-to-date description of language variation in American English, covering regional, ethnic, and gender-based differences.

* contains new chapters on social and ethnic dialects, including a separate chapter on African American English and more comprehensive discussions of Latino, Native American, Cajun English, and other varieties,

* includes samples from a wider array of US regions

* features updated chapters as well as pedagogy such as new exercises, a phonetic symbols key, and a section on the notion of speech community

* accessibly written for the wide variety of students that enrol in a course on dialects, ranging from students with no background in linguistics to those who may wish to specialize in sociolinguistics

The Interpretation Of Cultures (Basic Books Classics)

2008-08-13T19:25:00.001-07:00

Description
In The Interpretation of Cultures, the most original anthropologist of his generation moved far beyond the traditional confines of his discipline to develop an important new concept of culture. This groundbreaking book, winner of the 1974 Sorokin Award of the American Sociological Association, helped define for an entire generation of anthropologists what their field is ultimately about.

Review: By Miguel B. Llora

The Interpretation of Culture by Clifford Geertz is concerned with articulating a particular view of what culture is, what role it plays in social life, and proposes a methodology with which it should be studied. Geertz posits that culture should not be seen as a science in search of law but instead as an interpretation in search of meaning. "The concept of culture I espouse, and whose utility the essays below attempt to demonstrate, is essentially a semiotic one. Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning. It is explication I am after, construing social expression on their surface enigmatical. But this pronouncement, a doctrine in a clause demands itself some explication" (p5)

In part 1, Geertz begins with "Thick Description: Toward an Interpretative Theory of Culture". This, the first essay in the series explains the complexity of culture and what it is. Geertz explains his semiotics when he writes: "To look at the symbolic dimensions of social action - art, religion, ideology, science, law, morality, common sense - is not to turn away from the existential dilemmas of life for some empyrean realm of deemotionalized forms: it is to plunge into the midst of them. The essential vocations, but to make available to us answers that others, guarding other sheep in other valleys, have given, and thus to include them in the consultable record of what man has said." (p30) In part 2, Geertz explores different dimensions of culture. Culture is a "template" or "program". As individuals, we learn it then modify it. Geertz fails to explain how these templates come to be and be modified but posits that they become "common sense" of Platonic propositions and continue to be so. "In attempting to launch such an integration from the anthropological side and to reach, thereby, a more exact image of man, I want to propose two ideas. The first of these is that culture is best seen not as complexes of concrete behavior patterns - customs, usages, traditions, habit clusters - as has, by and large, been the case up to now, but as a set of control mechanisms - plans, recipes, rules, instructions (what computer engineers call "programs") - for the governing of behavior. The second idea is that man is precisely the animal most desperately dependent upon such extragenetic, outside-the-skin control mechanisms, such as cultural programs, for ordering his behavior." (p44) Part 3 centers on religion. Part 4 is the "thickest" sets of essays including "Ideology As a Cultural System" and "The Politics of Meaning". In chapter 8, Geertz identifies what he sees as the phenomenon of ideology and how ideology is vilified as a space for something that is epistemologically "Other". "That the conception of ideology now regnant in the social sciences is a thoroughly evaluative (that is, pejorative) one is readily enough demonstrated. "[The study of ideology] deals with a mode of thinking which is thrown off its proper course,"" (p196)

The final section part 5 is where is all come together for me. The last portion is his examination of Levi-Strauss and Geertz's "breaking through the veil" in "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight." I will deal with the latter first then tackle what I see as his inability to see merit in the universals. As if transported by some form of deja vu, I "feel" Geertz when he wrote about suddenly being part of the milieu. In "The Cerebral Savage: On the work of Claude Levi-Strauss" Geertz takes apart Levi-Strauss and his humanistic/scientific project. Geertz sees this form of inquiry as bankrupt as anthropologists have "...taken refuge in bloodless universals". (p5). Geertz elaborates on this premise in his critique of Levi-Strauss and his work in "Tristes Tropique". Coming out in a generation that was starting to reflect on "how" they were writing rather than "what" they were writing about, Geertz's critique is a reflection on Levi-Strauss' lack of self reflexivity. In a move that parallels Foucault's in "The Order of Things", Geertz begins his anti-humanist attack on a less reflective mode of writing that, on the inside causes epistemic violence and on the outside is naive and self delusory. "In Levi-Strauss' work the two faces of anthropology - as a way of going at the world and as a method for uncovering lawful relations among empirical facts - are turned in toward one another so as to force a direct confrontation between them rather than (as is more common among ethnologists) out away from one another so as to avoid such a confrontation and the inward stresses which go with it. This accounts both for the power of his work and for its general appeal. It rings with boldness and a kind of reckless candor. But it also accounts for the more intraprofessional suspicion that what is presented as High Science may really be an ingenious and somewhat roundabout attempt to defend a metaphysical position, advance argument, and serve a moral cause." (p346-347). I agree with Geertz and Foucault with regards to the complexity and need to effect a "thick" description. However, much can still be learned from that scientific/humanist Man centered project. The Enlightenment and its project has been credited for the wonderfully contradictory le mission civilastrice which accord to Fanon is such a contradiction in that the ideology that places man at the center, is responsible for so much killing. If Levi-Strauss is doing the same thing theoretically, then he is complicit in this move to reinforce placing Man at the center and to submit us to its results. With Geertz and Foucault we can hopefully find a more "enlightened" middle ground.

Miguel Llora

Economies and Cultures: Foundations of Economic Anthropology

2008-08-13T19:22:00.001-07:00

Description
More than any other anthropological subdiscipline, economic anthropology constantly questions and debates the practical motives of people as they go about their daily lives. Tracing the history of the dialog between anthropology and economics, Richard R. Wilk and Lisa C. Cliggett move economic anthropology beyond the narrow concerns of earlier debates and place the field directly at the center of current issues in the social sciences. They focus on the unique strengths of economic anthropology as a meeting place for symbolic and materialist approaches and for understanding human beings as both practical and cultural. In so doing, the authors argue for the wider relevance of economic anthropology to applied anthropology and identify other avenues for interaction with economics, sociology, and other social and behavioral sciences. The second edition of Economies and Societies contains an entirely new chapter on gifts and exchange that critically approaches the new literature in this area, as well as a thoroughly updated bibliography and guide for students for finding case studies in economic anthropology.

About the Author
Richard R. Wilk is professor of anthropology and gender studies at Indiana University. Lisa C. Cliggett is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Kentucky.

Review: By William A. Brown

Wilk begins his theoretical survey of economic anthropology with a review of the debate that spurred the birth of the field: the debate between the "substantivists" and the "formalists" during the 1950's, '60's, and early '70's. Wilk contends that, while some of the points made by both factions are valuable and deserve revisiting, each camp in effect argued past the other because of their shared mistaken belief that their respective viewpoints represented conceptually integrated, mutually exclusive wholes. The argument eventually sputtered out rather than came to a definitive conclusion, Wilk says, because this fundamental mistake fed into a series of ever-more-intractably convoluted polemics, but also because other issues (for example the emergence of applied anthropology) caused economic anthropologists to shift their interests toward other pursuits.

Wilk then divides the body of economic anthropological literature into three groups according to three major outlooks on human motivation. Unlike the case of the substantivists and the formalists, he maintains, these three are conceptually integrated and mutually exclusive: 1) humans are motivated by self-interest; 2) humans are motivated by an intrinsic sociability; or 3) humans are motivated by deeply ingrained, culturally instilled morals or values. Yet, somewhat paradoxically, Wilk also suggests that each school of thought may share some themes or dimensions in common with the others, and he discusses the work of two anthropologists who have employed all three models in hybridized or eclectic fashion.

The dominant undercurrent of Wilk's survey is a deep dissatisfaction with the fractured state of economic anthropological scholarship. The field remains fractured along these party lines, he says, because each takes certain fundamental propositions about human nature on faith rather than testing them. One consequence appears to be that each perspective seems to work out well enough only some of the time, there being copious counterexamples for each (not to mention those cases which might be just as well explained by one perspective as by another). The conflicted and fractured academy will remain so, he says, so long as each perspective's core concepts are held in such high, unimpeachable esteem.

I agree with Wilk that many of these allegedly self-evident and ergo unimpeachable presuppositions are in fact quite easily felled by well-known ethnographic data. I also agree that most or all explanation should rely on empirical testing. But I believe that Wilk goes to far in reviving the bad faith of the 19th and 20th century positivists (I find Karl Popper's expression to be the most articulate and historically informed of the positivists . . . a fact which also makes him the most articulate advocate of positivist bad faith, as pointed out by Thomas Kuhn): like the positivists, Wilk seems to insist that the epistemological veracity of every single proposition that we make about anything must lie in our ability to successfully hold it up against empirical testing, yet also like the positivists, he fails to recognize that this relentless policy of testing the hell out of every possible statement must also undercut our very ability to test because it must also bring under inspection any and every conceivable descriptive lexicon we use to formulate our empirical observations (whether linguistic or graphic).

Put differently, there can be no proposition rooted in empirical observation if there are not also propositions whose veracity has nothing to do with empirical observation; the descriptive lexicon or apparatus must remain a prerequisite of empirical observation, testing, and scientific explanation, not the subject of its inquiry. And from an epistemological standpoint, admitting that every empirical investigation begs certain conceptual associations is a far better option than being incapable of even formulating a simple descriptive proposition, or capable only of semantically unstable, eclectic corpus of statements; we must be comfortable with the fact that conceptual implications are an inescapable, incontrovertible side-effect of every descriptive apparatus, that we can derive an awful lot from even the simplest descriptive statement without ever having to qualify ourselves empirically.

The real problem of science, then, is striking a balance between maintaining a descriptive lexicon and choosing one which is immune from empirical falsification.

Unfortunately, though, Wilk acts in positivist bad faith. His "social-temporal" grid, ostensibly conceived to sidestep the dogmatic behavior of the factions he spends most of his book critiqueing, lands him in the same basic sort of activity. He also makes other dogmatic statements about human motivation while discussing the grid: "People want their acts to be ambiguous and hard to pin down; they may want to conceal their motives even from themselves." (150) But doesn't "want" fall into the same basic semantic domain as "motivation"? In the end, Wilk's descriptive apparatus turns out to be as endowed with conceptual baggage as do any of the schools he critiques, the main difference being that he is blind to his own presuppositions.

I don't mean to ride Wilk too roughly on this point. There are many excellent dimensions to the book, central among them being his contention that most of the major arguments in economic anthropology center around the issue of human motivation. Also, while the book is not a textbook in the conventional sense, it will immerse the reader in a survey of anthropological history comparable to Marvin Harris' "The Rise of Anthropology," both in terms of its breadth and its critical depth (though nowhere near as voluminous). I must also confess that I find Wilk's social-temporal grid to be more capable of doing what it is intended to do -- describe -- than any apparatus conceived by any of the other major schools of thought, exactly because it covers the broad variation of human motivations presumed not to exist by those other, more exclusive schools of thought. Yet I cannot keep with Wilk's epistemological bad faith; unlike Wilk, I am quite conscious of the presuppositional nature his descriptive grid, and as a pragmatist I am willing to accept the implications of whatever it might imply.

American Cinema/American Culture

2008-08-13T19:06:00.002-07:00

Description
Ideal for Introduction to American Cinema courses, American Film History courses, and Introductory Film Appreciation courses focused on American Film, this text offers a cultural examination of the American movie-making industry, with particular attention paid to the economic and aesthetic institution of Hollywood.

Review : By C. Burkhalter
Years ago I took an intro-level film class at a community college. This was the text for the class. It was accompanied (at least in my class) by a PBS video series that combined film clips with interviews and historical information. Going into the class I had little more than a passing interest in film and film history. But after taking that class, my passion for film has grown exponentially with each year. But back to the book, I really liked this book and highlighted my way from the front cover to the back cover. There are of course limitations to this book. Firstly, it deals only with American films. Secondly, this book barely breaks the 300-page mark - hardly a comprehensive volume. You aren't going to get any information on John Cassavetes here or anything. Now if you have a chance to use this book in conjunction with the PBS films, I think you'll do much better (in fact I think the vids even give a nod to Cassavetes), but even then please note that this material is for an INTRO-level film class, and won't be much good for someone who already knows a fair amount about American film. But with that in mind, the book still has a lot to offer someone looking to introduce themselves to film history.

The first third of the book starts with the birth of film, moves quickly on to the Hollywood studio system, and walks us through the basics of film style (camerawork, lighting, editing, etc.). The second third covers the basics of film genre; there is a chapter about film noir, one on comedies, one on war films, and one on westerns. This second section was particularly useful to me. I could read each chapter, jot down a list of promising titles, hit my local video store, and I was good to go. The third section covers American film after World War II. In this section things seem a little compressed. 110 pages for 50 years of film? A lot is lost on the cutting room floor. But there's lots to dig into all the same. There's a chapter on Hollywood during the McCarthy years (yikes!), one on film's evolution during the emergence of television, a chapter on 1960s counterculture films, one on the film school directors of the 1970s and 1980s, and finally a pretty weak chapter on film in the 1990s. Oh yeah, and at the end of the book there's a handy glossary (in case you're ever stuck on what point-of-view editing is) and a pretty thorough index.

Again, not a book for someone who already has a good feel for film history. But definitely a great resource for someone new to film studies, or for someone who has trouble finding a movie at Blockbuster on Fridays. It did a great job getting me excited about movies, and I imagine its done the same for others.... A good companion to this text (or possibly an all-out replacement of it) is Scorsese's VHS/DVD, "A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies."

Fundamentalism and American Culture (New Edition) (Paperback)

2008-08-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

Product Description
Many American's today are taking note of the surprisingly strong political force that is the religious right. Controversial decisions by the government are met with hundreds of lobbyists, millions of dollars of advertising spending, and a powerful grassroots response. How has the fundamentalist movement managed to resist the pressures of the scientific community and the draw of modern popular culture to hold on to their ultra-conservative Christian views? Understanding the movement's history is key to answering this question. Fundamentalism and American Culture has long been considered a classic in religious history, and to this day remains unsurpassed. Now available in a new edition, this highly regarded analysis takes us through the full history of the origin and direction of one of America's most influential religious movements.
For Marsden, fundamentalists are not just religious conservatives; they are conservatives who are willing to take a stand and to fight. In Marsden's words (borrowed by Jerry Falwell), "a fundamentalist is an evangelical who is angry about something." In the late nineteenth century American Protestantism was gradually dividing between liberals who were accepting new scientific and higher critical views that contradicted the Bible and defenders of the more traditional evangelicalism. By the 1920s a full-fledged "fundamentalist" movement had developed in protest against theological changes in the churches and changing mores in the culture. Building on networks of evangelists, Bible conferences, Bible institutes, and missions agencies, fundamentalists coalesced into a major protest movement that proved to have remarkable staying power.
For this new edition, a major new chapter compares fundamentalism since the 1970s to the fundamentalism of the 1920s, looking particularly at the extraordinary growth in political emphasis and power of the more recent movement. Never has it been more important to understand the history of fundamentalism in our rapidly polarizing nation. Marsen's carefully researched and engrossing work remains the best way to do just that.

Review: By Jacob Aitken

The thesis of this book parallels that of George Marsden's similar book on American culture, Religion and American Culture, that Fundamentalism shaped and was shaped by the surrounding culture. Marsden builds upon the work of earlier historians of Fundamentalism, namely that of Ernest Sandeen's book The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism. Sandeen's thesis is that Fundamentalism is the outgrowth of the "millenarian" movement that developed in late nineteenth-century American, especially through Bible institutes and conferences concerning the interpretation of biblical prophecies. Sandeen's thesis, according to Marsden, has much to commend it in connecting millenarianism and Princeton theology to the movement; however, it does not deal adequately with the militant anti-modernistic slant of the movement. Fundamentalism can briefly be defined as militant anti-modernist Protestantism that took on its own identity as a patchwork coalition of representatives of other movements.
Overview of the Book
Marsden divides his book into three sections (these sections are different in intent than the above themes. Marsden uses these sections to expand on his themes), Evangelicalism before Fundamentalism, the Shaping of Fundamentalism as a Movement, and the Crucial Years in which it gained popularity and its subsequent exodus of public life. In understanding the rise of Fundamentalism at the end of the nineteenth-century one must understand the backdrop from which it arose-nineteenth-century evangelicalism.
Conclusion
Marsden concludes the book by re-emphasizing his definition of Fundamentalism as a militant anti-modernist conservative force. For Marsden this should be the starting point for defining the movement. Militant anti-modernism applies to all types of Fundamentalism and any definition that goes beyond this must have qualifiers so that false stereotypes are not applied to the wrong group. As an Evangelical I enjoyed this book as I saw where the mind-set of conservatives and liberals developed. I also learned to what extent my own beliefs were influenced by this movement. I suggest that this book be read alongside another book on the shaping of American Christianity for a full understanding. I would also like to see an analysis of Fundamentalism from a more mainline perspective, although I believe Marsden is objective in this work. My main qualm with this book is in Part Three. In discussing the peak and soon-to-come fall of Fundamentalism, Marsden tried to put too many ideas into too few words. To keep up with him I had to re-analyze several chapters. However, due to the length of the book already, I can understand his attempt to save space. I would recommend this book to people of all political and religious persuasions so that they may have a fair understanding of this branch of early twentieth-century American religion.

American Ways: An Introduction to American Culture (3rd Edition)

2008-08-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

Book Info
Popular cultural reader focuses on the traditional mainstream values that have attracted people to the United States for well over 200 years and traces the effect of these values on American life. Paper. DLC: English language - Textbooks for foreign speakers. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

American Ways: An Introduction to American Culture, Third Edition, by Maryanne Kearny Datesman, JoAnn Crandall, and Edward N. Kearny, focuses on the traditional values that have attracted people to the United States for well over 200 years and traces the effects of these values on American life.

Chapter themes include diversity, the family, education, government and politics, religion, business, and recreation. Cross-cultural activities --- from discussion topics to writing projects --- encourage high-intermediate to advanced students to compare their own values with those discussed in the readings.

New to the Third Edition:

* Expanded pre-reading exercises preview the chapter content and Academic Word List vocabulary.
* Improve Your Reading Skills helps students become independent readers.
* Build Your Vocabulary features collocations and exercises that expand on the Academic Word List.
* New Internet activities offer opportunities for further research and study.

The Twilight of American Culture

2008-08-13T18:54:00.001-07:00

From Publishers Weekly
American culture is in crisis, argues Berman, pointing out that "millions of high school graduates can barely read or write"; "common words are misspelled on public signs"; "most Americans grow old in isolation, zoning out in front of TV screens"; and "40% of American adults [do] not know that Germany was our enemy in World War II"--never mind that most students don't even want to learn Greek or Latin. Berman's lament that "like ancient Rome [American culture] is drifting into an increasingly dysfunctional situation" at first makes his book seem like a neoconservative treatise along the lines of the late Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind. But Berman, who teaches in the liberal arts masters program at Johns Hopkins University, doesn't locate the cause of this malaise in multiculturalism or postmodernism, as Bloom did (although he is no fan of either one), but rather in the increasing dominance of corporate culture and the global economy, which he claims creates a homogenous business and consumer culture that disdains art, beauty, literature, critical thinking and the principles of the Enlightenment. Berman's provocative remedy is to urge individuals who are appalled by this "McWorld" to become "sacred/secular humanist" monks who renounce commercial slogans and the "fashionable patois of postmodernism" and pursue Enlightenment values. While Berman's eclectic approach often makes for engaging reading, his quirky and almost completely theoretical solutions are unlikely to galvanize many readers. Agent, Candice Fuhrman. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Amazon.com
"If you have finally had it with CNN and Hollywood and John Grisham and New Age 'spirituality,' then pull up a chair, unplug your phone (beeper, TV, fax machine, computer, etc.), and give me a few hours of your time. I promise to do my best not to entertain you."

A slightly forbidding introduction to a book, but indicative of its author's disgust at the homogenized McWorld in which we live, and an enticing challenge to read on. As the title The Twilight of American Culture suggests, Morris Berman's outlook is somewhat bleak. Analogizing the contemporary United States to the late Roman Empire, Berman sees a nation fat on useless consumption, saturated with corporate ideology, and politically, psychically, and culturally dulled. But he believes that this behemoth--what Thomas Frank called the "multinational entertainment oligopoly"--must buckle under its own weight. His hope for a brighter tomorrow lies in a modern monastic movement, in which keepers of the enlightenment flame resist the constant barrage of "spin and hype." Ironically, despite his disdain for "the fashionable patois of postmodernism," he approvingly quotes poststructuralist theorist Jean-François Lyotard's maxim "elitism for everybody" in describing this cadre of idiosyncratic, literate devotees, these new monks.

Berman is plainspoken and occasionally caustic. The Twilight of American Culture is an informed and thought-provoking book, a wake-up call to a nation whose powerful minority has become increasingly self-satisfied as their stock options ripen, while an underclass that vastly outnumbers the e-generation withers on the vine and cannot locate itself on any map. It is a quick and savage read that aims to get your eyes off this computer, your nose out of that self-help book, and send you back to thought and action. --J.R. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Society

2008-08-02T01:42:00.000-07:00

Society is a grouping of individuals which is characterized by common interests and may have distinctive culture and institutions. Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups. A society may be a particular people, such as the Saxons, a nation state, such as Bhutan, or a broader cultural group, such as a Western society.

According to a sociologist Richard Jenkins, addresses a number of important existential issues facing people: How humans think and exchange information – the sensory world makes up only a fraction of human experience. In order to understand the world, we have to conceive of human interaction in the abstract (i.e., society).

Many phenomena cannot be reduced to individual behavior – to explain certain conditions, a view of something "greater than the sum of its parts" is needed. Collectives often endure beyond the lifespan of individual members.

The human condition has always meant going beyond the evidence of our senses; every aspect of our lives is tied to the collective (Society, 2008. par.1-4).

- Practical Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students

2008-07-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Editorial Reviews
Review
Practical Phonetics and Phonology gathers together a far wider range of topics than other books on English phonetics. Many more accents of English are discussed, and we really learn about English as a world language. Experienced teachers of English and beginning students will all profit from this book.
–Peter Ladefoged, University of California Los Angeles

[This book] genuinely delivers what many introductions only promise: enviably clear explanations of phonetic and phonological frameworks, wide-ranging accounts of segmental and suprasegmental features and, most importantly, reasons why speech variation matters. The emphasis on the practicalities and applications of studying speech makes this book an essential resource for both newcomers to the subject and established disciples.
–Joan Rahilly, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland

An excellent and original book, written in a clear and accessible style and containing much well-informed discussion of varieties of English.
–Philip Carr, Université Paul Valéry, France

The general impression upon reading the book from cover to cover is that it truly gives what many introductions only promise.
–Biljana Cubrovic, University of Belgrade, The European English Messenger, Fall 2004

Product Description
Routledge English Language Introductions cover core areas of language study and are one-stop resources for students.
Assuming no prior knowledge, books in the series offer an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries and key readings - all in the same volume. The innovative and flexible 'two-way' structure is built around four sections - introduction, development, exploration and extension - which offer self-contained stages for study. Each topic can also be read across these sections, enabling the reader to build gradually on the knowledge gained.

Practical Phonetics and Phonology:
*is a wide-ranging introduction to practical aspects of English phonetics and phonology
*covers step by step the core concepts: production of speech, classification of vowels and consonants, phoneme, syllable structure, features of connected speech, stress and intonation
*includes discussion of regional and social accent variation, language change in progress, application of phonetics to language teaching and learning
*provides classic readings by the key names in the discipline: Ladefoged, Abercrombie, Fry, Crystal, Pinker and Daniel Jones
*is backed up by an accompanying free audio CD with samples of genuine speakers of 20 accent varieties from Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore, West Africa.

- SPEAK E-Z CHINESE In Phonetic English

2008-07-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

I have bought a few books and an audio course in order to learn some Chinese for fun and also because I wanted to communicate better while visiting China. If I had my pick of just one resource, this awesome, efficient little reference would be it. The best part about it is the pronunciation key for us Westerners to pronounce pinyin, it helps enormously. The book starts with the pronunciation guide and the four tones, then moves on to the essential phrases in every contexts, such as transportation, currency, time and calendar, and restaurants. It teaches both words and short phrases and sentences that introduce you to sentence construction. At the end there's a 130-page dictionary that is surprisingly complete, and includes a pronunciation key for every word. Most of the times I want to know how to say something out of the blue, it's there.

As an added bonus, there's a *lot* of interesting things here that you are unlikely to learn from any other source. I am not sure why they are there but there they are, some are pretty funny. If you want to tell someone she's cute or sexy or that you love her, if you want to curse, call somebody an idiot or crazy or odd, how to call BS, how to say Chicago or California or Spain, how to say general or female/male body parts, how to say football or basketball, how to say honey (both as the sweet liquid and as a term of endearment), how to say "I'm stuffed", how to say so-so, and a bunch of other things, look no further: it's all here.

You can also download an audio version of the book for free from their website, I have not tried it yet but I definitely will. I took this book everywhere I went to in China. Highly recommended.

- English Phonetics and Phonology

2008-07-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Recognised as the most practical and comprehensive text in the field of phonetics, this third edition of English Phonetics and Phonology includes revised transcriptions, a wider discussion of different varieties of English and an updated treatment of intonation.

Book Description
English Phonetics and Phonology bridges the gap between pronunciation handbooks and technical phonetics and phonology textbooks.

- English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course

2008-07-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Book Description
English Phonetics and Phonology bridges the gap between pronunciation handbooks and technical phonetics and phonology textbooks.

All in all, this is a good book. The explanations are clear and the chapters are short; it's a good introduction to phonetics and phonology. People who are interested in American-English pronunciation should be warned that the book is based on British-English--what the author calls "BBC pronunciation" or "received pronunciation". The phoneme set is somewhat different than that of American-English. Still a worthwhile read.

- English Phonetics and Phonology: An Introduction

2008-07-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

Description
This volume is perfect for introductory level students of English phonetics and phonology. Presupposing no previous knowledge of either phonetics or phonology, it presents the subject with a minimum of technical terminology.

Editorial Reviews
Review
"Philip Carr's book provides an approachable overview of English sound structure, from consonant to and vowel articulation through phonemes, syllable structure and word stress to rhythm, connected speech and intonation. The excellent range of exercises will allow students to make steady progress from segment to sentence, while a final chapter and appendix provide a well-illustrated survey of accent variation." April McMahon, Times Higher Education Supplement

Over Here: The First World War and American Society (Paperback)

2008-07-21T01:02:00.000-07:00

This is a fine work by the author of the Pulitzer winning "Freedom from Fear". In this book, Prof. Kennedy provides a thematic overview of the American experience in WWI. This is not a narrative history but an analysis of several important aspects of that experience. Topics include the effect of entry into the war and the war experience on the Progressive Movement; the impact of the war on the American economy, the American Labor movement, and the Federal Government; the experience of organizing the large army; the efforts to plan for a postwar world; and the ultimate failure of Wilson's efforts to make the US the leader of benign international order. Kennedy shows very well how the debate over war entry and splintered the Progressive movement. The suppression of dissent during and after the war dealt a serious blow to reformers and the liberal-left movement that had been the prewar engine of reform. Government efforts during the war were characterized by efforts to persuade business rather than developing a centralized economy, though central planning and coercion would probably have been necessary if the war had continued. There is a particularly good chapter on American efforts to use the war to establish American preeminence in international trade, followed by American withdrawal from that role. One defect of the book is that the thematic organization of the chapters leaves some important points unconnected. For example, in an early chapter Kennedy argues cogently that the turn to the right that accompanied the war, encouraged by his administration, would rob him ultimately of important allies for supporting his internationalism in the postwar period. At the end of the book, he makes similar points about Wilson's conduct towards European Liberal-Left movements but these two complementary points are never connected explicitly. Kennedy is an excellent writer and this book contains a great deal of first rate analysis. Recommended strongly.

Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (American Society of Missiology Series, No. 16) (Paperback)

2008-07-21T01:01:00.001-07:00

Transforming Mission is a scholarly, in-depth study of major missionary paradigms from the first century until the present. Bosch's point of departure is that the Christian faith is "intrinsically missionary." He distinguishes between the missio Dei - God's own involvement in the world, and Missions - the church's missionary activity. He believes that to carry out God's mission the church can neither focus its activity exclusively on saving souls nor on this-worldly human progress -it must do both.
He first surveys the New Testament model of mission, claiming that the advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked a significant change in the concept of mission as understood in the Old Testament. Jesus' ministry was characterized by inclusiveness and breaking down barriers between people. His goal was directed toward all Israel rather than only the remnant of the faithful. Bosch makes the point that one of the most well-known missionary texts, the Great Commission, cannot be divorced from the rest of Matthew's gospel. He believes that Matthew envisions a mission to both Jews and Gentiles and that this mission is characterized by discipleship and a call to challenge social injustice. Luke's understanding of mission highlights repentance and forgiveness of sins as well as economic justice and peace-making. Paul's understanding of mission focuses on the church as an eschatalogical community which is works for the improvement of society while awaiting the ultimate renewal of all things with the parousia.
In the second part of his analysis Bosch draws upon the work of Hans Kung and Thomas Kuhn. Kung identified six periods within the entire scope of Christian history during which a particular paradigm was prevalent: 1) The apocalyptic paradigm of primitive Christianity, 2) The Hellenistic paradigm of the patristic period, 3) The medieval Roman Catholic paradigm, 4) The Protestant Reformation paradigm, 5) The modern Enlightenment paradigm, and 6) The emerging ecumenical paradigm. Bosch makes a theological application of Thomas Kuhn's theory of scientific paradigm shifts, claiming that the six historical periods in the history of the church were each characterized by a particular theological paradigm. He points out that theological paradigms, unlike their scientific counterparts, do not make a complete break with old ideas. Sometimes elements from older paradigms are incorporated into new ones. Old and new paradigms can often exist simultateously among different groups of believers. Occasionally an old paradigm is

Social Work, Social Welfare and American Society (7th Edition) (Hardcover)

2008-07-21T00:58:00.001-07:00

As an undergraduate social work student, I dreaded my policy class. I thought it would be so dry. However, I found myself getting caught up in the narrative of this book. It provides so much information that really ought to be taught in history classes. The development of America as a nation, the political forces that shaped it, and the legitimacy of other political points of view make so much more sense to me now.

- Learning a New Land: Immigrant Students in American Society (Hardcover)

2008-07-21T00:54:00.001-07:00

Suarez-Orozco et. al set out with a distinct goal for the Longitudinal Immigration Student Adaptation study, and they met this goal through a robust, mixed-methodologies study of recently arrived immigrant students in the United States. The mix of ethnographic, psychological, and educational metrics used are artfully described in the introduction, contextualizing the resultant data in meaningful ways. The outward purpose of Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study, and by extension Learning in a New Land, is to "gain a more complete understanding of the experience of immigration," (p.6). More specifically, the book seeks to illuminate the academic progress of recently arrived immigrant children over five years. The authors successfully achieve this, reporting the statistically significant and case study-based findings for how elements of immigrant children's lives interact to affect academic achievement.
Overall, the book does an excellent job in presenting the results of a large-scale study in a relevant, nuanced form that is easily read by educational professionals of varying orientations. The policy implications are clearly advocated. However, the book's treatment of micro-issues, such as how educators can mitigate the effects gender has on educational achievement, lacks concrete suggestions. The field can pick up where the authors left off by discussing such issues that were raised in the research.

Drugs in American Society (Paperback)

2008-07-21T00:46:00.001-07:00

Unlike most books on drugs and drug usage that bogs you down with facts and statiscal data. Goode shows the reader practical examples from the lives of drug users. Goode also let you know that this could happen to you. Most of the drug users were college educated, busdrivers and businessmen. Certainly not what most of us think of when we think of addict. Goode dispels the images we have of addicts and replace it with the truth. This is something that can happen to anyone regardless of success, status or your social backgound be it in the suburbs or living in the city with good parents. Goode also makes you aware that addiction can stem from an addicted personality or a void in your soul that need to be filled as result of lost of self or grief over a love one. While still informing the reader that not all drug use is bad. Some people's use of drugs is cultural. Thus stripping you of all judgements prior to reading this book.

Society: The Basics

2008-07-18T03:50:00.000-07:00

This text book is pretty easy to read and understand with today's news incorporated in it. It's great to use in a college course. I found this book to be very interesting and learned quite a bit from it. I bought it last semester for a sociology course I took. Because my professor was also the dean of that department - it amplified the learning experience I got out of the book. Each chapter also starts out with a little snippet of a story that relates to the theme of the chapter. I very much enjoyed the course and the learning experience gained out of the book.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

2008-07-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

I just loved this book. From start to finish it was flat out great. The characters were all interesting and deep (as opposed to superficial cliches), and the plot had some clever twists and neat puzzles. It was fun solving those puzzles along with the characters, too. So if you're looking for a fun read that's not about magic and dragons (as way too many kids books today are), I highly recommend The Mysterious Benedict Society! I can't wait for the sequel.

- Errors Analysis: - THEORETICAL APPROACH AND FRAMEWORK

2008-07-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

This is the theoretical approach and framework of the language research entitiled AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN BILINGUAL TRANSLATION MADE BY THE FOURTH SEMESTER STUDENTS OF ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT OF AHMAD DAHLAN UNIVERSITY IN 2006-2007 ACADEMIC YEAR:

To provide the underlying theories on the study, this chapter presents the theoretical background, which consists of theoretical approach and framework. The discussion is divided into eight sections, namely: theoretical approach, bilingualism, translation, meaning, errors, grammar, some differences between Indonesian and English, and grammatical errors in bilingual translation.

A. Theoretical Approach
Grammar refers to the structure of language, and each language can be said to have its own distinct grammar. The subfields of contemporary grammar are phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. In this research, grammar has close relationship with the syntactic analysis. In accordance with the explanation above, it needs further to be explained about the use of syntactic analysis dealing with grammar.
The word syntactic comes from the word syntax (“Syntax”, 2006: par.1) that means the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences. Meanwhile, Webster (2000:1453) states that syntax is the arrangement of and relationships among words, phrases, and clauses forming sentences.
Yerkes (1989:1443) says that syntax is the study of the rules to form or to make grammatical sentence in a language or the study of pattern of sentences and phrase formation from words. Hornby (1995:1212) defines syntax as the rules of grammar for the arrangement of words into phrases and of phrases into sentences.
According to House and Harman (1950:2001), syntactic analysis is a process of splitting up a sentence into its grammatical elements which is also followed by identifying or classifying those elements grammatically in both form and function.
The purpose of syntactic analysis is to determine the structure of the input text. This structure consists of a hierarchy of phrases, the smallest of which are the basic symbols and the largest of which is the sentence.
In relation with the explanation above, this study tells about the use of syntactic analysis related with grammar in the error analysis, so it is suitable for this study to apply the syntactic approach as its theoretical approach.

B. Bilingualism
1. Definition of Bilingual
Haugen says that someone can be said as bilingual if he or she knows two languages. Mackey states that bilingual is a person who speaks two languages by turns (in Pranowo, 1996:8). According to Hornby (1995:106), bilingual is a person who is able to speak two languages equally well. Then, in Columbia Encyclopedia (“Bilingualism”, 2004: par.1), some bilinguals are persons who have ability to use two languages.
In studying English as the second language, bilinguals sometimes exhibit language transfer, code-switching, code-mixing, or interference from one language to the other in the phonological, grammatical, lexical, and semantic system.
2. Classifications of Bilingualism
Weinreich (in Pranowo, 1996:10) states that there are three types of bilingualism, namely:
a. Compound Bilingualism
For compound bilinguals, words and phrases in different languages are the same concepts. That means, ‘buku’ and ‘book’ are two words for the same concept for an Indonesian-English speaker of this type. Bilingual speakers have a single concept of meaning that is related to the two different words.
b. Coordinate Bilingualism
For coordinate bilinguals, words and phrases in the speaker's mind are all related to their own unique concepts. It means a bilingual speaker of this type has different associations for ‘buku’ and for 'book'. In these individuals, one language, usually the first language (L1) is more dominant than the other, and the L1 may be used to think through the second language (L2). These speakers are known to use very different intonation and pronunciation features, and sometimes assert the feeling of having different personalities attached to each of their languages.
c. Sub-ordinate Bilingualism
Sub-ordinate bilingual is typical of beginning second language learners. The concept leads, not to the L2 word directly, but to L2 word via the L1 word (in Wikipedia, “Bilingualism”, 2007: par.4).
According to Arsenan (ibid: 11), bilingualism is distinguished into two. Those are:
(a) Productive / Active / Symmetrical Bilingualism, which is the use of two languages in all aspects of language skill.
(b) Receptive / Passive / Asymmetrical Bilingualism, which is the use of two languages limited only in reading skill.

Linguistic Studies: THEORETICAL APPROACH AND FRAMEWORK

2008-07-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

In language research theoretical approach and framework are important. This is the example of Theoretical approach and framework off language research on Pragmatic study:

THEORETICAL APPROACH AND FRAMEWORK

In this chapter, the researcher wants to describe theoretical approach and theoretical framework. In theoretical approach the writer will talk about the approach that is used in this research, namely pragmatic approach. Theoretical frame work contains theories that can support the research.
According to Ritzer (1993:31), theoretical framework is a base in strengthening the discussion which the writer explains. The writer explains the definition of theory which is a set of ideas useful in explaining a broad range of phenomena. Theories typically have a set of key or central term, which often serve as the basic framework of the theory. In theoretical framework the writer will talk about a drama that is used in this research, politeness, and of course talk about face-threatening acts.

A. Theoretical Approach
According to Wilson (1948), language is just a system of symbols which people have created for the elaboration of that new space-time world of mind to which he was called by the “world-spirit” when the world emerged from the preconscious to the conscious cycle of the self-development.
Actually, people use language to make communication in their daily lives. When people want to speak to another, it means that she/he wants to communicate something to the hearer and the hearer should not only recognize the meaning of the utterance but also the intention of the speaker. In order to understand the meaning of the speaker, the hearer should relate the utterance with the context following the production of the utterance since utterances cannot be separated from their context. And the branch of linguistics that studies language and its context is called pragmatics.
Pragmatics is the study of the use of language in communication. It means that any relationship between the sentences and the context ad the situation which the conversation happen. According to Mey (1993: 4-5), the term of pragmatics is used only because people cannot explain it using the ‘normal’ explanation of linguistics (here the semantics of language). Whenever people cannot explain a phenomenon in language using regular, accepted linguistic theories, then people must have resource to something else, something that is supposedly as undefined as it is tangible, namely pragmatics.
As has been indicated above, the pragmatic function of language is to make an effective use of language in communication. There is an activity of the participants to intend the message and to interpret the message. From pragmatics point of view, to intend at to interpret the messages are the problem for the speakers and the hearers to solve. Functionally, language has various purposes such as greeting, criticizing, complaining, commanding, and joking. These purposes are the ways that participants express the idea, feelings, and thoughts. These must certainly consist of meaning, which can be implied. Pragmatics is one of the studies to explore it.
In analyzing Face-Threatening Acts used in Macbeth, the researcher uses the pragmatic approach because it studies the language in relation to the society and happening events about social life at the time when the work was made. Leech (1996: 6) states that pragmatics is the study of meaning in relation to speech situation. Furthermore, Levinson (1983:5-9) states that the definitions of pragmatics are 1) Pragmatics is the study of the principles that will account or why a certain set of sentences is anomalous, or not possible utterances, 2) Pragmatics is the study of those relations between the language and the context that are grammaticalized or encoded in the structure of language, 3) Pragmatics is the study of all those aspects of meaning not captured in semantic theory.
The lack of a clear consensus appears in the way that not two published accounts list the same categories of pragmatics in quite the same order. But among the things the people should know about are:
a) Speech act theory
b) Conversational Implicature
c) The Cooperative principle
d) Conversational maxims
e) Politeness
f) Etc.

B. Theoretical Framework

Theoretical framework is in the other page of this blog

- b. The differences of English and Javanese Derivational Affixes

2008-07-07T04:21:00.000-07:00

1) English words which are formed by derivational affixes only come from prefixation and suffixation. But, there are also infixation and circumfixation in Javanese words which are formed by derivational affixes.
2) There is no derivational affix to form adverb in Javanese, but in English, there are derivational affixes to form adverb.

- a. The similarities of English and Javanese Derivational Affixes

2008-07-07T04:12:00.000-07:00

1. English Derivational Affixes can be found in prefixation and suffixation processes, Javanese also has prefixation and suffixation. The English affixes are the prefixes en-, be-, in-, re-, un-, dis-, mis-, pre-, a-, and the suffixes –er, -ment, -ion, -able, -ful, -less, -en, -ize, -ify, and -ly. The Javanese affixes are the prefixes N-, me- and the suffixes –e, -en, and -an.

2. Verbalization, adjectivation, and nominalization are found in English and Javanese derivational affixes. English affixes of adjectivation are prefixes –less, and –able. Javanese affix of adjectivation is suffix –en. There are several affixes of verbalizations in English. They are prefix en-, suffix –ize, and suffix –en. The Javanese affixes of verbalization are prefixes N-, me- and circumfixes N-i, and N-ake. There are several affixes of nominalization in English. They are suffix –er, and suffix –ness. Javanese affixes of nominalization are the suffixes –e, -an and the circumfix ka-an.

- Online College English Courses

2008-06-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

On line Courses are now very popular. English as an international language is spoken by most of people in the world. Therefore mastering English becomes the main need for people who want to be able to communicate with other people from different countries in the world. In this modern era we can learn English in many ways. One of them is using the service of online college English Course. The following is the list which may help you give information on online colledge English Course.

English courses, ESL, Business English, TEFL, TESOL Online Courses Catch On in U.S. Colleges

The Internet Grammar of English

College Course Online

Online College Education,Distance Learning Courses,USA Schools ...Online College Education,
Learn basic English language courses for foreign students

Camden College of EnglishCourses:

UIC : English, Chinese French, Italian, Japanese Courses LondonEnglish Language School

- Learning Foreign Language

2008-06-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

Learning foreign language is different from learning native language. Foreign language usually refers to the language spoken by foreign countries. There are some differences between foreign language learning and native language learning. Native language learning occurs at childhood time but foreign language learning happens at school age or adult time. The motivation of learning native language is high while the motivation of learning foreign language is low. The capacity to acquire language (LAD) in native language learning is strong but that in foreign language is not as strong as that of the native language. The Capability to make analysis, however, is high at adult time.

- "Tingkeb", the Culture of the Celebration of Pregnancy in Dukuhturi

2008-06-16T20:11:00.002-07:00

Tingkeb is the culture of celebration of pregnancy done by the people living in Dukuhturi. Dukuhturi is a "dusun" (part of the village)which belongs to the district of Warureja, the regency of Tegal, the province of Central Java, Indonesia. Tingkeb is held when the pregnancy is seven months old, in the first pregnancy (for the first child) of a mother. In Dukuhturi, Tingkeb lasts for one day and one night. The neighbors an family come to the host by donating money or rice. At night the men are invited to pray to God in the pregnant woman's house. Lebe (the leader of Islamic religious matter in the village) reads the praying and the other people say Amiin. After ptaying, all of the programs of Tingkeb are over.

- ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING SERIES : Integrating Tutorial Program and Performance Class

2008-06-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

By: Syariful Muttaqin.

The teaching of English in the English Department of Brawijaya University has been continuously evaluated and redesigned in order to meet the increasing demand of the learned language in the modern world. Some improvements have been undertaken in the area of skill-course teaching. This is due to the belief that the stronger the students have acquired the basic language skills, the easier they will develop their language competence in the following semesters. The Intensive Course Program which integrates the four language skills (speaking, reading, listening, and writing) has been implemented to cope with the current situation for the freshmen of the English Department of Brawijaya University. The obstacles and problems in learning a language including the lack of practice, the minimum time of exposures, and the tightly scheduled teaching-learning process leading into boredom encountered inside and outside the classroom were taken into account to take some necessary actions to empower the existing resources. A tutorial program supervised by the senior students and a performance class run by the teachers were implemented in the attempt to solve the encountered language problems.

This paper is aimed to describe the implementation of Tutorial Program and Performance Class in the Intensive Course Program for the freshmen of the English Department of Brawijaya University in the academic year of 2004/2005. The freshmen are divided into two programs, Strata 1 and Diploma III.

The tutorial was implemented four times a week accompanying the regular classes. The program was designed for enrichment and remedial in which the activities varied in accordance with the lessons scheduled in the handbook, such as group discussions, role-plays, song appreciation, games, and independent study. All these activities were supervised by the senior students. In addition, Performance class was devoted to give students more opportunities to apply the language skills learned in more “real-life” situation during the ongoing programs. At the end of the intensive course program, the students were assigned to perform drama in groups based on the classes. The performance was really an opportunity to apply what they had previously learned. Besides, it was entertaining. Despite the fact above, there are still some rooms for improvement.

- G.Method of the Research

2008-06-12T01:56:00.000-07:00

Title:
AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN BILINGUAL TRANSLATION

G.Method of the Research

Uma Sekaran states that research can be conducted to obtain valid information which would help in solving management problems in organized effort to investigate a specific problem which needs a solution (1992:4). In addition, methodology is a science discussing the ways or strategies to develop and verify the correctness of the knowledge by using research method (Hadi, 1984: 4).
From both definitions of research and methodology, the writer tries to summarize them into the methodology of the research. The research methodology is the ways or strategies that are systematic and organized to solve a specific problem.
In this research, the writer uses the qualitative method which presents the data in non numeral and usually linguistic units in oral written form (Sellinger, 1990:201). In addition, Moleong states (2005:11) that the collected data is in a word form, picture and non-number. The data can be taken from interviewing, field note, picture or photograph, video tape, and memo. Therefore, the writer will use a descriptive qualitative research design because all observed data are language used by human beings and they are in a word form. Furthermore, based on the research methodology, the writer is going to arrange this research method on several subtitles, they are:

1. Population and Sample
In Encyclopedia of Educational Evaluation (Arikunto, 2002: 108), “a population is a set (or collection) of all elements possessing one or more attributes of interest”. In accordance with this research, the population is the fourth semester students of English Letters Department of Ahmad Dahlan University in 2006-2007 Academis Year on translation class. The total number of population is presented in the following table.
Table 1.1 The Population Distribution of Each Class
No Class Number of the Students
1. A 40
2. B 40
3. C 40
Total 120

If the researcher only analyzes a part of the population, she must use sample (ibid: 109). Hornby (1995: 1040) states that sample is a number of things or people chosen randomly from a larger group. According to Arikunto (2002: 112), the researcher is suggested to take all individuals when the number of population is the same as or less than 100. Furthermore, the researcher may take 10 – 15 % or 20 – 25 % or more of them if the number of population is more than 100.

In this study, the researcher takes the sample up to 35 % of the total population. Thus, the total number of the sample in this research is 42 students.

2.Method of Collecting Data
According to Arikunto (2002: 127-135), data collecting is the technique to collect the data. There are some research methods that can be used as the data collecting technique, such as: test, questionnaires, interview, observation, rating scale and documentation. While, Sudaryanto (1993:132) states that there are two methods of data collections in linguistic research, namely: metode simak (observation method) and metode cakap (interview method). Based on the methods above, the researcher uses observation and documentation method in collecting data.
Observation method (Metode simak) is applied to gather the data by observing the use of language (ibid: 133). In this method, the researcher selects teknik catat (noting technique) as its collecting technique.

Noting technique (ibid: 135) is technique which uses cards, books, notes, disk or other documents to analyze and to classify data of the research. Therefore, the researcher uses this technique. The researcher notes the data from the translation tasks of the fourth semester students of English Letters Department of Ahmad Dahlan University then she classifies them. The result of it is orthographic transcription because the data are in word form.
In documentation method (Arikunto, 2002: 206), the researcher uses some references such as books, newspapers, magazines, articles, memo and internet printing that are related with the quotation about the data either in words, phrases, clauses or sentences.

3. Method of Analyzing Data
After the data are collected, the next important step is analyzing the data. The goal of the data analysis is to summarize the data and to represent them to be better comprehensible, interpreted, or related to some decisions the user hopes to make (Krippendorf, 1980:109).

Data analysis is very important part in the research because in this part, all problems are solved with some systematic process. Then, the result can give the information whether the researcher can solve the problem of her questions or not. Therefore, the researcher must be able to find the suitable method and technique to solve her formulation of the problems.

The source of the data is the final examination work of translation class on the fourth semester students of English Letters Department of Ahmad Dahlan University in 2006/2007 academic year, and the data are language in words form, such as phrase, clause or sentence without number or graphic, so the descriptive qualitative method will be used in this research. Then, the data will be described systematically, factually, and accurately.

In relation with the methods above, the researcher uses the structural analysis method. According to Soepomo (unpublished: 13), Structural Analysis method is analyzing the linguistic units (the form of the research data), such as the structure of sentence, clause, phrase, phoneme, etc. The result of this analysis is the description and explanation of the system of the linguistic units.
In analyzing the grammatical errors in bilingual translation, the researcher reads and observes them carefully to find the linguistic units by using the structural analysis method and to analyze the grammatical arrangement in a language, it is suitable or not with the rule in translation process.

- F. Significance of the Study

2008-06-12T01:53:00.000-07:00

Title:
AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN BILINGUAL TRANSLATION

F. Significance of the Study

As the result of the research, the writer expects that the study of an analysis of grammatical errors in bilingual translation have much significance. The significance is not only useful for the writer as theoretical uses, but also for the students, readers, lecturers, and university. The significances are:

1. Theoretical Uses
Theoretically, this research can be useful for the writer to explore her knowledge and to apply her theoretical study of linguistics. Moreover, the research finding will enrich and improve the knowledge of the researcher especially in the linguistic field.

2. Practical Uses

a. To the Students
The writer hopes that after reading this analysis, the students can get the information about how to analyze the grammatical errors and the interpretation of the sources of errors in bilingual translation, so they will realize their weakness. Moreover, it is hoped that they will use the research finding to learn their English effectively, especially in translation and to enrich their knowledge about linguistic study.

b. To the Readers
The writer has some expectations that this analysis can give some information about the uses of it and give scientific understanding about the language phenomenon in society of the linguistic errors. Then, the reader will be able to understand the message presented in the form of this analysis.

c. To the Lecturers
The writer expects that the information from this analysis can make the lecturers know what elements of English cause much trouble to students. This will be a great importance to them in improving and developing English teaching-learning strategy and process, especially in conducting the teaching-learning of translation. In addition, the findings of this research can show the lecturers about what parts of the materials they have been taught and need further attention, so they can decide whether they can move to the next item or have to devote more time in the working on material.

d. To the University
The writer hopes that this analysis can be used as the material to be reference especially in linguistic field for another candidate of the writer who wants to analyze about the same subject. Furthermore, it can be useful to enrich the linguistic references that can be used as the additional teaching and learning material.

- E. Reviews on the Related Studies

2008-06-12T01:28:00.000-07:00

Title:
AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN BILINGUAL TRANSLATION

E. Reviews on the Related Studies

It is better for good study to pay more attention to other studies in order to give the great appreciation and avoid the plagiarism. Before conducting this research, the writer finds some similar researches dealing with the grammatical errors. There are some studies that have been analyzed by other researchers related with grammatical errors and writing skill. The writer uses some of them as the references in this study.

First, the English Education Study Program student of Ahmad Dahlan University, Anis Jati Sunda, in her graduating paper in 2004 writes An Error Analysis on Noun Phrase Construction Made by the Fifth Semester Students of English Education in 2003-2004 Academic Year. In this research, she analyzes the kinds of grammatical errors made by the fifth semester students of English Education Study Program in 2003-2004 academic year. She takes the sample from their translation tasks.

Then, Sulistiyawati, the student of English Education Study Program of Ahmad Dahlan University, in 2004 writes An Error Analysis of the Simple Present Tense Sentences of the Sixth Grade Students of Ngablak Elementary School in the Academic Year of 2004/2005 for her thesis. She discusses the grammatical errors of the simple present tense made by the students and the possible causes of the errors. The sample of her research is taken from the translation task of the sixth grade students of Ngablak Elementary School in the academic year of 2004/2005.
The other researcher that has similar research with those above is Enny Ingketria, the student of English Department of Cultural Sciences Faculty of Gadjah Mada University in 2007 who writes Error Analysis on “Subject Verb and Wrong Repetition”. She classifies the errors and gives possible reasons for the errors. She takes the sample from TOEFL-like Test of 2006 Gadjah Mada University students.

The next researcher is the student of Department of English Education Faculty of Language and Arts State University Yogyakarta, Indah Puspawati, in 2001 who writes the graduating paper entitled An Analysis of Grammatical Errors in Speaking (A Study on the English Education Department Students of Yogyakarta State University in 1999-2000 Academic Year). In this research, she analyzes the kinds of grammatical errors in speaking and infers the sources of those errors. The sample of this research is taken from the activities in their speaking class.

From the previous studies, the study of An Analysis of Grammatical Errors in Bilingual Translation Made by the Fourth Semester Students of English Letters Department of Ahmad Dahlan University in 2006-2007 Academic Year needs to be conducted because this study is important to know the grammatical errors made by English Letters Department students and what the possible sources of errors are. This study has the similar topic but it has the different object from the previous one and it has not been researched before.

- D. Objectives of the Study

2008-06-12T01:05:00.000-07:00

Title:
AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN BILINGUAL TRANSLATION

D. Objectives of the Study

In accordance with the problem formulations, the objectives of the study are as follows.

1. To identify and describe the kinds of grammatical errors, which occur in translating Indonesian into English made by the English Letters Department students of Ahmad Dahlan University.

2.To infer the sources of grammatical errors in bilingual translation (from Indonesian into English) made by the English Letters Department students of Ahmad Dahlan University.

- C. Formulation of the Problems

2008-06-12T00:51:00.000-07:00

Title:

AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN BILINGUAL TRANSLATION

C.Formulation of the Problems

Based on the background and the title above, the writer will formulate the problems of the research as follows.

1. What kinds of grammatical errors often occur in translating Indonesian into English made by the English Letters Department students of Ahmad Dahlan University?

2. What are the possible sources of grammatical errors in translating Indonesian into English made by the English Letters Department students of Ahmad Dahlan University?

- B. Scope of the Study

2008-06-12T00:26:00.000-07:00

Title:
AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN BILINGUAL TRANSLATION

B. Scope of the Study

As stated in the background for choosing the subject, errors may occur in speaking, reading, listening and writing. In this research, the writer will only focus on the errors made in writing of translation class on the fourth semester students of English Letters Department of Ahmad Dahlan University in 2006-2007 Academic Year.
Based on the linguistic category (phonology, grammar and lexical), this research would be limited on grammatical errors in bilingual translation (Indonesian into English) because grammar is the basic elements of a language. It is also an important communication aspect because it is very difficult for learners to be able to communicate without having knowledge of grammar.

- A.Background for Choosing the Subject

2008-06-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

TITLE:

AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN BILINGUAL TRANSLATION

A.Background for Choosing the Subject

It is realized that human interaction and all society activities will be dead without language. Language is the most important means of communication in human life because language refers to human being. It is used by people to interact with others and to convey some information that they have. By using language, information can be spread clearly in every level of society. Trask says that without language, people could hardly have created the human world they know (1996: 1).

There are many functions of language and some of them are 1) to impart factual information and to convey essential commands; 2) to communicate feelings and emotions (crying, screaming, etc); 3) to maintain social contact on a friendly level; 4) for purely aesthetic reasons.
Through language, the culture of people can be built and developed. Language is used to make communication with the society. It is also used by people to adapt with the new environment they meet. According to Keraf (1980: 1), language is a means of communication between the members of society in the form of sounds created by the human organ of speech. Whereas, Lim Kiat Boey defines language as what people use in communication, or it is made up of sounds when they speak; words that refer to things; sentences that convey meaning (1975: 1). Language is a habit. It is got and learned with repetition in human life (Parera, 1997:42).
For English Department students who study language, it is important to know the language aspects because they must be capable to translate one language to the other language. The language competence must be gained through learning process. Hardjono (1988: 13) says that learning another language means learning all language aspects, because one aspect with another aspect is a unity.

The scientific study of language is called linguistics. Like any other scientific study, language analysis is done systematically within the framework of some general theories of language structure (Boey, 1975:3). There are many subjects that can be studied from linguistic category. Linguistics covers phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, pragmatics and lexicology.
One of the language categories is syntax which studies grammar besides morphology. Syntax is the study of the rules to form or to make grammatical sentences in a language or the study of pattern of sentences and phrase formation from word (Yerkes, 1989: 1443). Furthermore, grammar is studied in syntax and it is an important aspect of a language. According to Hornby, grammar is defined as the rules in a language for changing the form of words and combining them into sentences (1995: 517).
Languages express grammatical relationships in different ways. Every language has its own grammatical rule, but two different languages may use the same means of expressing grammatical relationships and also use them in the same way. In this case, English Letters Department students of Ahmad Dahlan University study about both Indonesian and English which have different grammatical rules. English grammar is different from Indonesian grammar. They have each own characteristic to make a sentence in their own language. Nevertheless, language uses different grammatical devices to signal the same meaning. The relationship of subject, verb and object or complement is expressed in word order by using the grammatical rule. If the order changes, the meaning must also change.

Not only grammar, but also translation skill is important in learning another language. In reality, translation skill is often faced by people in daily life, for example: the translation of medical sciences, economic and political sciences, electronic guide book, children short story, etc.
Translation itself means a process of replacing/ reproducing/ transferring from the source language (SL) of written text/material concept into its target language (TL) equivalent in such a way that people retain the meaning and style (Karnadidjaya via Sutopo & Candraningrum, 2001: 4). Moreover, according to Wilss, translation is a transfer process which aims at the transformation of a written SL text into an optimally equivalent TL text, and which requires the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic understanding and analytical processing of the SL (Suryawinata and Hariyanto, 2003:16).

Grammar and translation skill are very important in learning another language. Some differences of the grammatical systems between two languages can cause grammatical errors in translation process. Difficulties in relation to English grammatical system are often faced by students of the English Letters Department who take Translation I and Translation II. For those two subjects, students have to translate text, which is derived from some sources, such as newspaper, magazine, student’s hand out or lecture task. Their topic can be culture, arts and other sciences in the form of Indonesian or English.

In relation to the explanation above, students are motivated to be able to express the events in English or vice versa, which means that the students can express the events in the form of texts in both English and Indonesian. From those activities, students often face difficulties that can cause the error of the linguistic level, for examples: omission, addition, misformation (wrong selection), or misordering (wrong ordering). Those errors may be at a graphological or phonological level (Corder, 1981:36).

In studying bilingualism, many people assume that it is easy to understand that the errors made by bilinguals are caused by their mixing of the SL and TL. Moreover, it can be caused by the limited knowledge of the second language learners for mastering many grammatical rules of the TL. In this research, Indonesian sentences are as the SL and English sentences are as the TL. Different class of errors are represented by sentences such as We will be marry, He is admire them…, You should back...., Four childs loved..., She regret her decision…, etc.
In the example above, the sentence We will be marry, is translated from Kita akan segera dinikahkan. In English, the main verb in a passive voice is in the form of be+ participle, therefore, the part of the sentence should be We will be married.

Based on the background above and the phenomenon which happens in translation class of English Letters Department Students of Ahmad Dahlan University, the researcher tries to analyze this study in her paper entitled An Analysis of Grammatical Errors in Bilingual Translation Made by the Fourth Semester Students of English Letters Department of Ahmad Dahlan University in 2006-2007 Academic Year.

This research will analyze the grammatical errors in bilingual translation in translation class based on syntactic approach. It needs to be analyzed because of some reasons, they are 1) to know how far the ability of the fourth semester students in translating text from Indonesian sentences into English sentences is; 2) to find the method to fix the system of teaching process in the translation class; and 3) to decrease the errors made by students.

- Linguistics, Linguistic, and Linguist

2008-06-11T01:21:00.000-07:00

Linguistics (noun) : The scientific study of language. (an academic discipline)

Linguistic (adjective) :
(1) The adjective from language, as in such phrases as ‘linguistic skill’
(2) The adjective from linguistics, where it refers to an approach characterized by the scientific attributes of that subject, as in ‘linguistic analysis’.

Linguist (noun) :
(1) A person who studies linguistics. For this meaning, the term Linguistician is
also used.

(2) Someone who speaks a large number of languages.
A linguist in the sense of a linguistics expert need not be fluent in languages, though he must have a wide experience of different types of languages

- The answer Key of Lingustics Test 1

2008-06-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

A. Fill in the blanks with suitable answers.

01. Morphology.
02. performance
03. corpus
04. structural
05. content words.
06. in , the, but, can
07. signifier
08. competence
09. The man standing there and teaches English
10. constituent analysis.
11. phoneme
12. pin and bin
13. transformation
14. headed
15. kernel
16. phoneme and morpheme
17. morpheme
18. phonology
19. stress, pitch, and intonation
20. minimal pair
21. free
22. -ness in happiness and -ment in development
23. -ed in cooked -er in richer
24. allomorphs
25. allophones
26. 3
27. 3
28. inflectional
29. derivational
30. unaspirated

- Linguistics Test 1

2008-06-11T00:29:00.000-07:00

A. Fill in the blanks with suitable answers. (The answer Key is available in the archieve

01. The study of the structure of word is called……………………… .
02. According to Chomsky, the actual use of language in concrete situation is called….....................
03 Bloomfield uses ……………… ( or samples) in his language study.
04. The linguistics in the era of Bloomfield is called ……………. ….. linguistics.
05. The words go, book, lazy, and well are …………………. words.
06. The examples of function words are …….. , …..., ……. , and …….. .
07. The acoustic image of linguistic sign is …………………..
08. Chomsky states that the implicit knowledge of language in one’s head is called………….
09. The I C analysis of the sentence The man standing there teaches English is ……........................
and...................................
10. The analysis of the relationships between the elements of sentence proposed by Bloomfield is called………………………. analysis.
11. The smallest distinctive unit of language is called …………………………
12. The example of a minimal pair is ………………. and ………………….
13. According to TG, the sentence Did he go to school is the …………............. of He went to school
14. According to structural linguistics, a beautiful girl is called ………………………construction.
15. According to Chomsky, simple sentences which can be transformed are called……………..sentences.
16. According to structuralists, the building blocks of a language are …………………and…………….. ..
17. The smallest meaningful unit of language is called……………………..
18. ……………………….. studies the sound system of a language.
19. The suprasegmental phonemes include ……………….…, ………………………..., and
…………………………
20. ………………… is two forms which are the same in every where except one sound at
the same place which can differentiate meaning.
21. Morphemes which can meaningfully occur alone are called …………………morphemes.
22. The examples of derivational morphemes are -er in teacher, ……. in …………………...
and ……… in …………………. .
23. The examples of inflectional morphemes are –s in books, …….. in …………………and
…… in ……………….. .
24. The variants of morpheme are called …………………….
25. The variants of phonemes are called……………………..
26. The word bought consists of ……. (how many) Phonemes.
27. The word reprintable consists of …………….(how many) morphemes.
28. –er in cleverer is a/an ………………………. bound morpheme.
29. –er in boxer is a/an …………………………...bound morpheme.
30. The phoneme /p/ has two allophones, namely aspirated and …………………. Phones.

- Javanese Politeness

2008-06-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

Javanese speech varies depending on social context, yielding three distinct styles, or registers.Each style employs its own vocabulary, grammatical rules and even prosody. This is not unique to Javanese; neighbouring Austronesian languages as well as East Asian languages such as Korean and Japanese share similar constructions.

In Javanese these styles are called:

1. Ngoko is informal speech, used between friends and close relatives. It is also used by persons of higher status to persons of lower status, such as elders to younger people or bosses to subordinates.

2. Madya is the intermediary form between ngoko and krama. An example of the context where one would use madya is an interaction between strangers on the street, where one wants to be neither too formal nor too informal.

3. Krama is the polite and formal style. It is used between persons of the same status who do not wish to be informal. It is also the official style for public speeches, announcements, etc. It is also used by persons of lower status to persons of higher status, such as youngsters to elder people or subordinates to bosses.

In addition, there are also "meta-style" words — the honorifics and humilifics. When one talks about oneself, one has to be humble. But when one speaks of someone else with a higher status or to whom one wants to be respectful, honorific terms are used. Status is defined by age, social position and other factors. The humilific words are called krama andhap words while the honorific words are called krama inggil words. For example, children often use the ngoko style, but when talking to the parents they must use both krama inggil and krama andhap.

Below some examples are provided to explain these different styles.

Ngoko: Aku arep mangan (I want to eat)
Madya: Kula ajeng nedha.
Krama:
(Neutral) Kula badhé nedha.
(Humble) Dalem badhé nedha.
Mixed:
(Honorific - Addressed to someone with a high(er) status.) Bapak kersa dhahar? (Do you want to eat? Literally meaning: Does father want to eat?)
(reply towards persons with lower status) Iya, aku kersa dhahar. (Yes, I want to eat).
(reply towards persons with lower status, but without having the need to express one's superiority) Iya, aku arep mangan.
(reply towards persons with the same status) Inggih, kula badhé nedha.

The use of these different styles is complicated and requires thorough knowledge of the Javanese culture. This is one element that makes it difficult for foreigners to learn Javanese. On the other hand, these different styles of speech are actually not mastered by the majority of Javanese. Most people only master the first style and a rudimentary form of the second style. Persons who have correct mastery of the different styles are held in high esteem.

source: Wikipedia

- Javanese Syntax

2008-06-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

Modern Javanese usually employs SVO word order. However, Old Javanese particularly had VSO or sometimes VOS word orders. Even in Modern Javanese archaic sentences using VSO structure can still be made.

Examples:
Modern Javanese: "Dhèwèké (S) teka (V) nèng (pp.) kedhaton (O)".
Old Javanese: "Teka (V) ta (part.) sira (S) ri (pp.) ng (def. art.) kadhatwan (O)".

Both sentences mean: "He (S) comes (V) in (pp.) the (def. art.) palace (O)". In the Old Javanese sentence, the verb is placed at the beginning and is separated by the particle ta from the rest of the sentence. In Modern Javanese the definite article is lost in prepositions (it is expressed in another way).

Verbs are not inflected for person or number. Tense is not indicated either, but is expressed by auxiliary words such as "yesterday", "already", etc. There is also a complex system of verb affixes to express the different status of the subject and object.

However, in general the structure of Javanese sentences both Old and Modern can be described using the so-called topic-comment model without having to refer to classical grammatical or syntactical categories such as the aforementioned subject, object, predicates, etc. The topic is the head of the sentence; the comment is the modifier. So our Javanese above-mentioned sentence could then be described as follows: Dhèwèké = topic; teka = comment; nèng kedhaton = setting.

source: wikipedia

- Examples of agglutinative languages

2008-06-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

Examples of European agglutinative languages are the Finno-Ugric languages, such as Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian. These have highly agglutinated expressions in daily usage, and most words are bisyllablic or longer. Grammatical information expressed by adpositions in Western Indo-European languages is typically found in suffixes. For example, the Finnish word talossanikin means "in my house, too". Derivation can also be quite complex. For example, Finnish epäjärjestelmällisyys has the root järki "logos", and consists of negative-"logos"-causative-frequentative-nominalizer-adessive-"related to"-"property", and means "the property of being unsystematic," "unsystematicalness." The word has lots of stem changes, so Finnish is not the best example for an agglutinative language.

Agglutination is used very heavily in some Native American languages, such as Nahuatl, Quechua and K'iche, where one word can contain enough morphemes to convey the meaning of what would be a complex sentence in other languages.

Agglutination is also a common feature in the native language of the Basque people, the ancient Euskara tongue which has likely been spoken by the Euskaldun (native Basque speakers) for perhaps at least 2000 years.

Almost all of the Philippine languages also belong to this category. This enables them, especially Filipino, to form new words from simple base forms.

Japanese is also an agglutinating language, adding information such as negation, passive voice, past tense, honorific degree and causality in the verb form. Common examples would be hatarakaseraretara (働かせられたら), which combines causative, passive, and conditional conjugations to arrive at the meaning "if (subject) had been made to work...", and tabetakunakatta (食べたくなかった), which combines desire, negation, and past tense conjugations to mean "(subject) did not want to eat".

Turkish is yet another agglutinating language: the expression Avustralyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınız is pronounced as one word in Turkish, but it can be translated into English as "supposedly you are one of those whom we could not make Australian."

Sourcce: wikipedia

- Agglutination

2008-06-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

In linguistics, agglutination is the morphological process of adding affixes to the base of a word. Languages that use agglutination widely are called agglutinative languages. These languages are often contrasted with fusional languages and isolating languages. However, both fusional and isolating languages may use agglutination in the most-often-used constructs, and use agglutination heavily in certain contexts, such as word derivation. This is the case in English, which is an isolating language, but has an agglutinated plural marker -(e)s and derived words such as shame·less·ness.

Agglutinative suffixes are often inserted irrespective of syllabic boundaries, for example, by adding a consonant to the syllable coda as in English tie — ties. Native speakers of strongly agglutinating languages untrained in linguistics cannot usually break down an agglutinated word into its components. Agglutinative languages also have large inventories of enclitics, too, which can be and are separated from the word root by native speakers in daily usage.

Source: Wikipedia

- Javanese Language

2008-06-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

Javanese is the language of the people in the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java. It is the native language of more than 75,500,000 people.

The Javanese language is part of the Austronesian family, and is therefore related to Indonesian. Many speakers of Javanese also speak Indonesian for official and business purposes, and to communicate with non-Javanese Indonesians.

Besides in Indonesia, there are large communities of Javanese-speaking people in the neighbouring countries such as East Timor, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and also Hong Kong and Taiwan. In addition there are also Javanese-speaking people in Suriname, the Netherlands, and New Caledonia. The Javanese speakers in Malaysia are especially found in the states of Selangor and Johore. (For example, the former Chief Minister of Selangor, Khir Toyo, is an ethnic Javanese.)

Javanese belongs to the Sundic sub-branch of the Western Malayo-Polynesian (also called Hesperonesian) branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subfamily of the Austronesian super family. It is a close linguistic relative of Malay, Sundanese, Madurese, Balinese, and to a lesser extent, of various Sumatran and Borneo languages, including Malagasy and Filipino.

Javanese is spoken in Central and East Java, as well as on the north coast of West Java. In Madura, Bali, Lombok and the Sunda region of West Java, Javanese is also used as a literary language. It was the court language in Palembang, South Sumatra, until their palace was sacked by the Dutch in the late 18th century.

Javanese can be regarded as one of the classical languages of the world, with a vast literature spanning more than 12 centuries. Scholars divide the development of Javanese language in four different stages:

Old Javanese, from the 9th century
Middle Javanese, from the 13th century
New Javanese, from the 16th century
Modern Javanese, from 20th century (this classification is not used universally)

Javanese is written with the Javanese script (a descendant of the Brahmi script of India), Arabo-Javanese script, Arabic script (modified for Javanese) and Latin script.

Although not currently an official language anywhere, Javanese is the Austronesian language with the largest number of native speakers. It is spoken or understood by approximately 80 million people. At least 45% of the total population of Indonesia are of Javanese descent or live in an area where Javanese is the dominant language. Four out of five Indonesian presidents since 1945 are of Javanese descent. It is therefore not surprising that Javanese has a deep impact on the development of Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia, which is a modern dialect of Malay.

There are three main dialects of Modern Javanese: Central Javanese, Eastern Javanese and Western Javanese. There is a dialect continuum from Banten in the extreme west of Java to Banyuwangi, in the foremost eastern corner of the island. All Javanese dialects are more or less mutually intelligible.

Source: Wikipedia

- Solidarity.

2008-04-16T00:14:00.000-07:00

Hudson (1996:122) states that a solidarity concerns with the social distance between how much experience they have shared, how many social characteristics they share (religion, age, region of origin, race, occupation, interest, etc), how far they are prepared to share intimacies, and other factors. Speech we make in everyday usage may also reflect the social relation between the speaker and the addressee.

English speakers use personal names as the clearest linguistic markers of social relation. For example; in the case of name ‘John Smith’, we call ‘John’ if we have high solidarity with him. It will be different if John Smith is a distant superior (our headmaster or boss). In this situation, we may call him ‘Mr. Smith’ or ‘Sir’ and it means that we have low solidarity (unfamiliar) with him. So, the situation can cause the level of the solidarity between people.

The solidarity relationship is the first to be introduced here because it is probably the most important of all social relationships, at least as far as language is concerned. This is because it reflects shared experience, which is necessarily tied to linguistic similarity. People, who have spent all of their life together, sharing the same experiences of language, are bound to be very similar in their language; and conversely, similarity of language is a good (though not infallible) basis for guessing similar experiences (Hudson, 1996:232).

To signal the solidarity between people, we can use address term. In Wardhaugh (1988:258), the notion of address term is illustrated as a making selection in naming someone. People can address a person by his/her title, first name, last name, and nick name or by combination of these or by nothing at all. In English, all combinations mentioned above are possible. For example, in the case of Dr. John Smith; Dr. John Smith himself might also expect Doctor from a patient, Dad from his son, John from his brother, Dear from his wife, and Sir from police officer who stops him if he drives too fast, and he might be rather surprised if any one of these is subtitled for any other, e.g.; “Excuse me, Dear, can I see your license?” from the police officer. Here we can conclude that the address term is the way how we name or address another in the right way.

Further, Wardhaugh (1988:262) assumes that a variety of social factors usually governs our choice of address terms. In a certain society, the choice of addressing someone is sometimes quite clear but in another can be so confusing. It may happen because he or she as a society member should realize his\her social position among the society. Some of the social factors that influence the choice of address terms are age, sex, race, family relationship and occupation.

References:

Hudson, Richard A., 1996. (2nd edition). Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wardhaugh, Ronald, 1988. (3rd edition). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

- Politeness.

2008-04-15T23:37:00.000-07:00

Politeness is one of the most important aspects of human communication: human being can only exist in peace together if certain basic conventions of politeness are observed. Politeness itself is socially prescribed or determined. Being polite is a good behavior but it does not mean it forces us to always being polite to everyone on every occasion. We may be quite impolite if there is no rule of politeness in society. Implicitly, there are different rules for every society. These differences may appear in the existence of standard of norms and values itselves. Generally, in different society/speech community may have different expression although its function is to express the same thing (Wardhaugh, 267).

As stated above, polite behavior differs from one to another and from one speech community to another. A polite person makes others feel comfortable. Being linguistically polite is often a matter of selecting linguistic forms which express the appropriate degree of social distance of which recognizes relevant status differences (Yagi, http://www.linguistic-online.de). Holmes (2001:268) states that being linguistically polite involves speaking to people appropriately in light of their relationship to you. Being polite involves many linguistic choices that consider the norms and values that exist in social interaction (society). Being polite to another means we need to know our social relationship, social distance and social status with the interlocutor. Geertz (in Wardhaugh, 1988:267) says that it is nearly impossible to say anything (being polite) without indicating the social relationship between the speaker and the listener in terms of status and familiarity.

According to Brown and Levinson (in Hartung, 2001:214), politeness strategies are developed in order to save the hearer’s ‘face’. The term ‘face’ refers to the respect of an individual and maintaining his/her ‘self-esteem’ in public or in private situations. Brown and Levinson’s (in Graiger, http://www.lboro.ac.uk) model of linguistic politeness seems use FTA (Face Threatening Acts) as their politeness strategies. FTA is an illocutionary acts are liable to damage or threaten another person’s face (Brown and Levinson in Leech, 1983:169). This FTA purposes to save the hearer’s face from embarrassments or uncomfortable conditions.

Brown and Levinson, (1987:61 in http://www.lang.ltsn.ac.uk) describe that FTA is needed by human being. These face needs are needed by each participant in normal human society. It has two types of face needs: the ‘positive face needs’ and the ‘negative face needs’. The positive face need is ‘the positive consistent self-image or “personality” (crucially including the desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved of) claimed by interactants’ and the negative face need is the basic claim to territories, personal preserves, rights to non-distraction – i.e. to freedom of action and freedom from imposition.

1. Positive Politeness
Positive politeness attends to a person’s positive face needs. It includes such speech acts as compliments, invitations, and greetings (Holmes, 1995:154). Positive politeness is based on solidarity, and where status difference is reduced. It means that when the solidarity is high (the social distance is to be close) and the status difference (social status) is reduced or decreased, the relation among the speaker and the hearer will be closer and will be nearly equal. Here, they (the speaker and the hearer) need to emphasize their shared of attitudes and values.
Politeness, particularly positive politeness is, too large extent, dependent on ritual which is defined by Brown and Levinson (1990:43) as ‘repetitive or pre-patterned behavior’. It is interpersonal rituals, primordial and sustains the sacred nature of human personality. The human personality is sacred thing; one dare not violate it nor infringe its bounds, while at the same time the greatest good is in communion with others (Durkheim in Brown and Levinson, 1990:44).

This positive politeness appears when a boss suggests that a subordinate be permitted to use first name (FN) to him/her. This is appositive politeness move, expressing solidarity and minimizing status differences. Shifts to more informal style using slangs and swear words will function similarly as an expression of positive politeness.

2. Negative Politeness
Negative politeness expresses respect and consideration (Holmes, 1995:154). Negative politeness attends to a person’s negative face needs such as saying something indirectly and saying apologies. This will pay the hearer’s respect and can be determined that the speaker avoids intruding on them, for example: (Adapted from JRR Tolkien’s novel ‘The Lord of the Rings’ part three: The Return of the King, 1966:15)
‘Hail, Lord and Steward of Minas Tirith, Denethor son of Ecthelion! I am come with counsel and tidings in this dark hour.’

The example above expresses negative politeness. The speaker in the dialogue greets his hearer by all of his title before his name itself. The speaker also uses the formal words ‘counsel’ instead advice and ‘tidings’ instead news. The usages of this expression indicate the social distance and status difference between the speaker and the hearer is far. Negative politeness express the speaker’s conversation to be appropriately in terms of social distance and respecting status differences with the interlocutors. Using title + last name (TLN) on your superiors, and to older people that you do not know well, are further examples of the expression of negative politeness.

References:

Holmes, Janet, 1995. Women, Men, and Politeness. Essex: Pearson Education.

Holmes, Janet, 2001. (2nd edition). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Essex: Pearson Education.

Wardhaugh, Ronald, 1988. (3rd edition). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

http://www.linguistik-online.de/20_04/rash.html

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ea/politeness/

http://www.lang.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/goodpractice/

- Some Differences between Indonesian and English

2008-04-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

This article trise ti describe the differences between indonesian and english. These differences can make the indonesian learners get difficulties in learning English. The differences are also predicted to be difficult things for the English learners who learn Indonesian. The differences between Indonesian and English are as follows:

1. Article
In Indonesian, the role of articles is not so important. However, in English, an article is very important because it is grammatical requirement.

For example: Edy membeli kamus. => Edy bought a dictionary.

2. Noun
In Indonesian, the plural form is made by reduplicating the singular form, for examples, buku (singular) --> buku-buku (plural), rumah (singular) --> rumah-rumah (plural). In English, the plural form is made by adding –s, for example, boy (singular) --> boys (plural), girl (singular) --> girls (plural) , and word (singular) --> words (plural).

3. Pronoun
In Indonesian, the singular third person, either male or female, has the same term, i.e. dia. In English, the third person is distinguished based on the sex. The singular third person for male is he, and for female is she.

Another difference is related to the position of the pronoun in a sentence. In Indonesian, the pronoun does not change although the position changes. For example: Saya mempunyai dua mobil (saya = subject); Wanita itu teman saya (saya = possessive adjective); Orang itu menanyai saya (saya =object).

In English, the pronoun changes if the position changes. For examples: I hate Monday (I = subject); She borrowed my book (my = possessive adjective); The boy called me (me = object).

4. Tense Marker
Indonesian does not have tense marker as English does. English has both time adverb and tense. On the other hand, Indonesian has only the time adverbs but not the tenses. Moreover, in Indonesian, the form of the verb does not change although the time changes. For example: Saya pergi tiap hari (present tense) and Saya pergi kemarin. (past tense); I go everyday.(present tense) and I went yesteday. (past tense).

5. Auxiliaries and Modals
An auxiliary has to agree to the subject that helps the main verb to make a passive construction and depends heavily on tenses. It also helps form a close question or helps form compound tenses.
Modals are used to convey shades of meaning and are dependent neither on nor in concord with their subject and are therefore free from tense aspect.

For examples: Our friends should be here in a few minutes (should means diharapkan); Our friend must be here in a few minutes (must means harus); Our friends ought to be here in a few minutes (ought to means seharusnya).

When the translator uses the auxiliaries and modals in the question tags, problems will come out as the tag pattern of English and Indonesian are not similar. In English question tags are formed depending on the tense and auxiliary verbs, but in Indonesian question tags are formed by adding the word bukan or kan? for example, He is clever, isn’t he? = Dia pandai, bukan/kan? , He goes, doesn’t he? = Dia pergi bukan/kan?

6. Word Order
In Indonesian, modifier is placed after noun head; for example, rumah besar. On the contrary, in English, modifier comes first before noun, for example, big house.

The Importance of Reading Skill

2008-04-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows that English is widely employed in vast parts of the world for different purposes and fields. Here, English functions are to connect dissimilar culture, social and economic background, ways of life and religion. In other words, the differences require and internationally accepted bridge of universal and acceptable language to enable people to have agreement to solve problem, to exchange knowledge, science and information. The history then places English as the most common international communication device. English is one of the important foreign languages needed by Indonesian society. It has been taught in our school for a number of years. The aim of learning English is to make us easier to communicate with other people from other countries. This is the reason why Indonesian government places English as the first foreign language than other languages such as French, Chinese, German and Arabic.

Mastering English means holding the key for international communication success. For the sake of creating capable people who will take parts in any kinds of international relationship, people should be educated, trained properly and after that measured for their competence of having interaction in English. The consequence is that it is principal to provide them with good English learning strategy and instrument to measure the student level. In daily communication and language testing, difficulties often come up when students can not understand. Some of the language element which then bring problems in determining the content of the message. Mentioned impediments have to be analyzed to clarify what types of problem are found. Sharply, English learning process should be followed by the appropriate language testing to measure its efficiency.

It is stated that the students’ ability in finding out the content of the message needs receptive skills. Students who read a lot seem to acquire English better than those who do not. In other words, one of the main advantages of reading activity for students is that activities will improve their general English proficiency level. Especially for reading comprehension, the more frequents of reading language elements, the better the learners reading skill will be. To sum up, students reading ability derives from the years of process.

The explanation above indicated that reading ability is a vital skill. It is a basic tool to supports one’s success as a student. As we know, reading comprehension is one of the fundamental language skills through which people get in the large portion of their education, their information, their understanding of human affairs of the world. Through the normal course, reading comprehension is used as much as writing. Reading plays critical role in communication. That is the reason why reading becomes a part of language testing. In other words, reading is not only reading, but understanding and trying to find out information from the reading text is an important role.

Social Problems

2008-03-23T22:34:00.000-07:00

     Social problems seem to be on the mind of everyone these days. People have all heard about poverty, crime, racism, unemployment, alcoholism, teenage pregnancy, and a host of other things that are thought of as “social problems.” These topics fill our newspaper and dominate much our politics, not mention providing material for dozen books (Farley, 1987: 2).
     A social problem may be defined as a condition which many people consider undesirable and want to correct (Horton, 1980: 4). A perfectly integrated society would have no social problems, for all institution and behavior would be neatly by the values of the society. A changing society inevitably develops problems. Either the conditions themselves change and become unacceptable or the society’s changing values defined an old condition as no longer tolerable. Social problems are part of the price of social change (Horton, 1980: 468-469).

References:
Farley, John E. 1987. American Social Problems An Institutional Analysis. New Jersey:
       Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs.

Horton, Paul B and Chester L. Hunt. 1980. Sociology. 5th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Book
Company.