Speakers Meaning

In this book Gillian Brown draws on a wide range of examples of discourse analysis to explore the ways in which speakers and listeners use language collaboratively to talk about what they can see in front of them and about a series of events. She examines the conditions under which communication is successful, and the conditions under which it sometimes fails. The focus of her attention is upon the listener's role, as the listener tries to make sense of what the speaker says in a highly constrained context; her cognitive/pragmatic approach to discourse analysis both complements and challenges the sociological/anthropological perspectives on the subject which currently predominate. Gillian Brown is co-author of the well-known textbook Discourse Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 1983).

A pioneering study of heritage languages, from a leading scholar in this area of study world-wide.

Discusses the nature of language, the history of the meanings of words, and the use of imagery in language

Languages and Their Speakers provides an introduction both to languages themselves and to their social functions. Written especially for nonlinguistics majors, the book considers how speakers know their languages—know them as grammatical systems and know them as part of a cultural matrix.

This study is an inquiry into the pragmatics of speaker and hearer reference. It falls into a theory-based and a description-based part. The former covers three topics: (a) the categories of speaker and hearer as opposed to the category of nonparticipants in the speech act; (b) the interactional roles of speaker and hearer as defined by the illocutionary point of the speech act and the preconditions underlying its successful performance; (c) the decomposition of the speech act as a model for describing strategies in verbal interaction. The object of the descriptive part of this study is to survey the different realizations of the categories of speaker and hearer reference and the strategic effects speakers intend to bring about by employing them. For this purpose, a language-specific analysis is applied to the system of speaker and hearer reference in Peninsular Spanish. For the sake of homogeneity, Peninsular Spanish is also chosen as the object language for the discussion of the general language phenomena which are treated in the theoretical discussion.

David Nunan’s dynamic learner-centered teaching style has informed and inspired countless TESOL educators around the world. In this fresh, straightforward introduction to teaching English to speakers of other languages he presents teaching techniques and procedures along with the underlying theory and principles. Complex theories and research studies are explained in a clear and comprehensible, yet non-trivial, manner without trivializing them. Practical examples of how to develop teaching materials and tasks from sound principles provide rich illustrations of theoretical constructs. The content is presented through a lively variety of different textual genres including classroom vignettes showing language teaching in action, question and answer sessions, and opportunities to ‘eavesdrop’ on small group discussions among teachers and teachers in preparation. Readers get involved through engaging, interactive pedagogical features and opportunities for reflection and personal application. Each chapter follows the same format so that readers know what to expect as they work through the text. Key terms are defined in a Glossary at the end of the book. David Nunan’s own reflections and commentaries throughout enrich the direct, up-close style of the text.

The definitions and origins of a culture inescapably mold the future of a people. The seeds sown by generations long buried grow to bear unexpected fruit in the present. What if a people, with no language and no history, joined a world already in progress?On the island of Mirabalpur, sheltered by Qaiyore's vast inland sea, the magi of Mir struggle to find a future and escape the ghosts of their past. Once a mighty empire now fallen into civil disarray, Mir finds itself confronted with grim reminders of the atrocities of its imperial history.Beneath the floating city of Annaeyana, Sinari nomads amass in the northern deserts. Believing the city to be the prison home of their god Sin-Alb, they prepare for jyhad.In the fertile lands to the south, rival kingdoms struggle for dominance and survival. Located on the Qaiyore's great rivers rich with trade and agriculture, would-be empire builders are caught in a brutal maelstrom not of their own making.Throughout Qaiyore drift the Eerith, spirit beings and living history lessons. Once a race of slaves, these normally passive ancients have begun to act—and neither race will ever be the same again.