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Book Notes

Reviews

Contents

Bilingualism in Ancient Society : Language Contact and the Written Word

J. N. Adams (Editor)

May 2002

Bilingualism has seen an explosion of work in recent years. This volume introduces classicists, ancient historians, and other scholars interested in socio-linguistics to bilingualism in the ancient Mediterranean. The fifteen chapters cover theoretical and methodological issues and key aspects of the contact between Latin and Greek and among Latin, Greek, and other languages.

Oxford University Press

ISBN: 0199245061

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Language Shift Among the Navajos : Identity Politics and Cultural Continuity

Deborah House

April 2002

An inquiry into why speakers of the Navajo language continue to shift to English at an alarming rate, and what can be done about it. Based on more than ten years of fieldwork, it provides a close look at the ideological factors that intervene between the desire of the Navajos to maintain their language as an important aspect of their culture and their actual linguistic practice.

University of Arizona Press

ISBN: 0816522197

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Beyond Boundaries : Language and Identity in Contemporary Europe (Multilingual Matters (Series), 122.)

Paul Gubbins and Mike Holt (Editors)

April 2002

Language and identity are closely interwoven: this collection of essays examines their relationship in a multicultural Europe and beyond and explores various ways in which language is used to forge class, regional and national identity. The question of multiple identity and the role of English are also considered.

Multilingual Matters

ISBN: 1853595551

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The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Census (New Perspectives on Anthropological and Social Demography, 1)

David I. Kertzer and Dominique Arel (Editors)

March 2002

This study examines the ways that states have attempted to pigeon-hole the people within their boundaries into racial, ethnic, and language categories. These attempts, whether through American efforts to divide the U.S. population into mutually exclusive racial categories, or through the Soviet system of inscribing nationality categories on internal passports, have important implications not only for people's own identities and life chances, but for national political and social processes as well. The book reviews the history of these categorizing efforts by the state, offers a theoretical context for examining them, and illustrates the case with studies from a range of countries.

Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 0521808235

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Sociolinguistic Variation and Change

Peter Trudgill


February 2002

This selection of Peter Trudgill's major works since 1988, appearing here in updated and revised form, reveals major recurring themes in his work on linguistic diversity. This book evinces his deep concern that the world's linguistic diversity is diminishing at an alarming rate. The linguistic future is likely to be very different from the past, because increased language contact among peoples will result in the creation of fewer new languages to balance the language deaths. The essays here manifest Trudgill's conviction that linguists must make every effort to study minority languages and dialects before they vanish. The book also demonstrates his sense of the obligation that linguists have to educate the public about why linguistic diversity is valuable.

Georgetown University Press

ISBN: 0878403698

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Language As Cultural Practice : Mexicanos En El Norte


Sandra R. Schecter and Robert Bayley

February 2002

Lawrence Erlbaum

ISBN: 0805835334

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Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics

Rajend Mesthrie (Editor), R. E. Asher (Editor)

December 2001

This is the ninth in the acclaimed series of spinoff volumes based on the outstanding Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. It comprises 285 articles of which 80 are short biographical entries. 50 of the biographies and 42 other articles are entirely new, while the remaining entries are suitably revised and updated from ELL. This work provides uniquely comprehensive and authoritative information on all aspects of sociolinguistics.

Pergamon Press

ISBN: 0080437265

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Style and Sociolinguistic Variation

Penelope Eckert and John R. Rickford

December 2001

This study of sociolinguistic variation examines the relation between social identity and ways of speaking. The volume brings together leading experts from a range of disciplines to create a broad perspective on the study of style and variation. Beginning with an introduction to theoretical issues, the book goes on to discuss key approaches to stylistic variation in spoken language, including such issues as attention paid to speech, audience design, identity construction, the corpus study of register, genre, distinctiveness and the anthropological study of style.

Cambridge University Press

ISBN 0521597897

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Speaking of Chinese: A Cultural History of the Chinese Language

Raymond Chang and Margaret Scrogin Chang


December 2001

“Not a how-to text, this beguiling book is instead a fascinating look at Chinese language and culture. Ranging through history, literature, folklore, linguistics, and sociology, this is a breezy, straightforward primer of surprising breadth.”

W.W. Norton & Company

ISBN: 0393321878

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The Handbook of Language Variation and Change (Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics)

J.K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill, Natalie Schilling-Estes (Editors)

December 2001

This book is a convenient, hand-held repository of the essential knowledge about language variation and change. It begins with an examination of the methodologies

employed by linguists working in linguistic variation and change, and then addresses the levels of linguistic structure that have been the main foci of work in the field. The volume presents views of linguistic variation in the diverse contexts that give it meaning and significance, across generations, social strata, and domains of interaction. It further covers variation through geographical space, and language and dialect contact form a variationist perspective, while also considering the implications that research in different types of societies may have for work in the field.


Blackwell Publishers

ISBN: 0631218033

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Contents

Heritage Languages in America: Preserving a National Resource

Joy Kreeft Peyton, Scott McGinnis, Donald A. Ranard (Editors)

November, 2001

Today, as this nation faces a critical shortage of adults with proficiency in languages other than English, we need to pay attention to our own rich linguistic resources, the more than 100 languages spoken in ethnic communities across the country.

This book describes the population of individuals who speak those languages – heritage language speakers. It outlines what needs to be done to help them develop their languages for use in academic and professional arenas. Addressing the challenges described will demand the attention and efforts of all who are involved in language education, research, and policy formation.

Written in clear, non-technical language, this book can be used by heritage community members, heritage and foreign language teachers and administrators, researchers, and policymakers to promote the maintenance and development of the languages in this country.

Delta Systems/Center for Applied Linguistics

ISBN: 1887744681

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Gender and Discourse: Language and Power in Politics, the Church and Organizations

Clare Walsh

October 2001

Gender and Discourse offers a critical new approach to the study of language and gender studies. Women moving into the public domains of power traditionally monopolized by men are creating new identities for themselves, and the language that is used by them and about them offers an insight into gender roles. Clare Walsh reviews the current dominance/difference debates, and proposes a new analytical framework which combines the insights of critical discourse and feminist perspectives on discourse to provide a new perspective on the role of women in public life.

Longman

ISBN: 0582418925

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Contents

The Ecology of Language Evolution

Salikoko S. Mufwene

This major new work explores the development of creoles and other new languages, focusing on the conceptual and methodological issues they raise for genetic linguistics. Written by an internationally renowned linguist, the book discusses the nature and significance of internal and external factors or ‘ecologies’ that bear on the evolution of a language. The book surveys a wide range of examples of changes in the structure, function and vitality of languages, and suggests that similar ecologies have played the same kinds of roles in all cases of language evolution. Drawing on major theories of language formation, macroecology and population genetics, Mufwene proposes a common approach to the development of creoles and other new languages.

October 2001


Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 0521794757

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Contents

Politics of Language in the Ex-Soviet Muslim States: Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan,Tajikistan

Jacob M. Landau and Barbara Kellner-Heinkele

August 2001

An impeccable example of traditional scholarly research, this monograph on the languages of the new states of Central Asia combines an appreciation of the historical and philological issues addressed by post-Soviet governments in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan provides uniquely comprehensive and authoritative information on all aspects of sociolinguistics.

Hurst&Co Ltd

ISBN: 1850654425

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Contents

Unhinging Hinglish : The Languages and Politics of Fiction in English from the Indian Subcontinent (Angles on the English Speaking World)

Nanette Hale and Tabish Khair (Editors)

August 2001

Museum Tusculanum

ISBN: 8772896728

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Contents

Due Respect : Essays on English and English-Related Creoles in the Caribbean in Honour of Professor Robert Le Page

Pauline Christie (Editor)

July 2001

University Press of the West Indies

ISBN: 9766401055

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Contents

Managing Multilingualism in India : Political and Linguistic Manifestations (Language and Development (New Delhi, India), V.8.)

E. Annamalai

June 2001


SAGE Publications

ISBN: 0761995218

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On Biocultural Diversity : Linking Language, Knowledge, and the Environment

Luisa Maffi (Editor)

May 2001

On Biocultural Diversity brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from the social and natural sciences as well as cultural advocates, human rights specialists, and indigenous experts to discuss the ways in which the losses of biological, linguistic, and cultural diversity are linked. Combining research with advocacy, this book outlines the threats to the world's diversity, explores the connections among its various forms, and recommends measures to help preserve and perpetuate the variety of life on Earth.


Smithsonian Institution Press

ISBN: 156098905X

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New Perspectives and Issues in Educational Language Policy. A festschrift for Dov Spolsky.


Bernard Spolsky, Elana Shohamy, Joel Walters (Editors)

May 2001

New Perspectives and Issues in Educational Language Policy is published in honour of Bernard Dov Spolsky and reflects his impact on applied linguistics in general and educational linguistics in particular.

John Benjamins Publishing Company

ISBN: 1556198558

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Yiddish and English : The Story of Yiddish in America

Sol Steinmetz

May 2001

“This is the only book to seriously treat the intriguing linguistic and cultural phenomenon of the intimate contact between Yiddish and English over the past 120 years.”

University of Alabama Press

ISBN: 0817311033

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Contents

Language Planning and Change in Japan (Nais Monographs, 86)

Tessa Carroll


April 2001

This work is an excellent examination of the relationship between language planning and language change in Japan at the end of the twentieth century, highlighting the shift in such activities against a background of significant socio-cultural, political, and economic change and placing them in a comparative context. Particular emphasis is laid on the role of language planning in the production and promotion of desirable language attitudes and behaviour, and how these form part of Japan’s self-image and identity.

Curzon Press

ISBN: 0700713832

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Contents

Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change

William Labov


June 2002

The Phonological Atlas of North American English provides the first overall view of the pronunciation and vowel systems of the dialects of the U.S. and Canada. The Atlas redefines the regional dialects of American English and draws new boundaries reflecting the speech of the mid 1990s. The Atlas findings show a dramatic and increasing divergence of English dialects as vowels in different regions are rotated in opposite directions by the Northern Cities Shift, the Southern Shift, and the Canadian Shift, and other sweeping changes that are affecting the North American continent as a whole. The 26 chapters trace the influence of geographic and social factors by the multivariate analyses of population size, gender, age, occupation and ethnicity. An accompanying CD-ROM provides the full database with 100,000 measurements, maps of individual vowel systems, and extended sound samples of all dialects.

Walter De Gruyter

ISBN: 3-1101-6746-8

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Contents

Language Education Policy: The Arab Minority in Israel

Muhammad Hasan Amara and Abd Al-Rahman Mar'i


May 2002

This book explores some aspects of the Arab-Jewish divide, which raise fundamental questions regarding the place of the Arabs and Arab language education in the Jewish State. More specifically, the aim of this book is to describe and analyze language education in the Arab society in Israel from the establishment of the state in 1948 until today. Furthermore, the book also deals with external processes such as the policy of control and inspection of the Ministry of Education over the Arab education system in general and on language education in particular, the dominance of Hebrew, and the definition and perception of Israel as a Jewish State. The influence of both internal and external processes on language education and learning achievements are also extensively discussed.

Kluwer Academic Publishers

ISBN: 1-4020-0585-7

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World English: A Study of Its Development

Janina Brutt-Giffler


March 2002

This text traces the history of English language spread from the 18th to the beginning of the 21st century, combining that with a study of its language change. It links linguistic and sociolinguistic variables that have conditioned the evolution and change of English, putting forward a new framework of language spread and change.

Multilingual Matters

ISBN: 1-85359-578-0

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Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children

D. Kimbrough Oller and Rebecca E. Eilers (Eds.)


March 2002

This text sets high standards for rigor and scientific approach to the study of bilingualism and provides insights regarding the critical issues of theory and practice, including the interdependence of linguistic knowledge in bilinguals, the role of socioeconomic status, the effect of different language usage patterns in the home, and the role of schooling by single-language immersion as opposed to systematic training in both home and target languages. The rich landscape of outcomes reported in the volume should provide a frame for interpretation and understanding of effects of bilingualism for years to come.

Multilingual Matters

ISBN: 1-85359-570-5

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Language Planning and Language Policy: East Asian Perspectives

Nanette Gottlieb and Ping Chen (Eds.)


February 2002

This book examines the major issues of language planning and policy in Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam, particularly those relating to the selection of official language, script, and written language.

Curzon Press

ISBN: 0-70071-468-5

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Minority Language Broadcasting: Breton and Irish

Helen Kelly-Holmes (Ed.)


January 2002

This volume examines the historical context, current state and future prospects for broadcasting in minority languages, taking Irish and Breton as case studies. Practitioners and academics from a variety of disciplines come together to identify and debate the key issues that will mean success of failure for minority language broadcasting in the new millennium.

Multilingual Matters

ISBN: 1-85359-568-3

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A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism

Philip Herdina and Ulrike Jessner


January 2002

The model presented in this volume draws together various strands of research - second language acquisition theory, bilingualism research, and dynamic systems theory - to develop a novel approach to this challenging subject. Its main focus lies on the psycholinguistic dynamics of multilingualism, the processes of change in time affecting two or more language systems.

Multilingual Matters

ISBN: 1-85359-467-9

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The Multilingual Apple: Languages in New York City

Ofelia García and Joshua Fishman (Eds.)


Second Edition: 2002

This book will be of special interest to the general reader concerned with the issue of language in the United States, as well as the language specialist and sociolinguist. It has been written to inform those wishing to learn more about the role that languages other than English have had, and continue to have, in the life of the most important United States city, New York. At the same time this volume makes an important contribution to the scholarly literature on urban multilingualism and the sociology of language. The book contains chapters on languages of ethnolinguistic groups that arrived early in New York and have been somewhat silenced (Irish, German, Yiddish), the languages of groups who made early contributions and continue to be heard in the city (Italian, Greek, Spanish, Hebrew), and languages that are acquiring an important voice in the city today (Chinese, Indian languages, English creoles, Haitian Creole).

Mouton de Gruyter

ISBN: 3-11-017281-X

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Why Don't They Learn English: Separating Fact from Fallacy in the U.S. Language Debate

Lucy Tse


September 2001

This book examines the often cited but poorly supported claims that immigrants fail to learn English, and the mistaken belief that immigrant communities cling to their heritage languages. The author reveals that, on the contrary, English is being learned at a rapid pace while heritage languages are disappearing quickly from family use. She shows us how current assumptions have a pervasive influence on language policy in the United States.

Teachers College Press

ISBN: 0-80-774096-9

 



Language Policy Research Unit - Mary Lou Fulton College of Education - Arizona State University
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