From the introduction : We all know something about language simply by virtue of being native speakers of one of the numerous languages available to us. Yet we know so little about language acquisition, one of the most fascinating human achievements and the focus of both theoretical and applied linguistics.
This book, addressed primarily to students and researchers in semantics, cognitive linguistics, English, and Australian languages, is a comparative study of the polysemy patterns displayed by percussion/impact ('hitting') verbs in English and Warlpiri (Pama-Nyungan, Central Australia).
This self-contained introduction to natural language semantics addresses the major theoretical questions in the field. The authors introduce the systematic study of linguistic meaning through a sequence of formal tools and their linguistic applications. Starting with propositional connectives and truth conditions, the book moves to quantification and binding, intensionality and tense, and so on. To set their approach in a broader perspective, the authors also explore the interaction of meaning with context and use (the semantics-pragmatics interface) and address some of the foundational questions, especially in connection with cognition in general.
The Grammar of Raising and Control surveys analyses across a range of theoretical frameworks from Rosenbaum's classic Standard Theory analysis (1967) to current proposals within the Minimalist Program, and provides readers with a critical understanding of these, helping them in the process to develop keen insights into the strengths and weaknesses of syntactic arguments in general.
This book deals with research and practice in online communication and communication technologies of language learning and teaching. These include all forms of computerized media using text, graphics, audio and video, with a particular focus on multimodal teaching and learning. As part of the project the authors describe well-structured action research projects which have transferable features and which can inspire readers wanting to undertake their own projects.