An entertaining and highly informed guide to what languages are and how they function.Everyone likes to think they know a bit about language: There are some words that you simply can't translate into English. The origin of a word tells you how it should be used. A dialect is inferior to a language.The problem is, none of these statements are true. In Don't Believe a Word, linguist David Shariatmadari explodes nine common myths about language and introduces us to some of the fundamental insights of modern linguistics. By the end of this eye-opening tour, readers will understand that grammatical "errors" are in fact the foundation of modern English; that the meaning of a word is not what a dictionary says, but how it's used; and that the difference between what gets labelled a "language" or "dialect" is political, rather than scientific.
W. W. Norton & Company
|
9781324004257
|
Hardcover
Because Internet
By Mcculloch, Gretchen
A linguistically informed look at how our digital world is transforming the English language.Language is humanity's most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. What's more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch language evolve in real time.Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. She explains how your first social internet experience influences whether you prefer "LOL" or "lol," why ~sparkly tildes~ succeeded where centuries of proposals for irony punctuation had failed, what emoji have in common with physical gestures, and how the artfully disarrayed language of animal memes like lolcats and doggo made them more likely to spread.Because Internet is essential reading for anyone who's ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from. It's the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that's a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are.
Riverhead Books
|
9780735210936
|
Hardcover
Thinking Inside the Box
By Adrienne, Raphel,
A delightful, erudite, and immersive exploration of the crossword puzzle and its fascinating history from a brilliant young writer
The crossword is a feature of the modern world, inspiring daily devotion and obsession from not just everyday citizens looking to pass the time but icons of American life, such as Bill Clinton, Yo-Yo Ma, and Martha Stewart. It was invented in 1913, almost by accident, when a newspaper editor at the New York World was casting around for something to fill some empty column space for that year's Christmas edition. Practically overnight, it became a roaring commercial success, and ever since then has been an essential ingredient of any newspaper worth its salt. Indeed, paradoxically, its popularity has never been greater, even as the world of media and newspapers, its natural habitat, has undergone a perilous digital transformation. But why, exactly, are its satisfactions so sweet that over the decades has it become a fixture of breakfast tables, nightstands, and commutes, and even given rise to competitive crossword tournaments? Blending first-person reporting from the world of crosswords with a delightful telling of its rich literary history, Adrienne Raphel dives into the secrets of this classic pastime. At the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, she rubs shoulders with elite solvers of the world, doing her level best to hold her own; aboard a crossword themed cruise, she picks the brains of the enthusiasts whose idea of a good time is a week on the high seas with nothing but crosswords to do; and, visiting the home and office of Will Shortz, New York Times crossword puzzle editor and NPR's official "Puzzlemaster," she goes behind the scenes to see for herself how the world's gold standard of puzzles is made. Equal parts ingenious and fun, Thinking Inside the Box is a love letter to the infinite joys and playful possibilities of language, and will be a treat for die-hard cruciverbalists and first-time solvers alike.
PENGUIN PR
|
9780525522089
|
Gregg Shorthand
By Gregg, John Robert
First appearing in a pamphlet in 1888, "Gregg Shorthand" is the popular and enduring form of shorthand created by Irish publisher and inventor John Robert Gregg. The system was expanded, revised, and published in multiple book editions over several decades and has become one of the most widely used pen stenography systems in the world. Gregg's shorthand is a phonetic system created specifically for the English language and records the sounds the speaker makes rather than the spelling of the individual words. Based upon a series of elliptical figures and bisecting lines, Gregg's system remains in use all over the world, even as the popularity of stenography has decreased in the digital age. This effective shorthand method is renowned for how intuitive the system is to learn, how easy it is to note differentiations in similar sounds, and how quickly it can be written as someone is speaking.
Digireads.com
|
9781420971583
|
Paperback
5 Kinds of Nonfiction
By Stewart, Melissa
Once upon a time, nonfiction books for children routinely included concise, stodgy writing. Most of the books were text heavy, with just a few scattered images decorating, rather than enhancing, the content and meaning. But nonfiction has changed dramatically over the last two decades, evolving into a new breed of visually dynamic, engaging texts that delight as well as inform. The timing of these groundbreaking changes couldn't be better, as English Language Arts standards now put an increased focus on nonfiction reading and writing. For decades, we've classified fiction as a way to study, understand, and, ultimately, teach it better. However, up to now, nonfiction hasn't received this same level of intention. In 5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children's Books, Melissa Stewart and Marlene Correia present a new way to sort nonfiction into five major categories and show how doing so can help teachers and librarians build stronger readers and writers.
Stenhouse Publishers
|
9781625314178
|
Paperback
Barron's American Sign Language
By Ed.d., David A. Stewart
The only book with comprehensive instruction and online graded video practice quizzes, plus a comprehensive final video exam.Content includes topics on the Deaf culture and community, ASL Grammar, fingerspelling, combining signs to construct detailed sentences, Everyday ASL, and much more.More than 1,000 illustrations of signs with instructions on movement--step-by-step with dialogue, tip boxes, and practice exercises and quizzes throughout to reinforce retention and to track your progress.
Don't Believe a Word
By Shariatmadari, David
An entertaining and highly informed guide to what languages are and how they function.Everyone likes to think they know a bit about language: There are some words that you simply can't translate into English. The origin of a word tells you how it should be used. A dialect is inferior to a language.The problem is, none of these statements are true. In Don't Believe a Word, linguist David Shariatmadari explodes nine common myths about language and introduces us to some of the fundamental insights of modern linguistics. By the end of this eye-opening tour, readers will understand that grammatical "errors" are in fact the foundation of modern English; that the meaning of a word is not what a dictionary says, but how it's used; and that the difference between what gets labelled a "language" or "dialect" is political, rather than scientific.
Because Internet
By Mcculloch, Gretchen
A linguistically informed look at how our digital world is transforming the English language.Language is humanity's most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. What's more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch language evolve in real time.Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. She explains how your first social internet experience influences whether you prefer "LOL" or "lol," why ~sparkly tildes~ succeeded where centuries of proposals for irony punctuation had failed, what emoji have in common with physical gestures, and how the artfully disarrayed language of animal memes like lolcats and doggo made them more likely to spread.Because Internet is essential reading for anyone who's ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from. It's the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that's a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are.
Thinking Inside the Box
By Adrienne, Raphel,
A delightful, erudite, and immersive exploration of the crossword puzzle and its fascinating history from a brilliant young writer
The crossword is a feature of the modern world, inspiring daily devotion and obsession from not just everyday citizens looking to pass the time but icons of American life, such as Bill Clinton, Yo-Yo Ma, and Martha Stewart. It was invented in 1913, almost by accident, when a newspaper editor at the New York World was casting around for something to fill some empty column space for that year's Christmas edition. Practically overnight, it became a roaring commercial success, and ever since then has been an essential ingredient of any newspaper worth its salt. Indeed, paradoxically, its popularity has never been greater, even as the world of media and newspapers, its natural habitat, has undergone a perilous digital transformation. But why, exactly, are its satisfactions so sweet that over the decades has it become a fixture of breakfast tables, nightstands, and commutes, and even given rise to competitive crossword tournaments? Blending first-person reporting from the world of crosswords with a delightful telling of its rich literary history, Adrienne Raphel dives into the secrets of this classic pastime. At the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, she rubs shoulders with elite solvers of the world, doing her level best to hold her own; aboard a crossword themed cruise, she picks the brains of the enthusiasts whose idea of a good time is a week on the high seas with nothing but crosswords to do; and, visiting the home and office of Will Shortz, New York Times crossword puzzle editor and NPR's official "Puzzlemaster," she goes behind the scenes to see for herself how the world's gold standard of puzzles is made. Equal parts ingenious and fun, Thinking Inside the Box is a love letter to the infinite joys and playful possibilities of language, and will be a treat for die-hard cruciverbalists and first-time solvers alike.Gregg Shorthand
By Gregg, John Robert
First appearing in a pamphlet in 1888, "Gregg Shorthand" is the popular and enduring form of shorthand created by Irish publisher and inventor John Robert Gregg. The system was expanded, revised, and published in multiple book editions over several decades and has become one of the most widely used pen stenography systems in the world. Gregg's shorthand is a phonetic system created specifically for the English language and records the sounds the speaker makes rather than the spelling of the individual words. Based upon a series of elliptical figures and bisecting lines, Gregg's system remains in use all over the world, even as the popularity of stenography has decreased in the digital age. This effective shorthand method is renowned for how intuitive the system is to learn, how easy it is to note differentiations in similar sounds, and how quickly it can be written as someone is speaking.
5 Kinds of Nonfiction
By Stewart, Melissa
Once upon a time, nonfiction books for children routinely included concise, stodgy writing. Most of the books were text heavy, with just a few scattered images decorating, rather than enhancing, the content and meaning. But nonfiction has changed dramatically over the last two decades, evolving into a new breed of visually dynamic, engaging texts that delight as well as inform. The timing of these groundbreaking changes couldn't be better, as English Language Arts standards now put an increased focus on nonfiction reading and writing. For decades, we've classified fiction as a way to study, understand, and, ultimately, teach it better. However, up to now, nonfiction hasn't received this same level of intention. In 5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children's Books, Melissa Stewart and Marlene Correia present a new way to sort nonfiction into five major categories and show how doing so can help teachers and librarians build stronger readers and writers.
Barron's American Sign Language
By Ed.d., David A. Stewart
The only book with comprehensive instruction and online graded video practice quizzes, plus a comprehensive final video exam.Content includes topics on the Deaf culture and community, ASL Grammar, fingerspelling, combining signs to construct detailed sentences, Everyday ASL, and much more.More than 1,000 illustrations of signs with instructions on movement--step-by-step with dialogue, tip boxes, and practice exercises and quizzes throughout to reinforce retention and to track your progress.