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Linguistic relativism: Logic, grammar, and arithmetic in cultural comparison
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Linguistic relativism: Logic, grammar, and arithmetic in cultural comparison
Christian Greiffenhagen and Wes Sharrock
Linguistic relativism is the thesis that the grammatical structures of different languages imply different conceptions of reality. In this paper we critically discuss one form of linguistic relativism, which argues that grammatical differences between the English and Yoruba language exhibit differences in how English and Yoruba speakers ‘see’ reality (namely in terms of ‘spatiotemporal particulars’ and ‘sortal particulars’, respectively).
We challenge the idea that linguistic relativism is an empirical thesis, i.e., a thesis that is substantiated through anthropological examples. We show that linguistic relativism is based on two assumptions: firstly, that the purpose of language is to describe the world; secondly, that being able to speak presupposes an ontological theory of the ultimate constituents of the world. We argue that the attempt to extract the outline of that theory from the language inevitably distorts the portrayal of language-using practice itself.
 
 
 
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Pragmatics and Discourse
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Pragmatics and Discourse
Pragmatics and Discourse
Joan Cutting is Reader in Applied Linguistics at the University of Sunderland, UK. She is editor of The Grammar of Spoken English and its Application to English for Academic Purposes, and author of Analysing the Language of Discourse Communities.
'This is an ideal book for anyone beginning the study of discourse and pragmatics; it is transparently written without being simplistic or patronising, and is thorough and detailed without being obscure or mystifying.'
Michael McCarthy, University of Nottingham.

'Joan Cutting's book provides an excellent introduction to one of the most intensively researched areas in linguistics and communication studies - pragmatics and discourse analysis. It offers the novice in the field exciting, creative and accessible ways in which to gain an understanding of the most important issues, and it also gives us old hands stimulating new food for thought.'
Richard Watts, University of Berne, Switzerland

 
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Mathematical Methods in Linquistics - Barbara Hall Partee
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Mathematical Methods in Linquistics - Barbara Hall ParteeMathematical Methods in Linquistics is far more about mathematical methods than about linguistics, although in many places linquistics is used as a source of examples. Instead it covers such mathematical topics as sets (including infinite sets), relations, a good deal of mathematical logic, automata (up to turing machines), the lambda calculus, lattices and more. This would be an excellent book for an advanced undergraduate or graduate student in either mathematics or computer science to use either as a review text, or as a study guide for further investigation.

 
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Simple Sentences
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Simple Sentences

The phenomenon of substitution failure is a longstanding focus of discussion for philosophers of language. Substitution failure occurs when a change from one co-referential name to another (e.g. from "Superman" to "Clark Kent") affects the truth-value of a sentence. Jennifer Saul has shown that this can occur even in the simplest of sentences. She presents the first full-length treatment of this puzzling feature of language, and explores its implications for the theory of reference and names, and for the methodology of semantics.

 
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Sound Patterns of Spoken English
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Sound Patterns of Spoken English
Sound Patterns of Spoken English is a concise, to-the-point compendium of information about the casual pronunciation of everyday English as compared to formal citation forms.
 
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