Jean Aitchison – författare

New Media Language brings leading media figures and scholars together to debate the shifting relations between today's media and contemporary language.From newspapers and television to email, the Internet and text messaging, there are ever increasing media conduits for news. This book investigates how developments in world media have affected, and been affected by, language. Exploring a wide range of topics, from the globalization of communication to the vocabulary of terrorism and the language used in the wake of September 11, New Media Language looks at the important and wide-ranging implications of these changes. From Malcolm Gluck on wine writing, to Naomi Baron on email, the authors provide authoritative and engaging insights into the ways in which language is changing, and in turn, changes us.With a foreword by Simon Jenkins, New Media Language is essential reading for anyone with an interest in today's complex and expanding media.

New Media Language brings leading media figures and scholars together to debate the shifting relations between today's media and contemporary language.From newspapers and television to email, the Internet and text messaging, there are ever increasing media conduits for news. This book investigates how developments in world media have affected, and been affected by, language. Exploring a wide range of topics, from the globalization of communication to the vocabulary of terrorism and the language used in the wake of September 11, New Media Language looks at the important and wide-ranging implications of these changes. From Malcolm Gluck on wine writing, to Naomi Baron on email, the authors provide authoritative and engaging insights into the ways in which language is changing, and in turn, changes us.With a foreword by Simon Jenkins, New Media Language is essential reading for anyone with an interest in today's complex and expanding media.

An established bestseller, The Articulate Mammal is a concise and highly readable introduction to the main topics in psycholinguistics. This fifth edition brings the book up-to-date with recent theories, including new material on:the possibility of a ‘language gene’post-Chomskyan ideaslanguage within an evolutionary frameworkspatial cognition and how this affects languagehow children become acclimatized to speech rhythms before birth the acquisition of verbsconstruction and cognitive grammaraphasia and dementia.Requiring no prior knowledge of the subject, chapter by chapter, The Articulate Mammal tackles the basic questions central to the study of psycholinguistics. Jean Aitchison investigates these issues with regard to animal communication, child language and the language of adults, and includes in the text full references and helpful suggestions for further reading.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a new foreword by the author.‘An excellent and very welcome guide to psycholinguistics…highly recommended.’ The Washington Post A classic in its field for almost forty years, The Articulate Mammal is a brilliant introduction to psycholinguistics. In lucid prose Jean Aitchison introduces and demystifies a complex and controversial subject: What is language and is it restricted to humans? How do children acquire language so quickly? Is language innate or learned? She explains the pioneering work of Noam Chomsky; how children become acclimatized to speech rhythms before birth; the acquisition of verbs; construction and cognitive grammar; and aphasia and dementia. She also considers new topics such as language and evolution and the possibility of a ‘language gene’, bringing the field right up to date.Jean Aitchison was Professor of Language and Communication at the University of Oxford from 1993 to 2003, and is now an Emeritus Professorial Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford. She is the author of numerous books on language and gave the 1996 BBC Reith lectures on the topic of ‘The Language Web’.

Featuring new coverage of the brain and language, and lexical corpora, the 4th edition of Words in the Mind offers readers the latest thinking about the ways in which we learn words, remember them, understand them, and find the ones we want to use. Explores the latest insights into the complex relationship between language, words, and the human mind, creating a rich and revealing resource for students and non-specialists alikeAddresses the structure and content of the human word-store – the ‘mental lexicon’ – with particular reference to the spoken language of native English speakersFeatures a wealth of new material, including an all-new chapter focusing exclusively on the brain and language, and enhanced coverage of lexical corpora – computerized databases – and on lexical change of meaningIncorporates numerous updates throughout, including expansion of many notes and suggestions for further readingComprises state-of-the-art research, yet remains accessible and student-friendly

This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Downes' textbook is an accessible introduction to the social aspects of language and their various explanations. Topics covered include domains of language use, language change, code-switching, speech as social action, and the nature of meaning and understanding. This second edition includes an analysis of language standardisation, language conflict and planning.

How do our brains enable us to speak creatively and build up an understanding of language? This concise and accessible book examines the linguistic and neuro-anatomical underpinnings of language and considers how language skills can systematically break down in individuals with different types of brain damage, such as children with language disorders, adults with right-hemisphere brain damage, demented patients, and people with reading problems. In a wide-ranging discussion, the authors also cover the effects of brain damage on bilingual people, as well as the reading and writing difficulties experienced by dyslexics and dysgraphics. Information is also provided on 'split-brain' patients, visual-gestural languages, and language savants. By studying the linguistic behaviour of these groupings, the authors provide an understanding of how language is organized in the brain.

Modern journalism is often the subject of criticism and opposition. Written by one of the foremost authorities on language and the media writing today, this engaging book suggests that view is unfair, and that journalists are in fact skilled 'word weavers' whose output is cleverly worked into planned patterns. Drawing on a range of authentic news articles, it traces the development of journalism from its origins to the present day. Aitchison shows how contemporary news writers have inherited an age-old oral tradition, which over the centuries was incorporated into public notices, ballads and storybooks - eventually providing the basis of the journalism we see today. She argues that, while journalists have very different aims to literary writers, their work can in no way be regarded as inferior. Entertainingly written, The World Weavers provides a fascinating insight into journalistic writing, and will be enjoyed by anybody wanting to know more about media language.

Some children can hear and can speak, yet have trouble understanding or producing utterances. In this accessible introduction to children's language difficulties, Shula Chiat explores the stumbling blocks which lie behind their struggle. The uniqueness of this book lies in its focus on individual children, the extensive and intriguing examples which illustrate their problems, and the step-by-step search for the source of those problems. Difficulties with words, verb structures, function morphomenes, and meaning are examined and illustrated by detailed case studies. This book provides a clear overview of what children with language difficulties say and do, and introduces a logical approach to identifying children's language problems. It will be welcomed by students and researchers of linguistics, language development and language disorders; teachers of language-impaired children; and speech and language therapists.

Language is like a vast spider's web. In this volume Jean Aitchison explores the different facets of this web. She begins with the cobweb of false worries which surrounds language. She then discusses how language evolved in the human species, how children acquire it, and how educated English speakers remember 50,000 or more words. Finally, she argues that people are right to be concerned about language, though not in the ways traditionally assumed. This is the text of the 1996 BBC Reith lectures, slightly revised for publication, with illustrations and full references, and an afterword which looks at the reception of the lectures.

Human language is a weird communication system: it has more in common with birdsong than with the calls of other primates. In this wide-ranging and accessible overview, first published in 2000, Jean Aitchison explores the origins of human language and how it has evolved. She likens the search to a vast pre-historic jigsaw puzzle, in which numerous fragments of evidence must be assembled. Such evidence is pieced together from a mixture of linguistic and non-linguistic sources like evolution theory, archaeology, psychology, and anthropology. She explains why language is so strange, outlines recent theories about its origin, and discusses possible paths of evolution. Finally, Jean Aitchison considers what holds all languages together and prevents them from becoming unlearnably different from one another. The Seeds of Speech is a fascinating book that will appeal to everyone who is interested in the origins and evolution of human language, including linguists, anthropologists, psychologists, archaeologists, and the general reader.

Modern journalism is often the subject of criticism and opposition. Written by one of the foremost authorities on language and the media writing today, this engaging book suggests that view is unfair, and that journalists are in fact skilled 'word weavers' whose output is cleverly worked into planned patterns. Drawing on a range of authentic news articles, it traces the development of journalism from its origins to the present day. Aitchison shows how contemporary news writers have inherited an age-old oral tradition, which over the centuries was incorporated into public notices, ballads and storybooks - eventually providing the basis of the journalism we see today. She argues that, while journalists have very different aims to literary writers, their work can in no way be regarded as inferior. Entertainingly written, The World Weavers provides a fascinating insight into journalistic writing, and will be enjoyed by anybody wanting to know more about media language.

A practical guide to the construction of thesauri for use in information retrieval, written by leading experts in the field. Includes: planning and design; vocabulary control; specificity and compound terms; structure and relationships; auxiliary retrieval devices; multilingual thesauri; AAT Compound Term Rules. The US ANSI/NISO Z39.19 Thesaurus construction standard is also covered.

How and why do languages change? Where does the evidence of language change come from? How do languages begin and end? This introduction to language change explores these and other questions, considering changes through time. The central theme of this book is whether language change is a symptom of progress or decay. This book will show you why it is neither, and that understanding the factors surrounding how language change occurs is essential to understanding why it happens. This updated edition remains non-technical and accessible to readers with no previous knowledge of linguistics.

How and why do languages change? Where does the evidence of language change come from? How do languages begin and end? This introduction to language change explores these and other questions, considering changes through time. The central theme of this book is whether language change is a symptom of progress or decay. This book will show you why it is neither, and that understanding the factors surrounding how language change occurs is essential to understanding why it happens. This updated edition remains non-technical and accessible to readers with no previous knowledge of linguistics.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a new foreword by the author.‘An excellent and very welcome guide to psycholinguistics…highly recommended.’ The Washington Post A classic in its field for almost forty years, The Articulate Mammal is a brilliant introduction to psycholinguistics. In lucid prose Jean Aitchison introduces and demystifies a complex and controversial subject: What is language and is it restricted to humans? How do children acquire language so quickly? Is language innate or learned? She explains the pioneering work of Noam Chomsky; how children become acclimatized to speech rhythms before birth; the acquisition of verbs; construction and cognitive grammar; and aphasia and dementia. She also considers new topics such as language and evolution and the possibility of a ‘language gene’, bringing the field right up to date.Jean Aitchison was Professor of Language and Communication at the University of Oxford from 1993 to 2003, and is now an Emeritus Professorial Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford. She is the author of numerous books on language and gave the 1996 BBC Reith lectures on the topic of ‘The Language Web’.

Is this the right book for me?This classic book is a straightforward introduction to linguistics which attempts to answer two fundamental questions: 'What is language?' and 'How does language work?' It outlines the scope of linguistics, explaining basic concepts and essential terminology with examples drawn mainly from English. Sound patterning, syntax and meaning - the inner core of linguistics - are discussed simply and clearly, as are the rapidly growing areas of pragmatics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and stylistics. You will find this contemporary, easy-to-read book essential to broadening your understanding of the subtleties and power of language.Learn effortlessly with easy-to-read page design and interactive features:Not got much time?One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started.Author insightsLots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience.Test yourselfTests in the book and online to keep track of your progress.Extend your knowledgeExtra online articles to give you a richer understanding of linguistics.Five things to rememberQuick refreshers to help you remember the key facts.Try thisInnovative exercises illustrate what you've learnt and how to use it.