The Chomskian revolution in linguistics gave rise to a new orthodoxy about mind and language. Michael Devitt throws down a provocative challenge to that orthodoxy. What is linguistics about? What role should linguistic intuitions play in constructing grammars? What is innate about language? Is there a 'language faculty'? These questions are crucial to our developing understanding of ourselves; Michael Devitt offers refreshingly original answers. He argues that linguistics is about linguistic reality and is not part of psychology; that linguistic rules are not represented in the mind; that speakers are largely ignorant of their language; that speakers' intuitions do not reflect information supplied by the language faculty and are not the main evidence for grammars; that the rules of 'Universal Grammar' are largely, if not entirely, innate structure rules of thought; indeed, that there is little or nothing to the language faculty. Devitt's controversial theses will prove highly stimulating to anyone working on language and the mind.

Language policies are increasingly acknowledged as being a necessary component of many decisions taken in the areas of the labor market, education, minority languages, mobility, and social inclusion of migrants. They can affect the democratic control of political organizations, and they can either entrench or reduce inequalities. These are the central topics of this book. Economists, philosophers, political scientists, and sociolinguists discuss – from an interdisciplinary perspective – the distributive socio-economic effects of language policies, their impact on justice and inequality at the national or international level, as well as the connection between language choices and an inclusive access to public services. The range of social and economic issues raised by linguistic diversity in contemporary societies is large, and this requires new approaches to tackle them. This book provides new input to design better, more efficient, and fair language policies in order to manage linguistic diversity in different areas. Topics covered include: theoretical models of linguistic justice and linguistic disadvantage; the assessment of the socio-economic consequences of language policies; the evaluation of the costs, benefits, and degree of inclusion of language planning measures; the politics of migrants’ linguistic integration; as well as multilingualism and economic activities. These topics are discussed in different contexts, including the areas inhabited by linguistic minorities, cities receiving migrants, and supranational organizations.

From Homer ("winged words") to Robert Burns ("Beware a tongue that's smoothly hung") to Rudyard Kipling ("Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind"), writers from all over the world have put pen to paper on the inexhaustible topic of language. Yet surprisingly, their writings on the subject have never been gathered in a single volume. In Words on Words, David and Hilary Crystal have collected nearly 5,000 quotations about language and all its intriguing aspects: speaking, reading, writing, translation, verbosity, usage, slang, and more. As the stock-in-trade of so many professions—orators, media personalities, writers, and countless others—language's appeal as a subject is extraordinarily relevant and wide-ranging. The quotations are grouped thematically under 65 different headings, from "The Nature of Language" through the "Language of Politics" to "Quoting and Misquoting." This arrangement enables the reader to explore a topic through a variety of lenses, ancient and modern, domestic and foreign, scientific and casual, ironic and playful. Three thorough indexes—to authors, sources, and key words—provide different entry points into the collection. A valuable resource for professional writers and scholars, Words on Words is for anyone who loves language and all things linguistic.

Igbo Mediators of Yahweh Culture of Life is a travel in time to where it all began. The book shows that the Creator Yahweh was in full communication with his earliest created people, the Igbos, who lived his culture of life. God shares one language with the Igbos, through which he gave them the enlightenment of civilization for humanity. This civilization was documented in the Igbo pictographic writings called hieroglyphics, which have remained unknown until this first ever exposition by this book. It traces this history from the earliest (pictographic) writings dating back 400,000 years ago in the caves in present-day Gabon, the rock paintings in the Sahara desert dating back 45,000 B.C., and in the Chauvet caves in France dating back 35,000 B.C. The hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt are, for the first time, explained in their original Igbo language with English translations. The original Igbo text of the Holy Scriptures is unveiled in a manner that brings true contextual understanding of the teachings of the prophets and the gospels. Using ethno-linguistics, anthropology, and archaeology, the exact origins of ancient biblical Israel was uncovered with specific names and locations of all the Jewish towns and villages as they existed then and to the present day in Igbo land, Nigeria. The location of the palace of King David and King Solomons temple are revealed to exist in Owerri, Imo State. The exact place of the birth of Jesus Christthe place where he lived, worked, was crucified, and buriedare all uncovered in this book. The discovery of highly developed Igbo technologies in ancient Egypt that were looted by Napoleon in 1799 and now used for reverse engineering to obtain many of the present day technologies including electric battery, aircraft systems, Space Shuttle, submarines, helicopters and others are demonstrated. The origin of the Igbos of Europe, China, and the Americas are unveiled. The UFOs writings obtained at Roswell in hieroglyphics were explained and the author postulates a fascinating hypothesis that, there are Igbos in another nearby galaxy! The book illustrates the intensifying struggle from the beginning of time between Gods Culture of Life and the Culture of Death. The book traces the prolife struggle against the Culture of Death, which though very much apparent in our time, has never eclipsed the enlightenment of the civilization of the Culture of Life. This book has fundamentally rewritten the World History as we know it. The book claims that, the Igbos are the chosen people of God. The Igbos civilized the world as Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, the Kings of ancient Israel, the Greeks, the Phoenicians, Etruscans, Iberians, Carthaginians, Mayans, Olmecs, ancient Chinese, ancient Russians, Babylonians and Jewish authors of the Holy Bible. The spread of the Culture of Life provoked persecution and genocide against Igbos to this day. This is a Great Book of the Secrets of World Civilization. Read it!

The growing complexity of agent systems calls for models and technologies that allow for system predictability and enable feature discovery and verification. Formal methods and declarative technologies have recently attracted a growing interest as a means for dealing with such issues. This book presents revised and extended versions of 11 papers selected for presentation at the First International Workshop on Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies, DALT 2003, held in Melbourne, Australia in July 2003 during AAMAS; also included are 3 invited papers by leading researchers in the area to ensure competent coverage of all relevant topics. The papers are organized in topical sections on - software engineering and MAS prototyping - agent reasoning, BDI logics, and extensions - social aspects of multi-agent systems

The authority on grammar, usage, and style.

Since first appearing in 1998, Garner's Modern American Usage has established itself as the preeminent guide to the effective use of the English language. Brimming with witty, erudite essays on troublesome words and phrases, GMAU authoritatively shows how to avoid the countless pitfalls that await unwary writers and speakers whether the issues relate to grammar, punctuation, word choice, or pronunciation. An exciting new feature of this third edition is Garner's Language-Change Index, which registers where each disputed usage in modern English falls on a five-stage continuum from nonacceptability (to the language community as a whole) to acceptability, giving the book a consistent standard throughout. GMAU is the first usage guide ever to incorporate such a language-change index. The judgments are based both on Garner's own original research in linguistic corpora and on his analysis of hundreds of earlier studies. Another first in this edition is the panel of critical readers: 120-plus commentators who have helped Garner reassess and update the text, so that every page has been improved. Bryan A. Garner is a writer, grammarian, lexicographer, teacher, and lawyer. He has written professionally about English usage for more than 28 years, and his work has achieved widespread renown. David Foster Wallace proclaimed that Bryan Garner is a genius and William Safire called the book excellent. In fact, due to the strength of his work on GMAU, Garner was the grammarian asked to write the grammar-and-usage chapter for the venerable Chicago Manual of Style. His advice on language matters is second to none.

In this powerful, multidisciplinary book, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas shows how most indigenous and minority education contributes to linguistic genocide according to United Nations definitions. Theory is combined with a wealth of factual encyclopedic information and with many examples and vignettes. The examples come from all parts of the world and try to avoid Eurocentrism. Oriented toward theory and practice, facts and evaluations, and reflection and action, the book prompts readers to find information about the world and their local contexts, to reflect and to act. A Web site with additional resource materials to this book can be found at http://www.ruc.dk/~tovesk/