You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
The present volume is a broad overview of methods and methodologies in linguistics, illustrated with examples from concrete research. It collects insights gained from a broad range of linguistic sub-disciplines, ranging from core disciplines to topics in cross-linguistic and language-internal diversity or to contributions towards language, space and society. Given its critical and innovative nature, the volume is a valuable source for students and researchers of a broad range of linguistic interests.
Receptive multilingualism refers to the language constellation in which interlocutors use their respective mother tongue while speaking to each other. Since the mid-nineties receptive multilingualism is promoted by the European commission on par with other possibilities of increasing the mobility of the European citizens. Throughout the last ten years a marked increase in the research on this topic has been observable. This volume reveals new perspectives from different theoretical frameworks on linguistic analyses of receptive multilingualism in Europe. Case studies are presented from contemporary settings, along with analyses of historical examples, theoretical considerations and, finally, descriptions of didactical concepts established in order to transfer and disseminate receptive multilingual competence. The book contains results from research carried out at the Research Center on Multilingualism at the University of Hamburg as well as contributions by various international scholars working in the field of receptive multilingualism.
Switzerland is renowned for having a diverse linguistic and dialectal landscape in a comparatively small and confined space. Possibly, this is one of the reasons why Swiss German dialects have been investigated thoroughly on various linguistic levels. Nevertheless, natural speech intonation has, until today, not been examined systematically. The aim of this study is to analyze natural Swiss German fundamental frequency behavior according to linguistic, paralinguistic, and extralinguistic variables, using statistical tests against the backdrop of detecting dialect-specific patterns as well as cross-dialectal differences. The intonation analyses were conducted with the mathematically-formulated Command-Response model. This is the first large-scale study that applies this framework on a large corpus of natural, dialectal speech. This contribution provides a holistic account of the truly multilayered features of natural speech intonation and brings to light detailed underlying patterns of Swiss German dialectal fundamental frequency behavior. The book is mainly targeted at linguists, speech scientists, as well as dialectologists.
No detailed description available for "Variation and Convergence".
This book offers a broad survey of issues relating to the German language in Switzerland. The initial focus is on the German-speaking community's relationship with the French, Italian and Romansh language communities. Consideration is then given to the complex issue of diglossia within the germanophone Swiss community, and the maintenance of both the Swiss German dialects and the Swiss German standard language as co-existent codes of equal status. The Swiss German dialects, the Swiss variety of standard German, and the influence of various foreign languages on both of these language forms are described in some detail. Finally, sociolinguistic issues affecting the German language in Switzerland are considered: the connection between social variation and linguistic change; language variation stemming from differences of age, sex and ethnic origin; and linguistic behaviour and phatic communication.
In 2002, Expo. 02 - the Swiss National Exhibition - celebrated the modern identity of the Swiss Confederation and the electorate approved a historic change in relations with other countries by voting to join the United Nations. Yet, despite bilateral agreements regulating areas of common interest between Switzerland and the European Union, there are still strong fears that Swiss identity could be jeopardised by full membership, and that, within a wider framework, her quadrilingual composition could not be sustained. The experience which the Swiss have accumulated in dealing pragmatically and largely peacefully with different languages is detailed in the six essays of this volume. The special contemporary characteristics of German, French and Italian within Switzerland, the pressures on Romansh, the role played by Switzerland in integrating gender-neutral language into standard usage and the dominance of English as a means of communication between different language groups are amongst the topics discussed.
Places Switzerland within the context of transnational labor migration and examines how this German-, French-, Italian-, and Romansh- speaking nation is being transformed by the influx of migrants from all over the world who now constitute a fifth of the population.
None