Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure. Associate Professor Michelle Ballif

Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure



Download Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure



Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure Associate Professor Michelle Ballif. pdf ebook
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
Language: English
Page: 264
ISBN: 0809323338, 9780809323333

From Publishers Weekly

Using language himself in a lively and engaging way, Deutscher, an expert in Semitic languages at the University of Leiden in Holland, identifies two principles—the desire to create order out of chaotic reality, and the urge to vary the sounds of words and their meanings—providing the direction by which language developed and continues to develop. Rather than search for the prehistoric moment when speech originated, Deutscher says we can most profitably understand the phenomenon by taking the present as the key to the past. Using a wide array of examples, he delves into the back-formation of words (making a noun into a verb), the evolution of relative clauses from simple pointing words (that, this) and the turning of objects into nouns. On the question of whether language is innate, Deutscher takes a middle path, asserting that our brains are wired for basic language, but that linguistic complexity is brought about by cultural evolution. Deutscher's entertaining writing and his knack for telling a good tale about how words develop offer a delightful and charming story of language. (June 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From

The linguistic chain that connects the boasts of an ancient Sumerian monarch to the jests of Groucho Marx is long and convoluted, but Deutscher retraces it, fascinating link by fascinating link, identifying the dynamic processes that have continuously transformed and renewed the world's diverse languages. Even when delving deeply into ancient manuscripts and temple engravings, Deutscher interprets every linguistic mutation as the consequence of evolutionary forces still observable in today's living languages. Readers see in linguistic fossils from Mesopotamia traces of the same conversion of living metaphor into conceptual lattice still taking place in modern English, German, and Indonesian. What Deutscher demonstrates most clearly is how linguistic structures that look like the product of deliberate artifice can emerge from entirely natural processes. Predictably, when he probes the linguistic developments before the advent of writing, the author must frequently substitute his own speculations for solid evidence. Entailing just enough technical detail to tempt readers into professional sources (listed at the book's conclusion), this introduction to fundamental linguistic principles opens to nonspecialists a rich theoretical vista. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



MORE EBOOKS:
Download Incubus Dreams (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) pdf
Hedge Funds: Quantitative Insights download ebook







Tags: Download Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure ebook pdf
Download Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure ebook djvu
Download Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure ebook chm
Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure ebook
Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure download book
Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure ebook pdf
Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure ebook djvu
Seduction, Sophistry, and the Woman with the Rhetorical Figure ebook chm
Associate Professor Michelle Ballif ebooks