RSSLanguage and Complex Systems
Feb 06
Title: Language and Complex Systems
Publication Year: 2015
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
http://cambridge.org
Book URL: http://bit.ly/1KuLtGN
Author: William A Kretzschmar
Hardback: ISBN: 9781107100459 Pages: 242 Price: U.K. £ 64.99
Abstract:
An understanding of language as a complex system helps us to think differently
about linguistics, and helps us to address the impact of linguistic
interaction. This book demonstrates how the science of complex systems changes
every area of linguistics: how to make a grammar, how to think about the
history of language, how language works in the brain, and how it works in
social settings. Kretzschmar argues that to construct the best grammars of
languages it is necessary to understand the complex system of speech. Each
chapter makes specific recommendations for how linguists should manage
empirical data in order to form better generalizations about a language and
its varieties. The book will be welcomed by students and scholars working in
linguistics and English language, especially the study of language variation
and the historical development of English.
– Applies complex systems to many aspects of linguistics so that readers can
see how they are connected
– Makes specific recommendations on improving the management of empirical data
in order to make better generalizations about a language and its varieties
– Confirms complexity science as the basis for speech, showing how linguistics
is connected to many other academic disciplines
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