These cogent essays on linguistic theory explore Noam Chomsky's influential concept of generative grammar. The readings form a coherent outline of transformational theory, the distinguished author and educator's controversial challenge to structural linguistics. They rely chiefly on Chomsky’s own words, but their arrangement is such that nonspecialists will have no difficulty in following the text. Topics include syntactic st ...
Written by two major American poets, this guide to versification is immensely useful for anyone interested in poetry or in general poetic structure. Its systematic study of meter, tempo, rhyme, and other components of verse incorporates countless vivid illustrative examples.Concise and informal, The Prosody Handbook progresses from the smaller elements to the larger: from syllables to feet to lines to stanzas, and from smaller stanzas to larger ...
This etymological tour de force was written by a self-taught farmer's son who became a world-famous linguist and senior editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. By the time he was a teenager, Henry Bradley (1845-1923) had immersed himself in several classical languages. His achievements were ultimately recognized with honorary degrees from Oxford and Heidelberg, and fellowships at Magdalen College and the British Academy. This 1904 work rep ...
In this important study Ernst Cassirer analyzes the non-rational thought processes that go to make up culture. He demonstrates that beneath both language and myth there lies an unconscious «grammar» of experience, whose categories and canons are not those of logical thought. He shows that this prelogical «logic» is not merely an undeveloped state of rationality, but something basically different, and that this archaic mode of thought still has e ...
The compiler of this dictionary of word and phrase origins and history was not only a linguist and a philologist but also a man of culture and wit. When he turned his attention, therefore, to the creation of an etymological dictionary for both specialists and non-specialists, the result was easily the finest such work ever prepared.Weekley's Dictionary is a work of thorough scholarship. It contains one of the largest lists of words and phra ...
The compiler of this dictionary of word and phrase origins and history was not only a linguist and a philologist but also a man of culture and wit. When he turned his attention, therefore, to the creation of an etymological dictionary for both specialists and non-specialists, the result was easily the finest such work ever prepared.Weekley's Dictionary is a work of thorough scholarship. It contains one of the largest lists of words and phra ...
Amusing and thought-provoking, this A-to-Z compendium outlines common oral and written gaffes. Ambrose Bierce, a celebrated literary wit, assembled his informative compilation in 1909 from many years of observations and notes. He advocates precision in language, offering alternatives to grammatical lapses and inaccurate word choices.Moneyed for Wealthy: «The moneyed men of New York.» One might as sensibly say, «The cattled men of Texas, ...
One of the seminal works of Western philosophy, Aristotle's Rhetoric vastly influenced all subsequent thought on the subject — philosophical, political, and literary. Focusing on the use of language as both a vehicle and a tool to shape persuasive argument, Aristotle delineates with remarkable insight both practical and aesthetic elements and their proper combination in an effective presentation, oral or written. He also emphasize ...
The original edition of the most trusted writer's guide to American English, this is the book that generations of writers have relied upon for timeless advice on grammar, diction, syntax, sentence construction, and other writing essentials. In brief and concise terms, author William Strunk, Jr., identifies the principal requirements of proper American English style and concentrates on the most often violated rules of composition.Originally ...
