Easy-to-Understand (E2U) text practices enable and facilitate accessible communication. E2U refers both to Plain and to Easy Language. These two powerful methods of language and content comprehension enhancement are illustrated through several examples in English, starting from the seminal role of the Anglophone world in promoting plain and lucid style. Originally implemented in written texts, …
Since the hiring of its first Africanist linguist Carleton Hodge in 1964, Indiana University’s Department of Linguistics has had a strong and continuing presence in the study of African languages and linguistics through the work of its faculty and of its graduates on the faculties of many other universities. Research on African linguistics at IU has covered some of the major language groups s…
" The Siouan family comprises some twenty languages, historically spoken across a broad swath of the central North American plains and woodlands, as well as in parts of the southeastern United States. In spite of its geographical extent and diversity, and the size and importance of several Siouan-speaking tribes, this family has received relatively little attention in the linguistic literature …
One of the earliest structural linguists, Baudouin de Courtenay was a pioneer in systematic phonology and a formative influence on Saussure, Jacobsen, and the Prague school of linguistics. This translation of de Courtenay's major writings gives Western scholars direct contact with his work for the first time. (Indiana University Studies in the History and Theory of Linguistics)
This concise bibliography on South-African Languages and Linguistics was compiled on the occasion of the 20th International Congress of Linguists in Cape Town, South Africa, in July 2018. The selection of titles is drawn from the Linguistic Bibliography and gives an overview of scholarship on South African language studies over the past 10 years.
This study investigates the distribution of linguistic and specifically structural diversity in Northeast Asia (NEA), defined as the region north of the Yellow River and east of the Yenisei. In particular, it analyzes what is called the grammar of questions (GQ), i.e., those aspects of any given language that are specialized for asking questions or regularly combine with these. The bulk of the …
This study investigates the distribution of linguistic and specifically structural diversity in Northeast Asia (NEA), defined as the region north of the Yellow River and east of the Yenisei. In particular, it analyzes what is called the grammar of questions (GQ), i.e., those aspects of any given language that are specialized for asking questions or regularly combine with these. The bulk of the …
Case-systems all over the world exhibit striking similarities. In most lan- guages intransitive subjects (S) receives less overt marking than one of the two transitive arguments (agent-like A or patient-like P); the other one of these two arguments is usually encoded by the same form as S. In some languages the amount of overt marking is identical between S, A, and P. But hardly ever does the S…
This descriptive and comprehensive study on the discursive struggle over interpersonal relations in online message boards is located at the fascinating interface of pragmatics and computer-mediated discourse – a research area which has so far not attracted much scientific interest. It sets out to shed light on the question how interpersonal relations are established, managed and negotiated in…