We are getting ready for the American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference in Portland Oregon. We are bringing many new textbooks including new editions of best-selling titles Forensic Linguistics, Developing Materials for Language Teaching and Quantitative Research in Linguistics: An Introduction. Stop by to receive a 35% discount on all displayed titles and a tote bag with each purchase. Check out our program ad below.
Mar 20, 2014
Jul 22, 2013
Coffee and Collage
Last week I had the chance to meet with Maria-Carolina Cambre, author of our forthcoming Semiotics of Che Guevara. She was in London courtesy of her winning a prize, and we always like to shout about it when our authors win prizes for being excellent. Her book is part of our Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics series, about which you can find more details here.
The prize is the 2013 Rieger Award for Thesis/Disseration and it was awarded for Maria-Carolina's work on 'The Politics of the Face: Manifestations of Che Guevara's Image and Its Collage of Renderings and Agency'. There are more details here.
Maria-Carolina took me through her ideas for the book and we also spoke about how she could edit her manuscript to make it more readable and compelling. I am a firm believer that academic discourse is written to inform but also to entertain. When an academic or a student parts with their money and takes receipt of a book from my list, I want them to learn something (hopefully whatever they bought to book to learn) but also to feel as if they are getting some kind of entertainment. There is no real reason why an academic book can't have good prose, clear writing and, even, an arc to the 'narrative', such as it is. Constructing a book with 80,000 words leaves plenty of room to make sure that you are enriching someone's daily lived experience when they read your work. Authors take their readers from one point of knowledge to the next and that is movement, of a sort: what this movement needs is structure.
We finished up our coffees at the very chic Store Street Espresso and M-C headed off. You can hear her talk about her work in this pod cast, hosted by the Toronto Review of Books.
Also: if you're writing an academic book and you want guidance on structure and style, why not get in touch?
GM.
Jan 25, 2013
AAAL 2013 Program Ad Preview
We are getting ready for the American Associaton for Applied Linguistics conference in Dallas this year. We just finalized our first program ad as Bloomsbury. We're offering a 35% discount on displayed titles. Highlights include second editions of textbooks Understanding Language and Discourse Analysis. Check it out here.
Dec 13, 2012
Latest titles from Bloomsbury Linguistics
To round off a fantastic year of publishing, I am pleased to bring you a round-up of our latest titles, including two new coursebooks and a great selection of in-depth research works.
First up, the latest addition to our fabulous Advances in Semiotics series, Semiotics of Religion by Robert A. Yelle.
This book integrates structural and historical perspectives on the semiotics of religion and gives an account of the distinctive features of religious language and symbolism.
We have recieved some wonderful endorsements, including this from Webb Keane, University of Michigan, USA- "This book is vast in scope, deep in implications, and admirably clear and forthright in exposition.The study of religion has needed a work of this kind, which brings together several research traditions and pushes the resulting synthesis in new directions.The result is an agenda-setting project of huge ambition."
Check out window 8 on the Bloomsbury advent calendar to win copies of the first three books to publish in this exciting new series, including Semiotics of Religion.
Next up, the latest offering from Brian Tomlinson, Applied Linguistics and Materials Development.
This book focuses for the first time on materials development and applications of current research and theory for the main areas of applied linguistics (e.g. second language acquisition, pragmatics, vocabulary studies).
"For many years Brian Tomlinson has led the way internationally in the field of materials development. This edited book by him is another example of innovative, research-based exploration of materials for language teaching that never loses sight of the classroom nor of the need for pedagogy that is reflective, informed and learner-sensitive. And there is a great cast-list of contributors. Highly recommended." - Professor Ronald Carter, School of English, University of Nottingham, UK
Both books are available on inspection for lecturers. More information on the inspection copy process can be found here.
We also have a number of new monographs publishing this month, including the following two additions to our well-established Bloomsbury Advances in Translation series (formerly Continuum Advances in Translation).
Music, Text and Translation by Helen Julia Minors
Explores the roles that translation plays in a musical context, questioning the transference of sense between music and text.
'This volume issues a powerful challenge to everyone who uses the word “translation” in relation to music. The sheer diversity of its essays demonstrates, as no previous book has, the extraordinary intellectual and artistic fertility of bringing together the notions of music and translation – and the dangers of thinking we know what we’re talking about.' - Peter Dayan, The University of Edinburgh, UK
The Pragmatic Translator by Massimiliano Morini
Showcases a descriptive theory of translation based on pragmatics, describing all processes and products of translation on the performative, interpersonal and locative axes.
Presents a full and up to date view of translation that takes into account thirty years of research in the field of Descriptive Translation Studies. Unlike DTS, the theory provides an account of products and processes. This publication exhibits the need for and usefulness of such a theory, and will be essential reading for scholars involved in translation and interpreting studies.
Also publishing:
I. A. Richards and the Rise of Cognitive Stylistics by David West (part of our Advances in Stylistics series):
'Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. This is a convincing revaluation of Richards’ significance; it is a perfect example of the rational cognitive turn in the arts; and it is an unanswerable polemic for a science of literary study.' - Professor Peter Stockwell, Chair in Literary Linguistics, University of Nottingham, UK
The Syntax of Mauritian Creole by Anand Syea, (from the Bloomsbury Studies in Theoretical Linguistics series):
'Anand Syea's book, the result of over twenty years of research, has everything one could wish for: abundant and reliable examples, a firm but accessible theoretical foundation, a transparent structure and line of argumentation.’ - Pieter Muysken, Professor, Department of Linguistics, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
The Semantic Representation of Natural Language by Michael Levison, Geg Lessard, Craig Thomas and Matthew Donald:
‘At last a book on natural language semantics that tackles semantics all the way up to texts of considerable length and fictional statements. The proposed formalism brings together well tried solutions for specific linguistic phenomena with a structural approach based on programming languages that makes it user friendly and gives it tremendous expressive power. A very useful contribution for natural language generation and the representation of narrative.’ - Pablo Gervás, Associate Professor, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
To mark the launch of our new website, all of our books are available at a 25% discount (excluding US, Canada and Australia unfortunately), so you can currently buy all of the above titles at bargain prices!
Best wishes,
Ellena
Oct 01, 2012
Latest publishing from Continuum (Bloomsbury) Linguistics, including 'Discourse Analysis 2e'
I am thrilled to bring you a selection of our recent titles (all available for inspection by lecturers), to kick off the new academic year.
First up, the long-awaited second edition of Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, a comprehensive, accessible and widely-used introduction to discourse analysis - essential reading for students encountering the subject for the first time.
This book has already recieved an abundance of outstanding reviews, including the following two endorsements:
'Expanded and updated – still absolutely the best text for teaching and learning about discourse analysis. For the student, Paltridge is clear, comprehensive and – above all – lively and approachable. For the teacher, Paltridge provides unparalleled practical support: a perfectly-structured, semester-long curriculum, exercises, project topics, and teaching materials on the companion website. No-one could ask for more.' Miriam Meyerhoff, Professor of Linguistics, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
‘What is most commendable about this revised and expanded edition is the broadness of its scope, on the one hand, and precise focus on details, on the other. Paltridge uses real life examples of human encounters in contemporary contexts, thus making the text engaging for and relevant to today’s teachers and students. A comprehensive contribution to the educational literature on discourse analysis, the book is equally appealing to beginners and experienced discourse analysts.’ Natasha Artemeva, Associate Professor, School of Linguistics & Language Studies, Carleton University, Canada
Check out an exclusive digital preview of Chapter 5- 'Discourse and Conversation here- http://www.scribd.com/BloomsburyLing.
Next, News Discourse by Monika Bednarek and Helen Caple, which explores the role of language and images in newspaper, radio, online and television news. This clearly written and accessible introduction to news discourse is essential reading for students, lecturers, and researchers in Linguistics, Media/Journalism Studies, and Semiotics.
Don't just take our word for it- endorsements include this from Paul Baker, Lancaster Universtiy, UK: "This clearly written book is a must-have for anyone wanting to conduct linguistic or discursive analysis of news texts. Covering a wide range of approaches, the authors combine a succinct overview of key studies and recent developments in the field with their own analyses of written and spoken texts, images and video footage. The breadth of coverage ensures that the book will be of benefit to students and researchers at all levels of experience."
Click on the 'preview' button above to read an extract.
Finally, the wonderfully colourful Exploding the Creativity Myth by Tony Veale. This book pulls back the curtain on creativity and language, using a wide range of examples to illustrate how we create new ways of saying things.
One of many excellent endorsements comes from Professor Patrick Hanks, Bristol Centre for Linguistics, University of the West of England, UK: 'Exploding the Creativity Myth is an exceptionally lively, readable, and empirically well-founded study of the processes of human linguistic and conceptual creativity. Veale has grasped the essentially analogical nature of creative thought, and shows us how it works and why it is necessary for successful communication. I have rarely enjoyed reading an an academic book so much.'
Read Chapter 5, 'Pimp my Ride' here- http://www.scribd.com/BloomsburyLing.
Click here to request inspection copies of all of the above.
Best wishes,
Ellena
Jul 27, 2012
Review of Student Writing and Genre in 'Applied Linguistics'
I blogged a couple of months ago about the excellent feedback that this book has already received. I'm thrilled to bring you the following extract from another great review, which has appeared in the latest edition of the prestigious Applied Linguistics journal:
"Student Writing and Genre: Reconfiguring Academic Knowledge, is an engaging and theoretically sound book, which raises the question, ‘how do genres affect the ways students understand and engage with their disciplines?’ Drawing on a fresh approach to reconfiguring academic knowledge, Fiona English explores ‘the relationship between genres, academic knowledge and representation, particularly in relation to student writing’ (p. 1). Structured in eight chapters, the book draws inspiration from her interdisciplinary first year module on critical language awareness and academic literacies, where English raises the concept of genre for discussion with students in order to explore the possibility of regenring—a process which involves reworking an essay from another module into a different genre altogether. Her research found a ‘profound shift, not only in terms of what I might once have thought of as generic ‘‘shape,’’ but in the materiality of the work itself’ (p. 1)...
The book is an excellent resource for those in higher education who are seeking new meanings and methods in education. It works to break down the gulf between professional knowledge and student understanding, and, most importantly, toward reconfiguring academic knowledge."
Read the full review in 'Applied Linguistics' - July 2012, Vol. 33- http://bit.ly/hD3Hrl.
Best wishes,
Ellena
May 31, 2012
Excellent review of Student Writing and Genre
A great review of Student Writing and Genre by Fiona English has just landed in my inbox. The review (by Heather Mendick, Brunel University UK) appeared in the November/December issue of the journal 'Studies in Higher Education'.
Highlights include: "This book made me want to be braver with the kind of assignments I set for students, despite the resistances they and I might have to ‘unconventional’ requirements. As English concludes, higher education remains a space of relative autonomy within education – one in which lecturers largely set and mark their own assessments. We spend a lot of our lives working through student work so it is in their and our interests to create tasks which allow students to show what they can do and which make marking more pleasurable. This book is an invaluable resource in thinking through how to do that."
Click on the 'preview' link above to read the introduction and look out for the Paperback version, due to publish in November.
Best wishes,
Ellena
Nov 11, 2011
Clothing Down Sale, Now On
Not all of linguistics has to do with tree diagrams and arguments over nature versus nuture. Sometimes, you're walking down the street and you come across something like this:
What exactly is a 'clothing down sale'? Do they mean 'closing down sale'? It is a clothing shop, though, and they've repeated the error on both windows. The creepy mannequin facing away from the window display and the rather jolly advertisement for a 'Country Fayre' complete the mix of registers. This little gem was captured by your editor on East Ham High Street North. Got a better snap of a typo, pun or clever phrase? Send them in and we'll put the best up. For now, enjoy this -- and have a good weekend.
GM.
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