Bloomsbury Linguistics

Three glowing reviews in the latest Times Higher Education textbooks round-up

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that not one, but THREE Bloomsbury Linguistics books are featured in the Times Higher Education's latest textbook round-up! Here are a few highlights, but click on the links beneath each to read the reviews in their full glory:

Multilingualism by John Edwards:

"Textbooks come in all shapes and sizes. Some look like exam revision books; others are packed to the brim with information, running the risk of overwhelming readers on a given subject. This slim volume, broadly on the origins, development and uses of languages, is completely different. Divided into 10 chapters on themes such as language diversity, multilingualism, bridging means across languages, language survival and intervention, it is the most readable textbook I have ever come across... This seemingly light yet profoundly rich book, with its span across the entire language diversity scene, cannot fail to spark enthusiasm.

Who is it for? Everyone who is even remotely interested in language(s) in society. It's as much an informative leisure read as a subject review.

Presentation: Its apparent simplicity, clarity and colourful asides make it an unforgettable reading experience.

Would you recommend it? Unreservedly."

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=421705&featurecode=234

 

Labov: A Guide for the Perplexed by Matthew J. Gordon:

"Labov makes an apt subject for a volume in Continuum's series Guides for the Perplexed, which seeks to provide concise, undergraduate-level introductions to writers and subjects often perceived to be dauntingly complex. Matthew Gordon's book fulfils the remit admirably, offering an instructive and accessible companion to Labov's work and the variationist approach to language description and change... this guide is a clear success: in keeping a narrow focus on Labov's own research (from his renowned Martha's Vineyard and New York City studies to his engagement with African American Vernacular English and the mapping of current North American dialects), Gordon manages to tell the "life story" of sociolinguistics in a compact and coherent manner.

Who is it for? Any student of linguistics eager to move beyond the standard undergraduate textbook fare of Labov's renowned New York City department-store survey in pursuit of a comprehensive, historically grounded understanding of the place of sociolinguistics in the field of language study.

Presentation: Commendably clear and straightforward.

Would you recommend it? The book would be useful in an upper-level undergraduate general linguistics course or beginning a sociolinguistics course."

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=421758&featurecode=234

Understanding Language: Second Edition by Elizabeth Winkler:

"For an introductory text to be successful it must be clear, captivating and complete. With this second edition of Understanding Language, Elizabeth Winkler manages to incorporate all these key elements while also finding a way to make linguistics fun... While some introductory textbooks in this field can be overwhelming for students, Winkler never fails to keep the reader's attention. Her sense of humour, along with references to The Simpsons, Monty Python and Facebook Chat, all help to make this book highly appealing to the young student reader... For me, this book reaches beyond the expectations of an introductory text. Winkler furnishes the reader with a multifaceted knowledge of linguistics while also providing an enjoyable and engaging read.

Who is it for? It is a useful, comprehensive preparatory text for linguistics students and also a guideline for teachers. Beginners in linguistics and anyone with an interest in the subject will also benefit from this book.

Presentation: Clear, comprehensive and dynamic.

Would you recommend it? Absolutely."

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=421759&featurecode=234

We really are thrilled with these- it's lovely to see these books being given the recognition they deserve.

Look out for a special blog post from Multilingualism author John Edwards next week.

Best wishes,

Ellena

Wordcrime: Special Offer

'Wordcrime' by Forensic Linguist John Olsson is fascinating reading for anyone interested in true crime, modern, cutting-edge criminology and also where language meets the law. Featuring a series of gripping cases - involving murder, sexual assault, hate mail, suspicious death, code deciphering, arson and even genocide, Olsson describes the evidence he gave in each one. In approachable and clear prose, he details how forensic linguistics helps the law beat the criminals.

This gripping book, which published in Paperback earlier this year, has received extensive review coverage. Most recently, it has been reviewed by Henry Coningsby for Waterstone's Reviews:

"Time was when you’d find guilt written on a defendant’s face. These days, it’s in their letters, emails, and text messages. Enter the forensic linguists, deploying their formidable deductive powers to solve the knottiest problems of attribution. Let us take some examples from John Olsson’s book, ‘Wordcrime’, to show how it’s done. There was a certain businessman, Mr X, accused of downloading indecent material onto his computer. He said it was his friend, a recently deceased plumber, who had done it. Baffled, the police sent for Professor Olsson.

Here are the two pieces of evidence he was asked to look at. The first is a message sent from the computer’s email address: ‘I have spent some time this evening at your site and have not been able to access any material of the type that was used to advertise it. It was a bit like memory lane. Some of the material was lifted straight from 35mm films and videos that I watched 20 years ago. Seriously, though, it really was nothing like the preview and I have no wish to subscribe to this type of site’ etc. And here is a letter from the plumber, on an unrelated subject: ‘Please could you contact me as soon as possible as to my situation at the moment and why I am being keep here at the prison. And when will I be released as not knowing is worse of all’.

How are simple folk like you and me to know if those two samples are from the same person? But to the trained eyes of a forensic linguist, there are clues a-plenty. ‘I began’, says Olsson, ‘by looking for signs of markedness in the two texts … In the present instance I decided to take an internet and corpus survey of the phrases found in the known and questioned texts, and test them for frequency. All of the phrases were surveyed on a major internet search engine and a sample of these were re-checked using the British National Corpus (BNC), compiled by scholars at Oxford University’. By these refined methods he established that the plumber, who used expressions like ‘being keep here’ and ‘worse of all’ (Ah! You see them now!), could not have sent the first, more literate message. Before this jet-hose of textual analysis Mr X’s lies dissolved like toilet paper. As Frank Drebbin would say, he’s now downloading porn in the Statesville prison.

In another case, Olsson was called in to examine an anonymous letter sent to the social welfare department of an American city. The letter made allegations relating to Ms Y, and her fitness to raise children. Some months before, Ms Y had accused her therapist, Dr Z, of making improper advances. Could the letter have come from him? ‘The anonymous letter’, Olsson notes, ‘is full of medical terminology … the symptoms described and their possible or probable causes seem to be a description by someone who is familiar with the issues being described and purports to understand something of them’. Comparisons with known samples of Dr Z’s writing revealed he had used that exact terminology with reference to Ms Y, in her case-notes. The net tightened. How could Dr Z’s feeble defence, that as a gay man he wasn’t really interested in improper advances toward Ms Y, and that she had made the whole thing up, withstand Olsson’s relentless scrutiny?

Well, as it happened, Ms Y declined to press charges. Whether Dr Z wrote the letter or not – and I have to say that whoever did, seems to have had good grounds for questioning Ms Y’s mental state – we shall never know. But Professor Olsson’s work continues. His book is an intriguing glimpse of a discipline whose existence, and indeed necessity, few of us can ever have guessed at."

For a limited period, you can buy this book at a 20% discount. Simply call (+44) 01256 302692 to place your order, quoting the discount code GLR 7SO to receive the discount. Postage and packaging are included in the offer!

Best wishes,

Ellena

 

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

Praise for Labov: A Guide for the Perplexed

Publishing in November, this is the first accessible single volume introduction and guide to Labov's work.

We have already recieved the following glowing endorsements for this fantastic new coursebook- the first from none other than Peter Trudgill.

‘Yes, William Labov really did establish a whole new academic field when he was a graduate student. And he has remained at the forefront of that field to this day. Matthew Gordon describes how, why, when and where this happened, and explains with great clarity the importance and excitement of it all. It's a remarkable story, and Gordon has really done it justice.’ – Peter Trudgill, University of Agder, Norway.

'Gordon has written a mesmerizing narrative of one of the greatest linguists in the history of the profession, capturing the historical, social, and theoretical significance of Labov’s pioneering studies of language in its social context. It is an invaluable, timeless contribution to understanding the modern development of our discipline.'- Walt Wolfram, North Carolina State University, USA.

Look out for exclusive digital previews later this year, but in the meantime you can find more information on the book here.

Ellena

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

The Times Higher Education Textbook Guide

I am delighted to kick off our first blog post with the news that two of our textbooks have been recommended in the Times Higher Education 'Textbook Guide', published last week.

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics: Society and Identity by Sharon K. Deckert and Caroline H. Vickers is a definitive introductory text to modern sociolinguistics that looks at the study of language and society through the concept of identity. Deckert and Vickers adopt an interdisciplinary approach, introducing work from a variety of fields that examine sociolinguistic data, from linguistics to anthropology, sociology, psychology and education. It includes student-friendly features that make the book ideal for teaching with, including key terms, chapter summaries, study questions and further reading.

An Introduction to Conversation Analysis is a second edition of one of our best-selling textbooks by Anthony J. Liddicoat. This book looks at methodology, motivation and the specifics of transcription, and is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, sociology and applied linguistics courses. The chapters introduce every aspect of conversation analysis in a logical, step-by-step examination, including coverage of transcription, turn-taking, sequence organisation, repair, and storytelling. This book is also accompanied by a companion website with additional online resources and material.

You can read the Language and Linguistics 'Textbook Guide' in full, here.

Both of these textbooks are available on inspection for lectueres in the UK and overseas. If you would like to request a copy of either, or both, please visit our website.

Jenny

Marketing Executive