“…Almost one quarter of the world's languages are (or were) spoken in the Pacific, making it linguistically the most complex region in the world. This book introduces the grammatical features and semantic structures of Oceanic, Papuan, and Australian languages. …”

“…This has led not only to a lack of appreciation for the complexity of their lives and concerns, but also to an underestimation and incomplete understanding of their intellectual and linguistic skills. By exploring aspects of the ongoing linguistic and social lives of retarded individuals in various community contexts, this volume contributes to a growing body of literature which attempts to fill in this inadequate picture…”

“…Philosophers of language have focused primarily on highly idealized linguistic contexts in which cooperative agents are working toward the shared goal of gaining information about the world. …”

“…Targeted at scholars, educators, and students in applied linguistics and language teaching…”

“…Focusing particularly on the typological differences between English/type language and Japanese/type languages, Fukui examines the abstract parameters that both link and divide them. Linguistic universals are considered in the light of cross-linguistic variation and typological (parametric) differences are investigated from the viewpoint of universal principles. …”

“…The abstractors' personality, their linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge and skills are also discu…”

“…Finally, the conclusion suggests desiderata with respect to future progress in our understanding of the development of both linguistic competence and linguistic performance…”

“…The awareness that a large part of mankind speaks more than one language - that this may impact both on the way each individual language is used and on the thought processes of bilinguals and multilinguals, and that, consequently, our theories on human linguistic ability and its role in non-linguistic cognition are in…”

“…Japanese civilisation very early asserted itself in a relationship of “linguistic competition” with Chinese, in the religious, literary and intellectual spheres. …”

“…But to what extent did prescriptivism impact ongoing processes of linguistic change? The authors of this volume examine a variety of linguistic changes in a corpus of personal correspondence, including the auxiliary do, verbal -s and the progressive aspect, and they conclude that direct normative influence on them must have been minimal. …”

“…Presenting approaches to overcome barriers to innovation in language education, the book will be of great interest to academics, researchers, doctoral students in the field of language education, as well as socio- and applied linguists. Practitioners interested in linguistic diversity more broadly will also find this book engaging. …”

“…Thus, the linguist, the scientist, and the general reader with an interest in language may profit from study of the text…”

“…At a very early stage, Japanese civilisation asserted itself in a relationship of “linguistic competition” with Chinese, in both the religious, the literary, and the intellectual spheres. …”

“…In these journeys, the creative and critical potential of translation emerges as a potent, often violent, but always illuminating, vision of the possibilities of differentiation and connection, generation and memory, in temporal, linguistic, cultural and political terms…”

“…Accordingly, the Greek, Latin, and French texts are quoted in the originals, with translations added, and attention is paid to textual cruces which illustrate the linguistic and conceptual difficulties of these plays…”