Languages, images, smells, sounds and other semiotic monsters: exploring linguistic landscapes and multimodality. Book review of "Expanding the Linguistic Landscape: linguistic diversity, multimodality and the use of space as a semiotic resource" ed. by Martin Putz and Neele Mundt, Bristol, UK, Multilingual Matters, 2019. ISBN: 978-1-78892-214-2

[Extract] In recent years there has been growing interest in Linguistic Landscape (henceforth LL) research that focuses on the use of languages in public spaces. The volume edited by Martin Pütz and Neele Mundt is a valuable contribution to the expanding LL research that targets the visible representation of multiple languages in a globalized world. More specifically, the volume is a collection of 12 chapters which offer theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions to the field of LL, drawing on various disciplinary locations, such as linguistics, politics, sociology, literacy, education and cultural geography, and deploying quantitative as well as qualitative methods. The book has its origin in the 37th International LAUD Symposium held on 4-6 April 2016 at the University of Koblenz-Landau in Landau, Germany

Trends in qualitative research in language teaching since 2000

This paper reviews developments in qualitative research in language teaching since the year 2000, focusing on its contributions to the field and identifying issues that emerge. Its aims are to identify those areas in language teaching where qualitative research has the greatest potential and indicate what needs to be done to further improve the quality of its contribution. The paper begins by highlighting current trends and debates in the general area of qualitative research and offering a working definition of the term. At its core is an overview of developments in the new millennium based on the analysis of papers published in 15 journals related to the field of language teaching and a more detailed description, drawn from a range of sources, of exemplary contributions during that period. Issues of quality are also considered, using illustrative cases to point to aspects of published research that deserve closer attention in future work, and key publications on qualitative research practice are reviewed

Qualitative and mixed methodology for online language teaching research

This paper provides an overview of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning), its history and current developments. It presents a rationale for moving CALL research forward, and outlines a particular approach to researching online language teaching and learning: the use of qualitative methodology. It is in this historical context that a case for more qualitative and integrative research designs is made. Examples of qualitative and mixed method studies are taken from the context of language teaching at the Open University in the United Kingdom, the largest institution of its kind in Europe, with a remit of teaching all subjects at university level to adults, regardless of their prior qualifications. With the help of these examples the scope and promise of qualitative approaches are discussed

An analysis of practical lexicography: a reader (Ed. Fontenelle 2008)

Intended as a companion volume to The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography (Atkins and Rundell 2008), Fontenelle's book aims to bring together the most relevant papers in practical lexicography. This review article presents a critical analysis of the success thereof, both in quantitative and qualitative terms

What is corpus linguistics? What the data says

Stubbs (2006), in his state of the art overview, draws attention to the frequent reticence or vagueness of corpus analysts in discussing their operational methods within a scientific context, (a context addressed in detail in Partington forthcoming). This lack of clarity in discussing the methodological framework employed is, perhaps, most surprising given the way in which corpus linguistics situates itself within a scientific frame, and lays such claims to a scientific nature. This brief paper, then, addresses the question posed in its title, namely, “What is corpus linguistics?” – is it a discipline, a methodology, a paradigm or none or all of these? – but does not attempt to offer any definitive answers. Rather, the aim is to present the reader with a number of observations on how corpus linguistics has been construed in its own literature and then to leave the question open, in the hope of stimulating further discussion. The study takes the specific term corpus linguistics and looks at how it is defined and described both explicitly and implicitly in a variety of relevant sources

Rise and development of Slavic accentual paradigms

It appears that the complexity of Slavic historical accentology is prohibitive for most non-specialists in the field. It may therefore be useful to approach the subject from a number of different angles in order to render it more accessible to a wider audience. In the following I shall discuss the separate accent paradigms and their development from the Late Balto-Slavic system, which is structurally similar to that of modern Lithuanian, up to the end of the Proto-Slavic period, when the system resembled what we find in modern Serbo-Croatian. The numbering of the stages 1.0 through 10.12 is the same as in my earlier publications (1989, 2003, 2005, 2006a, 2008b). For the rise and development of the accentual system up to the end of the Balto-Slavic period I may refer to my discussion (2006b, 2008a) of Olander’s dissertation (2006). It resulted in a system of four major and two minor accent types

Introduction: converging data sources in cognitive linguistics

The aim of the paper is to outline the topic of the present special issue. In the first section, the authors give a concise overview of current discussions on the structure and function of linguistic data and evidence in general. They argue that one of the main insights which the discussions led to is the need to integrate different data sources in linguistic theorising. The second section deals with the specific manifestation of these discussions in cognitive linguistics. The authors raise the questions which the papers in the special issue address with respect to cognitive linguistics: What data sources can be integrated?; How can different data sources be integrated?; How does the integration of different data sources affect the acceptability of hypotheses? Finally, in the last section, the structure of the special issue is summarised

What variational linguistics can learn from Galician

This short overview reviews, in the first part, some of the most important fields of investigation where studies on Galician have contributed to variational linguistics, including macro- and micro-sociolinguistic studies (sections 1-3). The second part (sections 4-7) postulates some possible theoretical and empirical areas which we recommend to be included in future research. We propose a critical application of new models of linguistic variation, including recent frameworks such as studies on grammaticalisation, OT, intonational phonology, etc., but also call for the inclusion of established insights into language variation common in the European tradition. The high concentration of research institutions and the strongly dynamic situation of contemporary Galician could serve as an empirical touchstone for these theoretical frameworks, and Galician linguistics should apply them in a critical, flexible and creative way. This means that research on Galician will not only learn from theory but also contribute to it. We also briefly mention some of the areas where the studies of Galician have already contributed some important results to an overall perspective on linguistic variation

West Slavic accentuation

At the time of the earliest reconstructible dialectal divergences, which belong to the Late Middle Slavic period of my chronology (stages 7.0 - 8.0 of Kortlandt 1989a, 2003, 2008), the West Slavic languages represented the most conservative part of the Slavic dialects (cf. Kortlandt 1982b: 191 and 2003: 231)

Arts and Humanities Literature: Bibliometric Characteristics of Contributions by Turkish Authors

Scholarly communication in arts and humanities differs from that in the sciences. Arts and humanities scholars rely primarily on monographs as amedium of publication whereas scientists consider articles that appear in scholarly journals as the single most important publication outlet. The number of journal citation studies in arts and humanities is therefore limited. In this article, we investigate the bibliometric characteristics of 507 arts and humanities journal articles written by authors affiliated with Turkish institutions and indexed in the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) between the years 1975–2003. Journal articles constituted more than 60% of all publications. One third of all contributions were published during the last 4 years (1999–2003) and appeared in 16 different journals. An overwhelming majority of contributions (91%) were written in English, and 83% of them had single authorship. Researchers based at Turkish universities produced 90% of all publications. Two thirds of references in publications were to monographs. The median age of all references was 12 years. Eighty percent of publications authored by Turkish arts and humanities scholars were not cited at all while the remaining 20% (or 99 publications) were cited 304 times (anaverage of three citations per publication). Self-citation ratio was 31%. Two thirds of the cited publications were cited for the first time within 2 years of their publications