Despite the considerable attention the topic of luck has received in ethics and epistemology, very little has been published in the philosophical literature overtly on linguistic luck. The essays collected here provide the first sustained examination of the diverse forms of linguistic luck, the mechanisms available to reduce the impact of linguistic luck and how to cope with residual luck not eliminated by the causal, inferential, and intentional mechanisms which aim at its eradication. Of primary interest is not some, hitherto unnoticed widespread prevalence of luck in the determinants of meaning and communication, but rather the impressive extent to which luck is reduced or eliminated therein. Whether through casual, inferential or intentional means, the determinants of meaning and communication are impressively independent of luck and chance. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a world with human language where efforts to communicate succeed no better than chance. Linguistic communication is only possible because robust luck reducing variables are at work. The essays collected seek to understand the diversity, scope and mode of operation of luck reducing mechanisms in language. While it is not possible here to cover the full range of linguistic phenomena affected by luck, a wide range of issues in linguistics and philosophy of language are investigated, including, syntax processing, demonstrative reference, conversational implicature, testimony, lexical innovation, joint attention, communicative value, conventionalism vs. anti-conventionalism, metasemantic safety, and semantic skepticism, to name a few.

Inclusive language remains a hot topic. Despite decades of empirical evidence and revisions of formal language use, many inclusive adaptations of English and German continue to be ignored or contested. But how to convince speakers of the importance of inclusive language? Rewriting Language provides one possible answer: by engaging readers with the issue, literary texts can help to raise awareness and thereby promote wider linguistic change.

Based on his unique and internationally recognized system that tracks the two most important planets for success in daily life--Jupiter and Saturn--Goldschneider has written the definitive book on how to promote good luck in all areas of life through the year 2021.

In linguistics, one of the main areas of modern research involves the capabilities and possibilities of there being a "lingua cosmica," a LINCOS, a universal language that could be used to communicate with non-human intelligences. This book touches on the area of the development and use of a "lingua universalis" for interstellar communication, but it also presents concepts that cover a broad area of linguistics. Chomsky's paradigm on universal properties of natural languages, for a long time a leading general theory of natural languages, includes the strong assumption that humans are born with some kind of universals stored in their brains. Are there universals of this kind of language used by intelligent beings and societies elsewhere in the universe? We do not know whether such languages exist. It seems to be impossible to determine, simply because the universe is too large for an exhaustive search. Even verification will be hard to obtain, without quite a bit of luck. This book uses astrolinguistic principles in message construction and is helpful in clarifying and giving perspective to discussions on existential questions such as these.

An essential guide to designing, conducting, and analyzing event-related potential (ERP) experiments, completely updated for this edition. The event-related potential (ERP) technique, in which neural responses to specific events are extracted from the EEG, provides a powerful noninvasive tool for exploring the human brain. This volume describes practical methods for ERP research along with the underlying theoretical rationale. It offers researchers and students an essential guide to designing, conducting, and analyzing ERP experiments. This second edition has been completely updated, with additional material, new chapters, and more accessible explanations. Freely available supplementary material, including several online-only chapters, offer expanded or advanced treatment of selected topics. The first half of the book presents essential background information, describing the origins of ERPs, the nature of ERP components, and the design of ERP experiments. The second half of the book offers a detailed treatment of the main steps involved in conducting ERP experiments, covering such topics as recording the EEG, filtering the EEG and ERP waveforms, and quantifying amplitudes and latencies. Throughout, the emphasis is on rigorous experimental design and relatively simple analyses. New material in the second edition includes entire chapters devoted to components, artifacts, measuring amplitudes and latencies, and statistical analysis; updated coverage of recording technologies; concrete examples of experimental design; and many more figures. Online chapters cover such topics as overlap, localization, writing and reviewing ERP papers, and setting up and running an ERP lab.

This book presents a semiotic analysis of the linguistic and extralinguistic elements of fortune-telling as part of a larger pragmatic-oriented theory of human communication. The material was collected in Israel, in Hebrew, and parallels are made with other languages and cultures. The analysis is based on dynamic relativism of the multidimensional, transcendental, holistic process of human communication.

This text is an up-to-date introduction to language acquisition, designed to meet the needs of advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in linguistics and cognitive science. It is the first language acquisition text to be written from the perspective of recent theoretical linguistics, and uses Chomskyan generative grammar as a framework for description. Taking models and analyses from generative phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics, Professor Goodluck describes children's language acquisition using examples from a variety of languages. Further chapters take up central questions concerning cognitive mechanisms by which children process language and form rules, the nature of the input to the language learner, and the relation between language development and other aspects of cognitive development. The book is extensively illustrated with models and figures, and each chapter is followed by questions for discussion and suggestions for further reading. It also includes a full bibliography.