In this new study, author David Paxman demonstrates that ordinary spatial concepts, together with the changing sense of the earth's space brought about by exploration, navigation, and mapping exerted a strong influence on linguistic thought. Paxman illuminates how our thinking about language as a whole, as well as our exploration of languages, developed in ways parallel to our thinking about and exploration of the space we live in, our planet. To the factors to which scholars have generally attributed language thought in the early modern period-the refinement of tools in phonetics, grammar and linguistic history, and the increasing exposure to diverse languages as the world was explored and colonized-Paxman here adds another: spatial exploration and the novel application of spatial concepts. He suggests that language was an unfamiliar space that Europe entered and navigated, facing challenges similar to those posed by terrestrial navigation. He argues that spatial experience influenced linguistic thought in two ways. First, ordinary spatial experience-terrain and boundaries, near and far, journeys and paths, etc.-provided conceptual structures, often novel or inventive, that guided those who investigated the properties of language. Second, expanding horizons, the sense of terrestrial space, and recognition of the difficulties of representing and navigating a spherical earth contributed directly to language thought by offering conceptual structures applicable to this different and equally challenging domain. While Voyage into Language does contribute to the history of linguistics, more broadly it is a treatment of intellectual and cultural history, and an application of cognitive science to language study of the past. As such, it holds appeal for historians and literary scholars as well as linguists.

"You're an ensign in the Starfleet and you've been assigned to the Enterprise! With Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, you'll explore amazing new worlds. You might rescue an alien race from a deadly disease, or do battle with a Klingon spy, or time travel to another universe. If you make the right choices, you could be a hero and save the Enterprise. But be careful, or you, Captain Kirk, and Mr. Spock could all be in terrible danger. Of course, if you don't like the way your story is going, you can always go back and start a new one"--Back cover

A magnificent epic of the sea and a dynamic portrait of turn-of-the-century America.--Publishers Weekly

Voyage into Substance reopens the whole complex question of how nature was perceived and penetrated during the Enlightenment - a time when artist-scientists trekked across Egyptian deserts, astronomer-mariners navigated the Polar seas, and meteorologist-aeronauts "sailed" through the atmosphere's "waves," all seeking to discover and record the non-human likeness of the phenomenal world. By examining the popular, multi-national illustrated narratives and atlases of the period, the book relates the voyagers' attentive, firsthand mode of seeing and precise copying of the enduring and the ephemeral features of the environment (before the advent of photography) to the major philosophical, scientific, and aesthetic debates of the time. Arguing that these accounts disclose an anti-Picturesque tradition of representation, the book opens new doors to establish the persistence of a "plain," that is, a style of landscape depiction that culminates in 19th-century realism. Voyage into Substance analyzes a vast repertory of geological, mineralogical and biological treatises concerning the self-expressive physiognomy of the earth and shows them to be important precursors and allies of the non-fictional travel narrative. Intertwining art, literature, philosophy, geography, and the history of science, with the aid of 304 plates, the book adds significantly to all these disciplines and is a unique contribution to the field of art and architectural history as well as to modern intellectual history. Barbara Maria Stafford is Professor of Art History at the University of Chicago. Publication of this book was partially funded by the Millard Meiss Fund of the College Art Association of America and by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"This unique and fascinating book, filled with brilliant photographs, offers a journey into the cosmos of the natural tooth. With cross sections and other unusual perspectives, these photographs demonstrate the unique structure and form of each tooth and their interplay with light reflection and absorption, both of which play decisive roles in the reconstruction of the tooth. Indeed, this understanding has greatly advanced the development and handling of new dental ceramics." "The author lures us into an extraordinary world of photography by which we experience the inner life and beauty of the natural tooth. This excellently designed volume will be of interest to not only dentists and dental technicians, but to anyone interested in the beauty of nature."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Describes homelessness in story form.