front cover of The Darker Side of the Renaissance
The Darker Side of the Renaissance
Literacy, Territoriality, & Colonization, 2nd Edition
Walter D. Mignolo
University of Michigan Press, 2003
The Darker Side of the Renaissance weaves together literature, semiotics, history, historiography, cartography, and cultural theory to examine the role of language in the colonization of the New World. Exploring the many connections among writing, social organization, and political control, including how alphabetic writing is linked with the exercise of power, Walter D. Mignolo claims that European forms of literacy were at the heart of New World colonization. It has long been acknowledged that Amerindians were at a disadvantage in facing European invaders because native cultures did not employ the same kind of texts (hence "knowledge") that the Europeans valued. Yet no one but Mignolo has so thoroughly examined either the process or the implications of conquest and destruction through language. The book continues to challenge commonplace understandings of New World history and to stimulate new colonial and postcolonial scholarship.
Walter D. Mignolo is Professor in the Department of Romance Studies and the Program in Literature, Duke University.
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front cover of The Darker Side of the Renaissance
The Darker Side of the Renaissance
Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization
Walter D. Mignolo
University of Michigan Press, 1995
Winner of the Modern Language Association's Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize.
The Darker Side of the Renaissance weaves together literature, semiotics, history, historiography, cartography, geography, and cultural theory to examine the role of language in the colonization of the New World.
Walter D. Mignolo locates the privileging of European forms of literacy at the heart of New World colonization. He examines how alphabetic writing is linked with the exercise of power, what role "the book" has played in colonial relations, and the many connections between writing, social organization, and political control. It has long been acknowledged that Amerindians were at a disadvantage in facing European invaders because native cultures did not employ the same kind of texts (hence "knowledge") that were validated by the Europeans. Yet no study until this one has so thoroughly analyzed either the process or the implications of conquest and destruction through sign systems.
Starting with the contrasts between Amerindian and European writing systems, Mignolo moves through such topics as the development of Spanish grammar, the different understandings of the book as object and text, principles of genre in history-writing, and an analysis of linguistic descriptions and mapping techniques in relation to the construction of territoriality and understandings of cultural space.
The Darker Side of the Renaissance will significantly challenge commonplace understandings of New World history. More importantly, it will continue to stimulate and provide models for new colonial and post-colonial scholarship.
". . . a contribution to Renaissance studies of the first order. The field will have to reckon with it for years to come, for it will unquestionably become the point of departure for discussion not only on the foundations and achievements of the Renaissance but also on the effects and influences on colonized cultures." -- Journal of Hispanic/ Latino Theology
Walter D. Mignolo is Professor in the Department of Romance Studies and the Program in Literature, Duke University.
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Defending AI Research
A Collection of Essays and Reviews
Edited by John McCarthy
CSLI, 1996
John McCarthy's influence in computer science ranges from the invention of LISP and time-sharing to the coining of the term AI and the founding of the AI laboratory at Stanford University. One of the foremost figures in computer sciences, McCarthy has written papers which are widely referenced and stand as milestones of development over a wide range of topics. In this collection of reviews, McCarthy staunchly defends the importance of Artificial Intelligence research against its attackers; this book gathers McCarthy's reviews of books which discuss and criticise the future of AI. Here, McCarthy explores the larger questions associated with AI, such as the question of the nature of intelligence, of the acquisition and application of knowledge, and the question of the politics behind this research.
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Dialect and Dichotomy
Literary Representations of African American Speech
Lisa Cohen Minnick
University of Alabama Press, 2007

Applies linguistics methods for a richer understanding of literary texts and spoken language.

Dialect and Dichotomy outlines the history of dialect writing in English and its influence on linguistic variation. It also surveys American dialect writing and its relationship to literary, linguistic, political, and cultural trends, with emphasis on African American voices in literature.

Furthermore, this book introduces and critiques canonical works in literary dialect analysis and covers recent, innovative applications of linguistic analysis of literature. Next, it proposes theoretical principles and specific methods that can be implemented in order to analyze literary dialect for either linguistic or literary purposes, or both. Finally, the proposed methods are applied in four original analyses of African American speech as represented in major works of fiction of the American South—Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Charles W. Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman, William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Dialect and Dichotomy is designed to be accessible to audiences with a variety of linguistic and literary backgrounds. It is an ideal research resource and course text for students and scholars interested in areas including American, African American, and southern literature and culture; linguistic applications to literature; language in the African American community; ethnicity and representation; literary dialect analysis and/or computational linguistics; dialect writing as genre; and American English.

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The Dialects of Ancient Gaul
Prolegomena and Records of the Dialects
Joshua Whatmough
Harvard University Press, 1970
Joshua Whatmough's monumental study of the dialects of Ancient Gaul heretofore has been available only in copies made from microfilm at considerable cost. This new edition makes readily accessible a book of first importance to Keltic scholarship. The work is organized by geographic areas and covers the Alpine Regions, Gallia Narbonensis, Aquitania, Lugdunensis, Belgica, Germania Inferior, Germania Superior, and the Agri Decumates with the Upper Rhine and Danube. There are several appendices, and Whatmough's “Keltika,” originally published in 1944, is included as an introduction.
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front cover of A Dictionary of Ch'orti' Mayan-Spanish-English
A Dictionary of Ch'orti' Mayan-Spanish-English
Kerry Hull
University of Utah Press, 2016
Of extant languages, Ch’orti’ Mayan is the closest to ancient the Maya hieroglyphic script, but it is a language that is decreasing in usage. In southern Guatemala where it is spoken, many children no longer learn it, as Spanish dominates most experiences. From linguistic and anthropological data gathered over many years, Kerry Hull has created the largest and most complete Ch’orti’ Mayan dictionary to date. With nearly 9,000 entries, this trilingual dictionary of Ch’orti’, Spanish, and English preserves ancient words and concepts that were vital to this culture in the past.

Each entry contains examples of Ch’orti’ sentences along with their translations. Each term is defined grammatically and linked to a grammatical index. Variations due to age and region are noted. Additionally, extensive cultural and linguistic annotations accompany many entries, providing detailed looks into Ch’orti’ daily life, mythology, flora and fauna, healing, ritual, and food. Hull worked closely with native speakers, including traditional ritual specialists, and presents that work here in a way that is easily accessible to scholars and laypersons alike. 
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