Over 5,000 years ago, the history of humanity radically changed direction when writing was invented in Sumer, the southern part of present-day Iraq. For the next three millennia, kings, aristocrats, and slaves all made intensive use of cuneiform script to document everything from royal archives to family records.

In engaging style, Dominique Charpin shows how hundreds of thousands of clay tablets testify to the history of an ancient society that communicated broadly through letters to gods, insightful commentary, and sales receipts. He includes a number of passages, offered in translation, that allow readers an illuminating glimpse into the lives of Babylonians. Charpin’s insightful overview discusses the methods and institutions used to teach reading and writing, the process of apprenticeship, the role of archives and libraries, and various types of literature, including epistolary exchanges and legal and religious writing.

The only book of its kind, Reading and Writing in Babylon introduces Mesopotamia as the birthplace of civilization, culture, and literature while addressing the technical side of writing and arguing for a much wider spread of literacy than is generally assumed. Charpin combines an intimate knowledge of cuneiform with a certain breadth of vision that allows this book to transcend a small circle of scholars. Though it will engage a broad general audience, this book also fills a critical academic gap and is certain to become the standard reference on the topic.

Originally published in 1979, this classic reference work presents definitions of grammatical and linguistic terms for spoken Egyptian Arabic in dictionary form from "active participles" through "writing system." Entries feature definitions and examples of all the grammatical features including phonology, morphology, and syntax. Aimed at the intermediate to advanced student of Egyptian Arabic, this volume presupposes a basic knowledge of Egyptian Arabic. Arabic lexical items are presented in romanized transliteration and are therefore accessible to those who are not familiar with Arabic script.

This important reissue, enhanced with an audio CD to supplement the first chapter of the text (sounds), is another addition to Georgetown's world-renowned Arabic language-learning materials and is considered to be one of the most outstanding descriptions of any Arabic dialect written for the English-speaking world. It is comprehensive in its coverage—ranging from phonology (how sounds are organized and used) to morphology (sound, syllable, and word structure), with an analysis that is insightful and original. It contains hints on how to master nuances in dialectical pronunciation, as well as the differences of meaning in their various forms.

Based on the dialect of Damascus, the language covered here is part of what has variously been called "Syrian Arabic," "Eastern Arabic," and "Levantine Arabic," encompassing the dialects of Beirut, Amman, and Jerusalem—as well as Damascus—with references made to regional variants. In a world drawn ever closer to events in the Middle East, this comprehensive grammar reference is yet another extraordinary addition to the growing library of Arabic language-learning materials published by Georgetown University Press.

This investigation, based on a sufficient number and variety of modern texts, conducted on sound principles and with scrupulous care, aside from its obvious utility for shorthand and for instruction in reading, is of value to phoneticians in that it affords abundant choice material for the study of the adjustment of sound to sound in the syllable. To the linguist it furnishes also a starting point for comparison of one language with another, in respect either to acoustic effect or to the characteristic operations of the vocal organs; and it provides, in its word list, a foundation for comparative estimates of current vocabulary as an index of national civilization. To one interested in the history of speech, or the history of thought, it suggests and facilitates a series of comparisons of present and past aspects of English, whether one consider the language as an aggregate of sound-patterns or as a medium of expression. Multiple are the uses to which these tables may be put. It is to be hoped that many scholars, in many fields, will avail themselves of them.

[Note accompanying the Original Edition © 1923, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University:]

The text of this investigation is speld in accord with the recommendations of the Simplified Spelling Board. In the material investigated the conventional spelling, as found, has been adhered to strictly thruout.

The fonetist and filologist has always been among the first to recognize the immense importance of the movement for reform of English spelling, which commands the united support of the leading language scolars both of England and America. He should be willing to bear his share of the prejudice which some must endure in the course of progress toward a rational orthografy.

Simpler Spelling Association, Lake Placid Club, N.Y., wil send ful information concerning this important movement on request.

Charts the long history of resentment, from its emergence to its establishment as the word of the moment.
 
The term “resentment,” often casually paired with words like “hatred,” “rage,” and “fear,” has dominated US news analysis since November 2016. Despite its increased use, this word seems to defy easy categorization. Does “resentment” describe many interlocking sentiments, or is it just another way of saying “anger”? Does it suggest an irrational grievance, as opposed to a legitimate callout of injustice? Does it imply political leanings, or is it nonpartisan by nature?
 
In The Return of Resentment, Robert A. Schneider explores these questions and more, moving from eighteenth-century Britain to the aftermath of the French Revolution to social movements throughout the twentieth century. Drawing on a wide range of writers, thinkers, and historical experiences, Schneider illustrates how resentment has morphed across time, coming to express a collective sentiment felt by people and movements across the political spectrum. In this history, we discover resentment’s modernity and its ambiguity—how it can be used to dismiss legitimate critique and explain away violence, but also convey a moral stance that demands recognition. Schneider anatomizes the many ways resentment has been used to label present-day movements, from followers of Trump and supporters of Brexit to radical Islamicists and proponents of identity politics. Addressing our contemporary political situation in a novel way, The Return of Resentment challenges us to think critically about the roles different emotions play in politics.

In this book, renowned philosopher John Perry responds to criticisms of his influential writing on “the essential indexical.” He begins by explaining the conclusions of his past articles. He then argues that many criticisms are based on confusions about the relation between the issues of opacity and cognitive significance, and other basic misunderstandings of his views. While dealing with criticisms, Perry makes a number of points about self-knowledge, the issue that motivated his original papers.

Extensively studied and heavily debated, inclusive language is a hot topic. Despite decades of research and scholarship, findings on its importance slip into neglect. How do we convince speakers of the importance of inclusive language? Christiane Luck’s Rewriting Language provides one possible answer: read fiction.
 
By engaging readers with the issue, novels spread awareness and promote linguistic change. Novels have the power to paint the problems presented with accessibility and spark change. Analyzing five iconic literary texts, including Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, Verena Stefan’s Häutungen, Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, and June Arnold’s The Cook and the Carpenter, Luck dives into the possibilities and challenges of linguistic neutrality. Rewriting Language illustrates the link between language and imagination. As Luck concludes, novels are valuable tools to embolden inclusive language use.
 

The authors comprehensively analyze all the available information regarding the ritual practices of Slavic pre-Christian religion that can be found in written medieval texts. After investigating every kind of reference to such practices, they offer a reconstruction of Slavic pre-Christian religion on the basis of these medieval testimonies. In doing so, they overcome the challenges presented by the fact that all of these sources are indirect, since the Slavs did not acquire literacy until they became Christians. Thus the writers of these texts mostly professed a monotheistic religion, being Christians and in some cases Muslims. The picture that they offer is biased and determined by their own faith. The present analysis innovatively combines testimonies from every Slavic area (Eastern, Western, and Southern), showing their mutual correspondences and emphasizing the relationship between the Slavic pre-Christian religion and its Indo-European roots.

This book describes several aspects of syntax and semantics of romance languages assuming the point of view of a constraint-based, non-transformational linguistic theory, i.e. Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). Besides the widening of the empirical coverage of HPSG the theory, its main significance consists in a refinement of the theory itself, on the basis of data from romance languages. It contains essays discussing phenomena from Catalan, French, Italian and Spanish.