Category: language

Latest in the ABC Chinese Dictionary Series

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ABC English-ChineseThe ABC English-Chinese, Chinese-English Dictionary (ECCE), edited by John DeFrancis and Zhang Yanyin, is a student-oriented bilingual dictionary that, like other dictionaries in the ABC series, organizes Chinese words by their pronunciation as written in pinyin. This innovative, straightforward alphabetical organization allows the user to find most words more quickly and easily. It also facilitates the comparison of words that are pronounced similarly or identically, which is not possible in traditionally-ordered dictionaries. The series’ alphabetical ordering has been imitated in other dictionaries, but ECCE is still unique in that it offers detailed and authoritative coverage of grammar (parts of speech, constructions, and examples) and orthography (both simplified and complex characters as well as pinyin). The ECCE contains 67,633 entries: 29,670 in the English-Chinese section, 37,963 in the Chinese-English section.

The dictionary is a handy 4.5 x 7.5 inches with a plastic flexcover.

ABC Chinese Dictionary Series
October 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3485-2 / $20.00 (PAPER)

New Edition of Integrated Korean: Beginning 2

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KLEAR Beginning 2 TextThis is a thoroughly revised edition of Integrated Korean: Beginning 2, the second volume of the best-selling series developed collaboratively by leading classroom teachers and linguists of Korean. In response to comments from hundreds of students and instructors of the first edition, the new edition features a more attractive two-color design with all new photos and drawings and an additional lesson and vocabulary exercises. Lessons are now organized into two main sections, each containing a conversational text (with its own vocabulary list) and a reading passage. The accompanying workbook, newly written, provides students with extensive skill-using activities based on the skills learned in the main text.

Integrated Korean series
August 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3515-6 / $28.00 (PAPER)

Audio files for both the textbook and workbook may be downloaded in MP3 format at http://www.kleartextbook.com.

New Title in the Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication Series

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A Dictionary of Mah MeriMah Meri is an Aslian (Austroasiatic: Mon-Khmer) language spoken in scattered settlements along a section of the southwest coast of Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia. The Mah Meri are the only Aslian speakers who live in a coastal environment. Their language, which may have about 2,000 speakers, has no written language and is highly endangered.

A Dictionary of Mah Meri as Spoken at Bukit Bangkong, by Nicole Kruspe, is the first comprehensive dictionary of the language and is based on the author’s extensive field research and consultation with members of the community over the last ten years. The dialect presented here is spoken by about 600 people at Bukit Bangkong, the most southerly Mah Meri settlement. The dictionary contains around 4,000 entries, each with a phonetic transcription and translations in both English and Malay.

July 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3493-7 / $40.00 (PAPER)
Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication #36

Chinese Writing and Calligraphy

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Chinese Writing and CalligraphySuitable for college and high school students and those learning on their own, Wendan Li’s Chinese Writing and Calligraphy is a fully illustrated coursebook that provides comprehensive instruction in the history and practical techniques of Chinese calligraphy. No previous knowledge of the language is required to follow the text or complete the lessons. The work covers three major areas: 1) descriptions of Chinese characters and their components, including stroke types, layout patterns, and indications of sound and meaning; 2) basic brush techniques; and 3) the social, cultural, historical, and philosophical underpinnings of Chinese calligraphy—all of which are crucial to understanding and appreciating this art form.

May 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3364-0 / $25.00 (PAPER)
A Latitude 20 Book

English-Tahitian Tahitian English Dictionary Back in Print

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English-Tahitian Tahitian English DictionaryThe English-Tahitian Tahitian English Dictionary is the most useful and comprehensive dictionary of its kind available. The author, Dr. Sven Wahlroos, who was a devoted student of Tahitian for more than three decades, provides an extensive introduction to the language with detailed notes on grammar, usage, and pronunciation.

This reprint edition has been re-sized to 6 inches x 9.25 inches, making it a convenient and handier alternative to larger-sized dictionaries.

“A labor of love that is also a big, solid reference that will get loads of use.” —Honolulu Star-Bulletin

March 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3473-9 / $64.00 (CLOTH)
Distributed for Eva Wahlroos

New Edition of Integrated Korean Beginning 1

Posted on by stephchun

KLEAR Beginning 1 TextThis is a thoroughly revised edition of Integrated Korean: Beginning 1, the first volume of the best-selling series developed collaboratively by leading classroom teachers and linguists of Korean. In response to comments from hundreds of students and instructors of the first edition, the new edition features a more attractive two-color design with all new photos and drawings and an additional lesson and vocabulary exercises. Lessons are now organized into two main sections, each containing a conversational text (with its own vocabulary list) and a reading passage. The accompanying workbook, newly written, provides students with extensive skill-using activities based on the skills learned in the main text.

Integrated Korean series
November 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3440-1 / $28.00 (PAPER)

Audio files for both the textbook and workbook may be downloaded in RealAudio or MP3 format at http://www.kleartextbook.com.

Koreo-Japonica

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Koreo-Japonica
The Japonic (Japanese and Ryukyuan) portmanteau language family and the Korean language have long been considered isolates on the fringe of northeast Asia. Although in the last fifty years many specialists in Japonic and Korean historical linguistics have voiced their support for a genetic relationship between the two, this concept has not been endorsed by general historical linguists and no significant attempts have been made to advance beyond the status quo. Alexander Vovin, a longtime advocate of the genetic relationship view, engaged in a reanalysis of the known data in the hope of finding evidence in support of this position. In the process of his work, however, he became convinced that the multiple similarities between Japonic and Korean are the result of several centuries of contact and do not descend from a hypothetical common ancestor.

Hawai‘i Studies on Korea
November 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3278-0 / $55.00 (CLOTH)

Nationalizing Language in Modern Japan

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The Ideology of Kokugo
Available for the first time in English, The Ideology of Kokugo: Nationalizing Language in Modern Japan, translated by Maki Hirano Hubbard, is Lee Yeounsuk’s award-winning look at the history and ideology behind the construction of kokugo (national language). Prior to the Meiji Period (1868–1912), the idea of a single, unified Japanese language did not exist. Only as Japan was establishing itself as a modern nation-state and an empire with expanding colonies did there arise the need for a national language to construct and sustain its national identity.

Re-examining debates and controversies over genbun itchi (unification of written and spoken languages) and other language reform movements, Lee discusses the contributions of Ueda Kazutoshi (1867–1937) and Hoshina Koichi (1872–1955) in the creation of kokugo and moves us one step closer to understanding how the ideology of kokugo cast a spell over linguistic identity in modern Japan. She examines the notion of the unshakable homogeneity of the Japanese language—a belief born of the political climate of early-twentieth-century Japan and its colonization of other East Asian countries—urging us to pay attention to the linguistic consciousness that underlies “scientific” scholarship and language policies. Her critical discussion of the construction of kokugo uncovers a strain of cultural nationalism that has been long nurtured in Japan’s education system and academic traditions. The ideology of kokugo, argues Lee, must be recognized both as an academic apparatus and a political concept

October 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3305-3 / $58.00 (CLOTH)

MP3 Files Now Available for Gagana Samoa and Fundamental Written Chinese

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Accompanying MP3 audio files are now available for download:

Gagana Samoa: A Samoan Language Coursebook, Revised Edition, by Galumalemana Afeleti Hunkin at http://www.hawaii.edu/uhpress/mp3/gagana/;

Fundamental Written Chinese, by Nora Yao, Margaret Lee, and Robert Sanders, at http://www.hawaii.edu/uhpress/mp3/fwc/.

Streaming RealAudio files for both books will be available shortly.

Fundamental Written Chinese

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Fundamental Written Chinese, by Nora Yao, Margaret Lee, and Robert Sanders, teaches both mastery of individual characters and reading comprehension. It introduces characters gradually, moving from simple independent characters to more complex compound ones. How characters are organized and constructed is taught through the liberal use of charts that display the structural and organizational regularities of each character, that is, its radical, phonetic component, shared graphic components, stroke order, and principles of proportion. This knowledge is then reinforced by exercises at the end of each chapter that require students to draw on the compositional information presented in the charts.

“The course set out in Fundamental Spoken Chinese and Fundamental Written Chinese provides a thorough training in all the skills that a learner needs to reach a basic level of proficiency in Mandarin Chinese as well as a solid foundation for more advanced study. Fundamental Spoken Chinese is marvelously executed. The explanations of grammar and usage are exceptionally clear, the best I’ve ever seen in a textbook. The charts used to illustrate grammatical constructions are easy to follow, and the examples are well chosen for maximal clarity. The dialogues are naturalistic and well keyed to everyday situations, as is the vocabulary. Fundamental Written Chinese has many of the same virtues as its companion volume. Like Fundamental Spoken Chinese, Fundamental Written Chinese not only teaches the content of the lesson but also inculcates habits essential for further learning. The emphasis on explaining characters explicitly in terms of radicals and phonetics is an example of the kind of approach that makes for successful advanced learners. The two books are designed to be flexible so that teachers of various approaches can use them either to introduce the spoken and written skills simultaneously or to introduce writing after the spoken language has progressed to a certain level. Teachers and learners are provided with all the basic tools needed in one well-designed package.” —Mark Hansell, Carleton College

June 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3157-8 / $39.00 (PAPER)

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