Bøker av Marcel Danesi

All the practice and instruction you need to communicate effectively in Italian-now with an enhanced app featuring text-to-speech!If you are a beginner to intermediate Italian language learner, getting a handle on grammar is your key to communicating correctly and effectively. In Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Italian Grammar, you'll find tons of practice and everything else you need-instruction, clear explanations, and comparisons to English grammar-to build your knowledge and communicate more effectively in Italian.Based on the successful approach of the Practice Makes Perfect series, Complete Italian Grammar, Premium Fourth Edition covers all aspects of Italian grammar you'll need to master, from all the key verb tenses to noun, adjective, pronoun, and preposition usage. Crystal-clear explanations, realistic examples and extensive array of engaging exercises help you focus your efforts on the practical aspects of communicating in Italian. With an additional boost from the high-frequency vocabulary used throughout the book and an answer key for reference and quick feedback, Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Italian Grammar is the best, most indispensable workbook to help you upgrade your command of the language.

Helping you learn Italian, this edition includes hundreds of quiz and test questions, chapter-opening objectives, and specific recommendations for difficult subtopics and individual weaknesses to help you learn basic grammar structures and verb tenses, pronunciation, essential vocabulary, and how to communicate with confidence.

In an age where fake news, conspiracy theories, and outright lies by political and cultural leaders are commonplace, we may be becoming accustomed to lying, or worse, even immune to it. Pseudology unravels the reasons for this by describing a "science of lying" that looks at various aspects of this trait, from how it affects the brain to how it distorts perception.Interest in lying goes back to antiquity and writing and debate only increased in our present day, but what is missing is a treatment that synthesizes the work from linguists, political scientists, anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists, tying them to the philosophical and literary views of lying throughout history. Such a treatment can be called pseudology: an interdisciplinary science for classifying, collating and assessing ideas about lying. This book is a comprehensive treatment of pseudology, emphasising the importance of studying lying in our current climate. Pseudology addresses questions like: - What is a lie?- Why do we lie?- Why are we so susceptible to lying?- How does lying activate false beliefs and generate hatred of others?- How has lying shaped the course of history (at least in some part)?- How has lying been adopted as a basic thematic element in literature and the arts?Synthesising research from a broad range of disciplines and from the perspective of a leading cognitive linguist, this text weaves ideas and theories about lying cohesively into an overall interdisciplinary science. This landmark book is vital for students and scholars of language as well as anyone interested in politics, sociology or psychology.

All the skill-building Italian language practice you need-with five books in one value-packed volume-plus support from the McGraw Hill Language Lab appThe most effective way to learn any new language is to practice, practice, and practice, and no other workbooks put as much emphasis on this as the Practice Makes Perfect series. In Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Italian All-in-One, you get five skill-building titles to help you build a solid foundation of verbs, vocabulary, grammar and conversational skills-all in one value-packed workbook.This easy-to-use, one-stop resource includes thorough explanations that are reinforced by hundreds of hands-on practice exercises to help you build the skills needed to break through the barrier to competency and fluency in Italian. Enhanced with a comprehensive index that makes it easy to reference all grammar explanations throughout the book, it's an ideal resource for both advanced beginning and intermediate level learning. This Premium Edition also includes extensive support through McGraw Hill's unique Language Learning app, featuring streaming audio recordings of 48 dialogues and the answers to 85 exercises, a helpful "record yourself" feature and much more.Value-packed volume contains core content from five titles in the series: Complete Italian Grammar; Italian Conversation; Italian Verb Tenses; Italian Sentence Builder; Italian Problem SolverIntegrated approach allows you to study and develop your language skills at your own level and paceThis edition is supported by the McGraw Hill Language Lab app, with streaming audio recordings to enhance speaking and listening skills, and online flashcards for all vocabulary lists-now with Text-to-Speech pronunciation guidance

Scientific evidence for the origin of speech is abundant, but evidence for the origin of language as separate from speech as a naming system remains speculative. What evidence can be utilized that will furnish relevant insights on the origin or language? This book attempts to provide an answer by suggesting that the first riddles of humanity, along with the first myths, reveal that language may have emerged as a mode of reflection via metaphora mode that involves blending speech forms together to produce complex, abstract cognition.

Learn to speak Italian as fluently as Italians do-an indispensable guide, now with a timely new chapter on remote communicationWhether you're learning Italian now at an intermediate level or looking to brush up on your Italian conversational skills, Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Conversation offers a unique and effective way to learn to speak the language fluently and spontaneously. You'll get a handle on sentence building right away, through extensive exercises that let you practice what you've learned through engaging dialogues and numerous real-life examples.Based on the successful approach of the Practice Makes Perfect series, Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Conversation, Premium Third Edition is organized around 11 units that present specific conversational functions, from Striking Up a Conversation to Giving Opinions, each exemplified with short dialogues that are also available as audio recordings via app. The units provide you the opportunity not simply to converse, but to build and support your knowledge of the language with essential instruction on correct pronunciation, grammar, syntax and word usage.Proven approach to learning helps you get a handle on Italian conversation right away, and build on your learnings as you goSupported by audio recordings, via app, of all 60 dialogues, plus numerous exercise answers850 exercise questions help you practice what you've learned through dialogues and practical examplesA special conversational "markers" table in the index shows important elements of conversation that have no exact equivalents in EnglishNEW: Includes a timely chapter on remote communication (video conferencing)

This book explores the many disciplinary and theoretical links between language, linguistics, and mathematics. It examines trends in linguistics, such as structuralism, conceptual metaphor theory, and other relevant theories,to show that language and mathematics have a similar structure, but differential functions, even though one without the other would not exist.

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The go-to introductory guide to semiotic theory and practice, this second edition features a new chapter on semiotics in the digital age and sheds light on how we grasp for meaning in the modern world.

Semiotics has had a profound impact on our comprehension of a wide range of phenomena, from how animals signify and communicate, to how people read TV commercials. This series features books on semiotic theory and applications of that theory to understanding media, language, and related subjects. The series publishes scholarly monographs of wide appeal to students and interested non-specialists as well as scholars. AAS is a peer-reviewed series of international scope.

Semiotics has had a profound impact on our comprehension of a wide range of phenomena, from how animals signify and communicate, to how people read TV commercials. This series features books on semiotic theory and applications of that theory to understanding media, language, and related subjects. The series publishes scholarly monographs of wide appeal to students and interested non-specialists as well as scholars. AAS is a peer-reviewed series of international scope.

The book provides an introduction to an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that can be called "e;global linguistics"e; (GL). GL emerges to tackle the ever-growing phenomenon of intercultural communication (IC) in today's world of international contacts. The specific aim of GL is to look at the form and contents of dialogues among speakers of different cultural backgrounds who will use a "e;default language"e; or koine (usually English) to interact, in order to detect communication breakdowns at various levels of "e;depth"e;, as well as the opportunities for developing sound intercultural communication practice. The book includes an accessible presentation of fundamental questions concerning languages and language use. Among the questions addressed are the universal design features of languages, the connection between language and conceptual systems, how people use language to coordinate their actions and interact in a variety of social contexts, and the place of language in a semiotic view of culture. The volume also addresses how language, context and culture shape the way in which we argue a point and try to persuade other people, and why intercultural argumentation is both necessary and risky.Global Linguistics: An Introduction describes fundamental notions in linguistics and cognate fields and is thus well-suited for use as a textbook in courses dealing with IC in general. At the same time, the book is of general interest to scholars in linguistics and communication studies, as it places particular emphasis on theoretical models such as argumentation theory and conceptual metaphor theory, which are generally not presented in textbooks on language and IC.

This book shows how language can be used strategically to manipulate beliefs.From Machiavelli to P. T. Barnum to Donald Trump, many have perfected the art of strategically using language to gain the upper hand, set a tone, change the subject, or influence people's beliefs and behaviors. Language--both words themselves and rhetorical tactics such as metaphor, irony, slang, and humor--can effectively manipulate the minds of the listener. In this book, Marcel Danesi, a renowned linguistic anthropologist and semiotician, looks at language that is used not to present arguments logically or rationally, but to "move" audiences in order to gain their confidence and build consensus. He demonstrates that through language techniques communicators can not only sway opinions but also shape listeners' very perception of reality. He assesses how the communicative environment in which the art of the lie unfolds--such as on social media or in emotionally-charged gatherings--impacts the results.Danesi also investigates why lies are often accepted as valid. Artful lying fits in with an Internet society that is largely disinterested in what is true and what is false and in which attention is often given to speech that is entertaining or persuasive. Have we become immune to lies because of a social media discourse shaped by untruths? In an electronic age where facts are deemed irrelevant and conspiracies are accorded as much credibility as truths, this book discusses the implications of lying and language for the future of belief, ethics, and American democracy itself.

The Semiotics of Love brings together work on early symbolism, literary practices, and contemporary communication on the theme of romance and the idea of love to forge an understanding of the semiotic-cultural side of romance.

Using both verbal and nonverbal techniques to make its messages as persuasive as possible, advertising has become an integral component of modern-day social discourse designed to influence attitudes and lifestyle behaviors by covertly suggesting how we can best satisfy our innermost urges and aspirations through consumption. This book looks at the categories of this form of discourse from the standpoint of semiotic analysis. It deals with the signifying processes that underlie advertising messages in print, electronic, and digital form.

Food, no matter of what kind, is a substance required for survival. Stripped of any cultural meanings, it is a primary means of biological nourishment and sustenance. But in a cultural context, the types of food, how they are eaten, what social rituals are involved in etiquette, and so on, take on a greater value. In other words, outside of a survival context, food is much more than substance for ensuring such survival. It constitutes a meaning system imbued with subtle unconscious cultural connotations of all kinds. We eat, first and foremost, to survive. But in a social ambiance, food takes on significance that transcends this biological function, affecting even our perceptions of edibility. In America, we do not normally eat insects, by and large, even though they would provide nourishment. We do not eat them because of the negative perceptions and emotions we have projected onto insects. In other cultures, insects are often considered to be a delicacy. Clearly, food tastes are cultural tastes. So, where does the fast food phenomenon fit into this line of reasoning, given that it seems to go against historically-based cultural systems of meaning? This book will attempt to answer this question by examining the origin, evolution and meanings of the fast food phenomenon, from its neurological and social meanings to its recreational ones. Does the contemporary penchant for fast food exist in the brain, or is it a fabrication of a consumerist culture gone insane, as the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy so eloquently and satirically emphasized? Much has been written about the phenomenon of fast food, given the importance of eating to health and cultural identity. The goal in this book is to go in a slightly different, but hopefully significant, direction; namely, to examine the meanings of fast food in relation to the birth and spread of mass consumerist society, and its role in future societies. Fast food originated in amusement and circus culture, but it soon spread to society via urbanization, the automobile, and the need for quick and easy solutions to almost everything, including the preparation and eating of food. The book argues that, in the end, we are what we have made ourselves to be. Fast food is of our own making, not something imposed cleverly by some master capitalist plan. We eat it because it is tasty and easily prepared. The cultural meanings of fast food might even be intertwined with an innate pleasure principle, into which fast foods seem to tap rather effectively. Above all else, fast food is a mirror of the contemporary worlds penchant for a quick-and-easy approach to virtually everything, for better or worse. Given its proliferation to all sectors and levels of society, fast food has changed the social paradigm of eating everywhere. The book will conclude by assessing what the implications of this paradigm for the future are.

Why do people routinely risk their health by smoking cigarettes? Why do some females make walking a struggle by donning high heels? In a fully updated edition, the author attempts to answer such questions by explaining the discipline that endeavors to understand the human meaning quest: semiotics.

This book examines the use of cryptography in both real and fictional crimes - a topic that is rarely broached. It discusses famous crimes, such as that of the Zodiac Killer, that revolve around cryptic messages and current uses of encryption that make solving cases harder and harder.

Using the Dexter saga of novels and television programs as its basis, the book argues that a "Dexter Syndrome" has emerged whereby we no longer see a difference between real and fictional serial killers.