Social Linguistics

Inspector Nayland Smith has unearthed a plot that could mean the end of civilization as we know it. He's just arrived in London, chasing the greatest criminal mind ever to come from the East. But when he arrives to warn Sir Crichton Davies that he is in danger, he finds he is too late. Sir Crichton has become the first victim of the insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu.

The story chronicles the class movement of the time and gives us a remarkable description of social, political and industrial change. Set in Gloucestershire in the heart of England and told by Phineas, his soul mate and lifelong friend, who observes John through all his glorious moments, self-doubt and resolution, the story is simple, uplifting and heroic. It is a detailed study of a man and his family that also presents the listener with a broad view of Britain during one of its most troubled times.

This is the handwritten book that Carroll wrote for private use before being urged to develop it later into Alice in Wonderland. It was meant to entertain his family and friends. When a sick child in a hospital enjoyed it so much, the mother wrote him saying it had distracted her for a bit from her pain and led eventually to Carroll expanding the story.

In the ancient country of Orn an old man called the Bee-man spends his life in the company of bees. He lives humbly and contentedly until a Junior Sorcerer happens by with some disturbing news: The Bee-man, he says, has been transformed - he once was someone (or something) entirely different. But who? Or what? A giant or a prince? A dog or a dragon? The now restless Bee-man sets out on a quest to ascertain his original form, telling himself, "When I see it, I shall be drawn toward it."

Bitch is a bitch of a word. It used to be a straightforward insult, but today—after so many variations and efforts to reject or reclaim the word—it's not always entirely clear what it means. Bitch is a chameleon. There are good bitches and bad bitches; sexy bitches and psycho bitches; boss bitches and even perfect bitches. This eye-opening deep-dive account takes us on a journey spanning a millennium, from its humble beginnings as a word for a female dog through to its myriad meanings today, proving that sometimes you can teach an old dog new tricks.

A dialogue between Socrates and Meno probes the subject of ethics. Can goodness be taught? If it can, then we should be able to find teachers capable of instructing others about what is good and bad, right and wrong, or just and unjust.

What If I told you I could make you a master persuader and help you get whatever you want almost effortlessly and most importantly...unknowingly? In Psychology: How to Effortlessly Attract, Manipulate, and Read Anyone Unknowingly, that's exactly what you'll get. You’ll learn secret psychological techniques that will turn your life upside-down, and there won’t be any obstacles preventing you from gaining the respect and freedom that you want and deserve.

The Lady or the Tiger, which will it be? The unanswerable question, but certainly something to think about. And going even further, did the princess regret her decision later? Originally published in 1882, in The Century magazine by Frank R Stockton, this short story has become an allegorical expression for an unsolvable problem.

"The Lamplighter" is ironic and iconic Dickens. A story within a story about dreams of wealth, with Dickensian wit throughout. A treat for Dickens fans who have not heard this lovely story before. (American accent narration.)

The last decade has seen an exponential increase in the development and adoption of language technologies, from personal assistants such as Siri and Alexa, through automatic translation, to chatbots like ChatGPT. Yet questions remain about what we stand to lose or gain when we rely on them in our everyday lives. As a non-native English speaker living in an English-speaking country, Vered Shwartz has experienced both amusing and frustrating moments using language technologies: from relying on inaccurate automatic translation, to failing to activate personal assistants with her foreign accent.

Everyone likes to think they know a bit about language: There are some words that you simply can't translate into English. The origin of a word tells you how it should be used. A dialect is inferior to a language. The problem is, none of these statements are true. In Don't Believe a Word, linguist David Shariatmadari explodes nine common myths about language and introduces us to some of the fundamental insights of modern linguistics.

Thirteen chapters evoke the joy and discovery of reading a menu dotted with the sharp-eyed annotations of a linguist. Jurafsky points out the subtle meanings hidden in filler words like "rich" and "crispy," zeroes in on the metaphors and storytelling tropes we rely on in restaurant reviews, and charts a micro-universe of marketing language on the back of a bag of potato chips.

On August 24, 1572, more than 2,000 French Huguenots - men, women, and children - were massacred for their faith. In St. Bartholomew's Eve, Henty vividly depicts Admiral Coligny's unflinching bravery, Queen Elizabeth's vacillating foreign policy, Catherine de Medici's vindictive scheming, and the queen of Navarre's inner strength as he recounts the adventures of Phillip Fletcher.

Twelve billionaires rule the United States, while those called freemen are forced to serve the rich. But that was 60 years ago, before the Scarlet Plague. In this post-apocalyptic novella, a ragged and tattered old man tells his progeny of what life was like before The Scarlet Plague appeared - and wiped out civilization as they knew it.

In 1906, without studying navigation, Jack London, his wife Charmian, and a small crew sail to the South Pacific, hoping not to get lost. His adventures and misadventures at sea led him through native uprisings, The Doldrums, and the then unknown sport of surfing. This first person narrative, in its first recording as an audiobook, combines London’s spirit of adventure with his wonderful sense of humor.

يبحث هذا الكتاب تاريخَ اللغة منذ ما قبل اللغة البشريَّة حتى الانفجار الهائل لوسائل التواصل والإعلام في وقتنا الراهن. ويستهلُّ المؤلِّف حديثَـهُ بوصف طرائق تواصل الحيتان والطُّيور والحشرات والرئيسيَّات من غير البشر، مشيراً إلى أنَّ هذه السياقات الأولى صالحةٌ لتطبيق مفهوم اللغة، ثم ينتقلُ إلى الحديث عن القدرات المبكِّرة للإنسان المنتصب، وانتشار اللغات في جميع أنحاء العالم، محلِّلاً تطوُّرَ الكتابة، ومبرزاً أثـرَ ظهور علم اللغويات في القرن التَّاسع عشر في دراسة اللغات البشريَّة وفهمها. ويتابع المؤلِّف تطوُّرَ رؤية اللغويين لعلاقة اللغة بالتغيُّرات الاجتماعيَّة في منتصف القرن العشرين. وأخيراً يتطرَّق إلى تأثيرات المذياع والتلفاز والدعاية والإعلام وشبكة الإنترنت في اللغة، ويتساءل كيف تعيدُ الوسائط الإلكترونيَّـة تشكيلَ لغات العالم يومياً، وترسمُ مستقبلَها؟ مقترحاً إعادة تفسيرٍ جذريَّـةٍ للغة.

Are you struggling to understand people’s intentions and would like to know how to interpret unconscious and non-verbal signals? Would you like to spot what others think of you by the way you make use of your body? Have you ever wanted to be more persuasive, or to learn how to influence others? Then this audiobook will open your eyes to the world of human behaviour and the ground-breaking techniques of dark psychology, teaching you how to interpret and even use at your advantage body posture, gestures, facial expressions, use of space and physical behaviour.

From the history of the English language's arrival in the United States to the spread of Arabic across North Africa and the enduring legacy of the Latin language, Immigrant Tongues explores the journeys of tongues across continents. With a style that balances entertainment and depth, this linguistics book also highlights the cultural exchanges that enriched language along the way.

At its heart, De Profundis is a love letter and is better known as the De Profundis papers. Written in 1897, while Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Gaol, De Profundis would become one of his best-known works. The papers include Wilde's account of living a lavish lifestyle and his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, both of which he credited for his eventual downfall and imprisonment. The second half of the papers is Wilde's account of prison life and his spiritual awakening.

Françoise Nore mène une enquête minutieuse et éclairante sur les étymologies les plus surprenantes de la langue française ! Une recherche aussi amusante qu'instructive. Vous n'êtes pas au bout de vos surprises… Bénin, ambigu, sommeil, farfouiller, chômage, galoper, chance, gracieux, virgule, kaléidoscope… vous racontent la longue histoire qui les a conduits jusqu'à nous. Origine, évolutions, disparition, réapparition… La langue française n'a pas fini de vous étonner !