Social Linguistics

This compact but powerful book argues for the primacy of language - of the words we speak - as a force for creating the lives we want to lead. There are ways of speaking that will produce action and change, and there are ways of speaking that don’t. This book explores that distinction. For anyone who is wanting to lead a more intentional, focused, and powerful life, Change Your World One Word at a Time is both inspirational and practical.

The Hairy Ape (1922) is an expressionist play by Eugene O'Neill. The protagonist, Yank, yearns for a sense of belonging in a world he perceives as being controlled by the rich. Initially, Yank enjoys his job stoking the engines of an ocean liner. Then the wealthy daughter of a steel magnate refers to him as a "filthy beast", and Yank starts experiencing an identity crisis. He leaves the ship, and while walking around Manhattan, comes to the conclusion that he does not belong anywhere; not with the rich on Fifth Avenue nor with the labor unions on the waterfront.

This audiobook makes learning French easy for children. This is done through explaining why language skills are useful, in a way children can understand. The French language is then introduced in a manner that children can effortlessly use in a travel setting, such as answering questions, ordering food or common vocabulary. Repetition is key to recall, and the audiobook is paced to reinforce key concepts and lock them into memory.

Bernard Shaw based his "religious pantomime" Androcles and the Lion on the ancient fable of the runaway slave who pulls a painful thorn from a lion's paw, thereby making a lifelong friend. This tale of a puny Greek tailor triumphing over the Roman emperor is, as always with Shaw, a commentary on the politics of his time, with the emperor standing in for the British government and, indeed, all repressive regimes.

New Poems by D.H.Lawrence. Narrated by Denis Daly. This audiobook is a collection of 42 poems first published in 1920. In it, Lawrence explores the possibilities of free verse, of which he says in the preface: “This is the unrestful, ungraspable poetry of the sheer present, poetry whose very permanency lies in its wind-like transit.”

Making his way to a tryst with his "dark lady" near the royal palace the young playwright William Shakespeare encounters a mysterious woman in a cloak. Mistaking her for his lady friend, he accosts her in a familiar fashion, only to discover, to his dismay, that she is in fact the queen. He overcomes his initial discomfort, and takes advantage of the situation to make a petition for royal support to establish a national theatre.

A party of friends exchange ghost stories on Christmas Eve; but everything may not be quite as it seems....

All they could hear was the wind, and the waves crashing on to the rocks. All they could see was the night. They could not see the ship, broken in two. They could not see the people holding on to the dark wet rock, slowly dying of cold. And they could not hear the cries for help - only the wind. How could they save the people on the rock? Was their wooden boat stronger than the iron ship?

Since logic derives from postulates, it never has, and never will, change a postulate. And a religious belief is a system of postulates...so how can a man fight a native superstition with logic in order to save the inhabitants of an entire planet? A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in Analog Science Fact-Science Fiction, in 1960.

Fitz James O'Brien (1828 - 1862) was an Irish-born American writer, some of whose work is considered the forerunner of today's science fiction. The Diamond Lens is his most famous short story and tells the strange story of a scientist who invents a powerful microscope and discovers a beautiful woman in an enchanting microscopic world inside a drop of water.

Get By in Portuguese is devised specifically for travellers. The 70-minute download will help you to get to grips with the basics of spoken Portuguese, and introduces the most relevant language you'll hear when you're there. Listen to the audio a couple of times to practise the key phrases and vocabulary, and familiarise yourself with Portuguese pronunciation.

Enoch Arden first came to international attention with a recording by Claude Raines and Glenn Gould, but it has since drifted back to obscurity. This is a work that both Luxon and Moyer have loved for many years. The poem is immediately accessible to any audience and tells a heart-wrenching story of friendship, love, separation, and sacrifice. The masterful score creates a powerful soundtrack to the saga.

In the same engaging style and dry humor that makes the Podictionary podcast popular, Hodgson traces the development of our language using easily recognizable milestones such as Beowulf, William the Conqueror, Chaucer, and Shakespeare, with a minimum of dates and dry facts.

William Shakespeare. Born April 1564, at Stratford-upon-Avon. Died April 1616. Married Anne Hathaway: two daughters, one son. Actor, poet, famous playwright. Wrote nearly forty plays. But what was he like as a man? What did he think about when he rode into London for the first time... or when he was writing his plays Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet... or when his only son died? We know the facts of his life, but we can only guess at his hopes, his fears, his dreams.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most intriguing novella. Austin Gilroy is a scientist and is by nature sceptical of anything to do with the occult. So when his colleague, Professor Wilson, introduces him to the mysterious and sinister hypnotist, Miss Penclosa, he is inclined to view her as a fraud. But when Gilroy's fiancée is hypnotised and Miss Penclosa makes her do the unthinkable, Gilroy is forced to change his views.

Surprisingly few people take any time to think about how they are learning languages. They usually just trust their teacher or friends' advice. This is inefficient at best and often liable to failure at worst. Language learning and learning in general have been over-complicated by a mass of theories, methods, and techniques. This makes life harder than it needs to be. This book attempts to cut through the noise and give a clear description of how languages are actually learned.

Get By in Chinese is devised specifically for travellers. The 70-minute download will help you to get to grips with the basics of spoken Chinese, and introduces the most relevant language you'll hear when you're there. Listen to the audio a couple of times to practise the key phrases and vocabulary, and familiarise yourself with Chinese pronunciation.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

A magical fairy tale, which features a feisty princess who has the unfortunate curse of life without gravity. Can the curse be broken before she floats away. Beautifully retold to entertain children of all ages.

Reginald, published in 1904, was the first of Saki's collections of short stories. The eponymous Reginald is an effete, cynical young man-about-town whose character is a vehicle for Saki's delicious biting wit satirizing Edwardian high society.

C'est en linguiste de terrain que Claude Hagège a abordé le champ des langues. Son intérêt pour leur réalité vécue, leur chair vive et le terreau d'origine de la parole humaine en font un adepte d'une approche empirico-inductive, aboutissant ainsi à des conclusions d'ordre général à partir d'une matière concrète.