Reviews for Metaphysics: Languages, Realities, Consciousness, & the big-e: A Natural Philosophy & A Chri...

The average rating for Metaphysics: Languages, Realities, Consciousness, & the big-e: A Natural Philosophy & A Chri... based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-07-22 00:00:00 Dallas Bishop The sections of this volume have the same names as in the previous ones, but the contributions aren't actually sorted out the same way. There are three articles in General Contributions, of which the most significant-looking is one describing some oddly inconsistent vowel harmony triggered by suffixes in Assamese and arguing that it has implications for the relative plausibility of different variants of Optimality Theory. A very brief response by an advocate of Whole Word Morphology helps to spell out that one of the issues at stake in both theories is where to draw the line between phonology and morphology. In contrast, the Special Contribution section has only one article instead of a themed controversy, describing the typology of agreement marking on verbs in Indian Sign Language as compared with American Sign Language, British Sign Language, and Japanese Sign Language. The author looks for evidence of convergence with spoken South Asian languages, but admits he hasn't found much. The Regional Reports section also includes two contributions that are really more like research articles, including one on a newly developing Arabic-based pidgin used by Sri Lankan housemaids working in the Middle East.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-06-17 00:00:00 Charles Lupo I love words. I believe Amazon's review best sums it up. "English doesn't borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar." -James D. Nicoll Organized alphabetically for easy reference, A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" is an accessible lexicon of foreign words and phrases used in English, containing everything from aficionado (Spanish) to zeitgeist (German). Inside you'll find translations, definitions, origins, and a descriptive timeline of each item's evolution. Entries include: À la carte: from the card or of the menu (French) Fiasco: complete failure (Italian) Dungarees: thick cotton cloth/overalls (Hindi) Diaspora: dispersion (Greek) Smorgasbord: bread and butter (Swedish) Cognoscenti: those who know (Italian) Compos mentis: having mastery of one's mind; with it (Latin) Attractively packaged with black and white illustrations, this whimsical yet authoritative book is a great gift for any etymologically fascinated individual. Use this book to reacquaint yourself with the English language, and you'll be compos mentis in no time.