Intra Individual Variation In Language

This volume offers several empirical, methodological, and theoretical approaches to the study of observable variation within individuals on various linguistic levels. With a focus on German varieties, the chapters provide answers on the following questions (inter alia): Which linguistic and extra-linguistic factors explain intra-individual variation? Is there observable intra-individual variation that cannot be explained by linguistic and extra-linguistic factors? Can group-level results be generalised to individual language usage and vice versa? Is intra-individual variation indicative of actual patterns of language change? How can intra-individual variation be examined in historical data? Consequently, the various theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches in this volume offer a better understanding of the meaning of intra-individual variation for patterns of language development, language variation and change. The inter- and transdisciplinary nature of the volume is an exciting new frontier, and the results of the studies in this book provide a wealth of new findings as well as challenges to some of the existing findings and assumptions regarding the nature of intra-individual variation.

Intraindividual variability (IIV) of human development and behavior across the entire life-span is explored in this new book. Leading researchers summarize recent findings on the extent, role, and function of IIV in human development with a focus on how, when, and why individuals change over time. The latest theoretical, methodological, and technological advances are reviewed. The book explores the historical and theoretical background and challenges of IIV research along with its role and function in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Edited to maximize consistency and accessibility, each chapter includes an introduction and a review of the research and most explore future directions, new theoretical developments, and conclusions and implications. Readers are shown that by focusing on the individual as a unit of analysis across different time scales, conditions, and situations, researchers can effectively demonstrate behavioral and developmental regularities at different points of the life-span. As such this book is a must have for anybody interested in IIV research. The book explores: -New designs and methods for the analysis of intensive repeated measures data. -The importance of real-time data for more time sensitive and ecologically valid measurements. -The role and function of intraindividual variability in behavior and development across the life-span -- from infancy to later life. -Numerous examples of how intraindividual variability research is conducted. -Topics and findings that are commonly treated in disparate bodies of literature from various disciplines. Part 1 provides a historical, conceptual, and methodological overview of the study of intraindividual variability (IIV). IIV during childhood and adolescence and its application in the investigation of development of language acquisition, infant-parent interactions, development of motor skills, cognitive development, mood regulation, and identity development are examined in Part 2. Part 3 focuses on IIV during adult development, including its use in neuropsychological functioning and attention and in personality development and mood regulation. IIV in the context of adults’ health behavior is also reviewed. Part 4 examines the key issues and challenges of IIV research in human development such as whether IIV in adult development is an indicator of vulnerability or resilience, the association between short-term IIV and long-term developmental change, and multiple time-scale design and analysis. The volume concludes with a look at the future of intraindividual variation analysis. Intended for advanced students and researchers in developmental psychology across the life-span, social, personality, and health psychology, as well as sociology, family studies, gerontology, education, and medicine, interested in intraindividual variability of behavior and its role in human development, this book also serves as a text for graduate courses on longitudinal analysis, multilevel modeling, and/or (advanced) data analysis offered in these departments. Knowledge in human development or life course sociology and graduate-level statistics is recommended.

Language fundamentally defines and distinguishes us as humans, as members of society, and as individuals. As we go through life, our relationship with language and with learning shifts and changes, but it remains significant. This book is an up-to-date resource for graduate students and researchers in second language (L2) acquisition who are interested in language learning across the lifespan. The main goal is to survey and evaluate what is known about the linguistic-cognition-affect associations that occur in L2 learning from birth through senescence (passing through the stages of childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and third age), the extent to which L2 acquisition may be seen as contributing to healthy and active aging, the impact of the development of personalized, technology-enhanced communicative L2 environments, and how these phenomena are to be approached scientifically and methodologically. The effects of certain specific variables, such as gender, socio-economic background, and bilingualism are also analyzed, as we argue that chronological age does not determine the positioning of L2 learners across the lifespan: age is part of a complex web of social distinctions such as psychological and individual factors that intersect in the construction of a learner’s relative status and opportunities.

This volume is both a state-of-the-art display of current thinking on second language development as a complex system. It is also a tribute to Diane Larsen-Freeman for her decades of intellectual leadership in the academic disciplines of applied linguistics and second language acquisition. The chapters therein range from theoretical expositions to methodological analyses, pedagogical proposals, and conceptual frameworks for future research. In a balanced and in-depth manner, the authors provide a comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of second language development, with a wealth of insights that promise to break the status-quo of current research and take it to exciting new territory. The book will appeal to both seasoned and novice researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, bilingualism, cognitive psychology, and education, as well as to practitioners in second or foreign language teaching of any language.

Developmental research has long focused on regularities in language acquisition, minimizing factors that might be responsible for variation. Although researchers are now increasingly concerned with one or another of these factors, this volume brings together research on three different sources of variation: language-specific properties, the nature of the input to children across contexts, and several aspects of the learners themselves. Chapters explore these sources of variation within an interdisciplinary and comparative approach allying theories and methodologies stemming from linguistics, psycholinguistics, developmental psychology, and neuroscience. The comparative perspective involves different languages, contexts of use, types of learners (first/second language acquisition, monolingual/bilingual learners, autism, language impairment), as well as vocal and visuo-gestural communicative modalities (co-verbal gestures, sign language acquisition). The volume points to the need to enhance interdisciplinary research using complementary methodologies to further examine sources of variation and to integrate variation into a more general developmental theory.

This state-of-the-art volume is the first to capture a hybrid discipline that studies the role and linguistic implications of the human mind in language learning and teaching. This Handbook considers individual as well as collective factors in language learners and teachers from an array of new empirical constructs and theoretical perspectives, including implications for practice and “myths, debates, and disagreements” in the field, and points to future directions for research. This collection of stellar contributions is an essential resource for researchers, advanced students, and teachers working in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, psychology, and education.

This book is a collection of articles which were presented at the II-nd International Linguistic Conference in Taganrog, Russia. The most interesting and the most important ideas and researches are represented. The book consists of five parts: Historical linguistics, Lexicology, Grammar, Pragmatics, Ethnolinguistics and Translation. In the first part there are articles of the yenisseic phenomenon from historical point of view by prof. H.Werner (Germany), the role of mythology in the linguistic researching, the diachronic approach to the typological analysis of mental vocabulary, the expression of possessivity in the paleoaisatic languages, the diachrony of grammatical categories in different languages, historical linguistics and Lev Gumilev’s theory of ethnogenesis. The second part deals with a concept-centered approach to the researching of the vocabulary on the base of cognitive theory, some articles are devoted to the problems of lexicography. In the third part articles consider different grammatical problems, for example – the problem of the zero-sign by Pyotr Tschesnokov. The next part deals with problems of pragmalinguistics, and the last part considers the questions of etnolinguistics and translation, as simultaneous interpreting, ethical Concepts formation of national linguo-cultural communities. The book appeals to philologists, teachers and students.