This book opens readers’ eyes to something they see all the time but take for granted: street signs. It is a portrait of the signs on modern English streets: what they look like, who and what they are for, how they link to English history and how they form part of life in multilingual England today. It describes how their shapes, materials, letters, vocabulary, and grammar differ from other forms of written English, using a framework based on linguistics, typography and writing systems research. It provides readable and entertaining insights into an important use of written English, illustrated with over 400 examples of street signs. The book represents a starting point for the study of street signs as an academic area in its own right.
Tabella dei contenuti
Preface
Chapter 1. Describing Street Signs
Chapter 2. The Writing System of the Street
Chapter 3. The Language System of the Street
Chapter 4. The Material of the Street Sign
Chapter 5. Naming the Street
Chapter 6. Controlling Signs
Chapter 7. Connotations of Letter Forms in Street Signs
Chapter 8. Street Signs in Other Languages
Chapter 9. The Nature of Street Signs
References
Index
Circa l’autore
Vivian Cook, who sadly passed away before his chapter in this volume appeared, was a British linguist who was Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at Newcastle University. He was renowned for his work on second language acquisition and second language teaching, and for writing successful textbooks and popular books about linguistics. He worked on a number of topics such as bilingualism, EFL (English as a foreign language), first language acquisition, second language teaching, linguistics, and the English writing system. He published more than 20 books and 100 papers across seven decades. He was founder and first President of the European Second Language Association (Euro SLA), and co-founder of the Oxford University Press journal Writing Systems Research. He died on December 15, 2021, at the age of 81. Vivian will be profoundly missed by his colleagues and students.
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