1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910465476003321

Autore

Thewissen J. G. M.

Titolo

The walking whales : from land to water in eight million years / / J. G. M. Thewissen ; with illustrations by Jacqueline Dillard

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oakland, California : , : University of California Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-520-95941-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (257 p.)

Disciplina

569/.5

Soggetti

Whales, Fossil - Pakistan

Whales, Fossil - India

Whales - Evolution

Paleontology - Pakistan

Paleontology - India

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- 1. A Wasted Dig -- 2. Fish, Mammal, or Dinosaur? -- 3. A Whale with Legs -- 4. Learning to Swim -- 5. When the Mountains Grew -- 6. Passage to India -- 7. A Trip to the Beach -- 8. The Otter Whale -- 9. The Ocean Is a Desert -- 10. The Skeleton Puzzle -- 11. The River Whales -- 12. Whales Conquer the World -- 13. From Embryos to Evolution -- 14. Before Whales -- 15. The Way Forward -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Hans Thewissen, a leading researcher in the field of whale paleontology and anatomy, gives a sweeping first-person account of the discoveries that brought to light the early fossil record of whales. As evidenced in the record, whales evolved from herbivorous forest-dwelling ancestors that resembled tiny deer to carnivorous monsters stalking lakes and rivers and to serpentlike denizens of the coast. Thewissen reports on his discoveries in the wilds of India and Pakistan, weaving a narrative that reveals the day-to-day adventures of fossil collection, enriching it with local flavors from South Asian culture and society. The reader senses the excitement of the digs as well as the rigors faced by



scientific researchers, for whom each new insight gives rise to even more questions, and for whom at times the logistics of just staying alive may trump all science. In his search for an understanding of how modern whales live their lives, Thewissen also journeys to Japan and Alaska to study whales and wild dolphins. He finds answers to his questions about fossils by studying the anatomy of otters and porpoises and examining whale embryos under the microscope. In the book's final chapter, Thewissen argues for approaching whale evolution with the most powerful tools we have and for combining all the fields of science in pursuit of knowledge.

2.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910957723003321

Autore

Lippi-Green Rosina

Titolo

Language ideology and language change in early modern German : a sociolinguistic study of the consonantal system of Nuremberg / / Rosina Lippi-Green

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Amsterdam ; ; Philadelphia, : John Benjamins Pub. Co., c1994

ISBN

1-283-31284-0

9786613312846

90-272-7670-6

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (164 p.)

Collana

Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series IV, Current issues in linguistic theory, , 0304-0763 ; ; v. 119

Disciplina

437/.324

Soggetti

German language - Dialects - Germany - Nuremberg

German language - Early modern, 1500-1700 - Consonants

German language - Early modern, 1500-1700 - Variation

German language - Early modern, 1500-1700 - Social aspects - Germany - Nuremberg

Linguistic change

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [139]-147) and index.

Nota di contenuto

LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY AND LANGUAGE CHANGE IN EARLY MODERN GERMAN; Editorial page; Title page; Copyright page; Dedication; PREFACE; Table of contents; LIST OF TABLES; LIST OF FIGURES; CHAPTER



1. LANGUAGE STANDARDIZATIONIN IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT; CHAPTER 2.  NUREMBERG AND ITS LANGUAGE; CHAPTER 3. THE DISTRIBUTION OF VARIABLE CONSONANT SETS; CHAPTER 4. SOCIAL IDENTITY, STYLISTIC FACTORSAND ORTHOGRAPHIC CONGRUITY; CHAPTER 5. STATISTICAL MODELS OF NUREMBERG'SCONSONANTAL VARIATION; CONCLUSIONS; APPENDIX A DEMOGRAPHIC DATA; APPENDIX B CODING GUIDELINES; APPENDIX C PRIMARY SOURCE LIST; APPENDIX D DATA

REFERENCESINDEX

Sommario/riassunto

This quantitative study, based on a computerized corpus of texts written by five men in early 16th-century Nuremberg, employs multivariate GLM statistical procedures to analyze the way linguistic, social and stylistic factors work individually and in interaction to influence variation observed in the texts. Over 70,000 tokens of variable consonants sets were analyzed, using network analysis as an alternate approach to quantification of relevant social identities, which allowed focus on individual behavior without discarding the analysis of group behaviors.The study provides evidence that conso