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Linguistics is a comprehensive crosslinguistic introduction to the study of language, and is ideal for students with no background in linguistics.
“Linguistics. The Basics offers a brilliant classroom and self-study introduction to all aspects of the discipline, examining the structure of language, the processes of perception and production by individuals, and the social dynamics of the language community.” – Johan van der Auwera, University of Antwerp
List of Figures and Tables xiii
Preface xvii
Part I Language and the Language Faculty 1
1 From Language to Linguistics 3
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Languages 5
1.3 Other Languages 9
1.4 Differences 15
1.5 Linguistics 17
1.6 Different Kinds of Grammar 19
1.7 The Contents of this Book and the Subfields of Linguistics 22
Summary 24
Assignments 26
Test Yourself 27
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 27
2 The Language User 29
2.1 Introduction 29
2.2 Knowledge and Ability: The Cognitive System 30
2.3 Language and the Brain 34
2.4 Language Comprehension 37
2.4.1 Speech Recognition 38
2.4.2 Word Recognition 39
2.4.3 Understanding Sentences 41
2.4.4 Interpretation of Utterances 43
2.4.5 From Speech Recognition to Interpretation 43
2.5 Language Production 44
2.5.1 What Do You Want to Say? 45
2.5.2 Formulation: Grammatical Encoding 46
2.5.3 Formidation: Phonological Encoding 48
2.5.4 Articulation 50
2.5.5 Speaking: From Intention to Articulation 51
Summary 52
Assignments 53
Test Yourself 54
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 55
3 Language Acquisition 57
3.1 Introduction 57
3.2 How do Children Acquire Language? 59
3.3 The Order of First Language Acquisition 62
3.4 Factors that Influence the Acquisition of Second Language 66
3.5 The Order of Second Language Acuquistion 69
3.6 Bilingual Development 74
Summary 77
Assignments 78
Test Yourself 79
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 80
Part II Language and Interaction 81
4 Discourse 83
4.1 Introduction 83
4.2 Interpretation and Inference 84
4.3 Cooperation 86
4.4 Conversations 89
4.5 Coherence Through Linguistic Form 95
Summary 98
Assignments 99
Test Yourself 100
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 101
5 Speech Acts 103
5.l Introduction 103
5.2 An Utterance is an Act 104
5.3 Information Structure 110
5.4 Pramatic Appropriateness 114
Summary 117
Assignments 118
Test Yourself 119
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 119
Part Sentences and their Meaning 21
6 Constituents and Word Classes 123
6.1 Introduction 123
6.2 Constituents 124
6.3 Sentences, Clauses and Phrases 126
6.4 Phrase Types 127
6.5 Heads and Modifiers 130
6.6 Constituent Structure 131
6.7 Phrases Versus Words 135
6.8 Word Classes: Content Words 136
6.9 Word Classes: Function Words 138
Summary 140
Assignments 140
Test Yourself 142
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 142
7 Simple Sentences 143
7.1 Introduction 143
7.2 Functions of Phrases Within the Sentence 144
7.3 Valency 147
7.4 Semantic Roles 150
7.5 Grammatical Roles 151
7.6 The Marking of Semantic and Grammatical Roles 153
7.7 Reduction of Valency 154
7.8 Reflexive Constructions 155
7.9 Pronominalisation 157
Summary 158
Assignments 158
Test Yourself 160
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 160
8 Complex Sentences 161
8.1 Introduction 161
8.2 The Functions of Embedded Clauses 162
8.3 The Forms of Embedded Clauses 165
8.4 Interaction between Main Clause and Embedded Clause 168
8.4.1 Equi-Deletion 168
8.4.2 Raising 169
8.4.3 Sequence of Tenses 170
8.5 Coordinated Clauses 172
8.6 The Form of Coordinated Clauses 173
Summary 174
Assignments 175
Test Yourself 176
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 176
9 Constituent Order 177
9.1 Introduction 177
9.2 Constituent Order and Levels of Analysis 178
9.3 Constituent Order at the Sentence Level 179
9.4 Clause Type 181
9.5 Embedded Clauses 182
9.6 Complexity 183
9.7 The Information Status of Constituents 184
9.8 Constituent Order within Constituents 185
9.8.1 The Noun Phrase 186
9.8.2 The Verb Phrase 187
9.9 Correlations 188
9.10 Discontinuous Constituents 190
Summary 191
Assignments 191
Test Yourself 192
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 193
10 Sentence Meaning 195
10.1 Introduction 195
10.2 Compositionality 196
10.3 Noun Phrases: Reference 197
10.4 Noun Phrases: Deixis and Anaphora 203
10.5 Verb Phrases: Tense and Aspect 206
10.6 Verb Phrases: Situation Types 210
Summary 214
Assignments 214
Test Yourself 215
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 216
Part IV Words and Their Meaning 217
11 Lexicon 219
11.1 Introduction 219
11.2 What is a Word? 220
11.3 The Relation Between Word Form and Meaning 221
11.4 Content Words and Function Words 223
11.5 The Lexicon 226
11.6 Kinds of Lexical Information 228
11.7 Dictionaries 230
11.8 Meaning and Meaning Relations 232
11.9 Semantic Description 235
11.10 Words Across Languages 236
Summary 237
Assignments 239
Test Yourself 240
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 240
12 Word Formation 241
12.1 Introduction 241
12.2 The Internal Composition of Words 242
12.3 The Functions of Word Formation 243
12.4 Derivation 245
12.5 Inflection 249
12.6 Morphological Forms 251
12.7 The Structure of Words and Their Meanings 255
12.8 Differences between Derivation and Inflection 256
12.9 Morphological Differences between Languages 258
Summary 260
Assignments 261
Test Yourself 263
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 263
13 Compounds and Idiomatic Expressions 265
13.1 Introduction 265
13.2 Structure and Meaning of Compounds 266
13.3 Types of Compounds 270
13.4 Incorporation 271
13.5 Idiomatic Expressions 272
13.6 The Meaning of Idiomatic Expressions 274
Summary 279
Assignment 280
Test Yourself 281
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 281
Part V Speech Sounds 283
14 Speaking and Listening - Speech Sounds 285
14.1 Introduction 285
14.2 Speaking 287
14.3 The Speech Signal 288
14.4 Hearing and Understanding 291
14.5 Speech Sounds 292
14.5.1 Introduction 292
14.5.2 Pulmonic Consonants 293
14.5.3 Non-pulmonic Consonants 296
14.5.4 Vowels 296
14.5.5 Diphthongs 297
14.5.6 Further Features 298
14.6 Speech Synthesis and Speech Recognition 298
Summary 299
Assignments 301
Test Yourself 301
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 302
15 Sound Systems and Phonological Processes 303
15.1 Introduction 303
15.2 Distinctiveness 304
15.3 Sound Systems 307
15.4 Distinctive Features 311
15.5 Morphophonological Processes 314
15.6 Graphemes and Phonemes 316
Summary 317
Assignments 317
Test Yourself 318
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 319
16 Syllables, Stress and Intonation 321
16.1 Introduction 321
16.2 The Syllable: Phonotactics 322
16.3 The Word: Stress 326
16.4 The Sentence: Intonation 328
16.5 Rhythm 330
Summary 331
Assignments 332
Test Yourself 333
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 333
Part VI Languages and Communities 335
17 Differences and Similarities between Languages 337
17.1 Introduction 337
17.2 Similarities between Languages 339
17.3 Genetic Relations 342
17.4 Language and Culture 349
17.5 Language and Thought: The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis 354
Summary 358
Assignments 359
Test Yourself 359
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 359
18 Language Variation 316
18.1 Introduction 361
18.2 What is a Language? 362
18.3 What is a Dialect? 364
18.4 The Study of Language Variation 366
18.5 Language Variation and Social Factors 369
18.5.1 Region 370
18.5.2 Social Class 372
18.5.3 Ethnic Group 374
18.5.4 Age 375
18.5.5 Gender 375
18.6 Other Factors: Situation and Linguistic Context 377
18.7 Language Variation and Social Meaning 379
Summary 381
Assignments 382
Test Yourself 382
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 383
19 Language Change 385
19.1 Introduction 385
19.2 Historical Linguistics 386
19.3 The Process of Change 390
19.4 The Role of Social Groups in Language Change 394
19.5 Embedding Changes into the Language System 397
19.6 The Evaluation of Language Change 399
Summary 400
Assignments 400
Test Yourself 401
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 401
10 Bilingualism 403
20.1 Introduction 403
20.2 The Bilingual Community 404
20.3 Language Policy 407
20.4 Bilingual Education 408
20.5 The Bilingual Individual 410
20.6 Bilingualism and Interference 412
20.7 The Emergence of New Languages 418
Summary 421
Assignments 422
Test Yourself 422
Acknowledgments and Further Reading 423
References 425
Sources of Illustrations 433
Index 335
Overview
Linguistics is a comprehensive crosslinguistic introduction to the study of language, and is ideal for students with no background in linguistics.