Linguistics: An Introduction is a self-contained introduction to language and linguistics, suitable for use as a textbook and for self-study. Written by a team of distinguished linguists, it offers a unified approach to language from several perspectives. A language is a complex structure represented in the minds of its speakers, and this provides the tools necessary for understanding this structure. It explains basic concepts and recent theoretical ideas in the major areas of linguistics (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics), as well as the applications of these to the study of child language acquisition, psycholinguistics, language disorders, and sociolinguistics. It is divided into three sections: sounds, words, and sentences. In each of these sections, the foundational concepts are introduced along with their applications in the above fields, giving this a clear and unique structure. Each section is accompanied by extensive exercises and guidance on further reading.
Table of contents:
List of figures; List of tables; List of maps; List of appendices; A note for course organisers and class teachers on the use of this book; Contents; Introduction; Part I. Sounds: 1. Introduction; 2. Sounds and suprasegmentals; 3. Sound variation; 4. Sound change; 5. Phonemes, syllables and phonological processes; 6. Child phonology; 7. Processing sounds; Part II. Words: 8. Introduction; 9. Word classes; 10. Building words; 11. Morphology across languages; 12. Word meaning; 13. Children and words; 14. Lexical processing and the mental lexicon; 15. Lexical disorders; 16. Lexical variation and change; Part III. Sentences: 17. Introduction; 18. Basic terminology; 19. Sentence structure; 20. Empty categories; 21. Movement; 22. Syntactic variation; 23. Logical form; 24. Children's sentences; 25. Sentence processing; 26. Syntactic disorders; Bibliography.
Table of contents:
List of figures; List of tables; List of maps; List of appendices; A note for course organisers and class teachers on the use of this book; Contents; Introduction; Part I. Sounds: 1. Introduction; 2. Sounds and suprasegmentals; 3. Sound variation; 4. Sound change; 5. Phonemes, syllables and phonological processes; 6. Child phonology; 7. Processing sounds; Part II. Words: 8. Introduction; 9. Word classes; 10. Building words; 11. Morphology across languages; 12. Word meaning; 13. Children and words; 14. Lexical processing and the mental lexicon; 15. Lexical disorders; 16. Lexical variation and change; Part III. Sentences: 17. Introduction; 18. Basic terminology; 19. Sentence structure; 20. Empty categories; 21. Movement; 22. Syntactic variation; 23. Logical form; 24. Children's sentences; 25. Sentence processing; 26. Syntactic disorders; Bibliography.