Synopses & Reviews
This revised and updated edition incorporates many changes that reflect developments in language study over the past decade, including a new chapter on pragmatics, and an expansion of the chapter on semantics. There are additional sections on speech recognition systems, sign languages, women's and men's language, input in language learning, and several other topics. The Study Questions and Discussion Topics following each chapter have also been thoroughly revised, with the addition of more than 30 new tasks for students; and the Further Reading sections have been revised, updated and expanded. The new edition also has many more illustrations, examples, and quotes from a wide range of commentators, from Groucho Marx to Gary Larson. The presentation retains the clear and lively style which made the first edition a hugely popular introduction to the study of language.
Review
"...a well informed....making it a well-rounded tool for students becoming acquainted with the multiple facets of linguistics." Journal of Indo-European Studies
Synopsis
This new edition of The Study of Language incorporates many changes that reflect developments in language study over the past decade.
Table of Contents
Preface; 1. The origins of language; 2. The development of writing; 3. The properties of language; 4. Animals and human language; 5. The sounds of language; 6. The sound patterns of language; 7. Words and word-formation processes; 8. Morphology; 9. Phrases and sentences: grammar; 10. Syntax; 11. Semantics; 12. Pragmatics; 13. Discourse analysis; 14. Language and machines; 15. Language and the brain; 16. First language acquisition; 17. Second language acquisition/learning; 18. Sign language; 19. Language history and change; 20. Language varieties; 21. Language, society and culture; Appendix: suggested answers to study questions; References; Index.