Old English: A Linguistic Introduction

The book details:

• Title: Old English: A Linguistic Introduction.
• Author(s): Jeremy J. Smith.
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press.
• Size: 1.62 Mb.
• Format: PDF.
• Language: British English .
• Date: 2009.
• Pages: 213.

 Old English provides a clear linguistic introduction to English between the 5th century and the Norman invasion in 1066. Tailored to suit the needs of individual course modules, it assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, and presents the basic facts in a straightforward manner, making it the ideal beginners' text. Students are guided step-by-step through the main characteristics and developments of English during that period, aided by concise chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, and a comprehensive glossary.

Each chapter is accompanied by an engaging set of exercises and discussion questions based on authentic Anglo-Saxon texts, encouraging students to consolidate their learning, and providing essential self-study material. The book is accompanied by a companion website

Syntactic Gradience: The Nature of Grammatical Indeterminacy

The book details:

• Title: Syntactic Gradience: The Nature of Grammatical Indeterminacy.
• Author(s): Bas Aarts.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 1.27 Mb.
• Format: PDF .
• Date: 2007 .
• Pages: 295.

 This is the first exhaustive investigation of gradience in syntax, conceived of as grammatical indeterminacy. It looks at gradience in English word classes, phrases, clauses and constructions, and examines how it may be defined and differentiated. Professor Aarts addresses the tension between linguistic concepts and the continuous phenomena they describe by testing and categorizing grammatical vagueness and indeterminacy. He considers to what extent gradience is a grammatical phenomenon or a by-product of imperfect linguistic description, and makes a series of linked proposals for its theoretical formalization.

Linguistic Universals and Language Change

The book details:

• Title: Linguistic Universals and Language Change.
• Editor(s): Jeff Good .
• Publisher: Oxford University Press.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 1.23 Mb.
• Format: PDF .
• Date: 2008 .
• Pages: 356.

 This book looks at the relationship between linguistic universals and language change. Reflecting the resurgence of work in both fields over the last two decades, it addresses two related issues of central importance in linguistics: the balance between synchronic and diachronic factors in accounting for universals of linguistic structure, and the means of distinguishing genuine aspects of a universal human cognitive capacity for language from regularities that may be traced to extraneous origins.

The volume brings together specially commissioned work by leading scholars, including prominent representatives of generative and functional linguistics. It examines rival explanations for linguistic universals and assesses the effectiveness of competing models of language

Lexical Categories: Verbs, Nouns, and Adjectives

The book details:

• Title: Lexical Categories: Verbs, Nouns, and Adjectives.
• Author(s): Mark C. Baker.
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 1.23 Mb.
• Format: PDF .
• Date: 2004.
• Pages: 368.

Mark C. Baker investigates the fundamental nature of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. He claims that the various superficial differences found in particular languages have a single underlying source which can be used to provide better definitions of these "parts of speech". The new definitions are supported by data from languages from every continent. Baker's book argues for a formal, syntax-oriented, and universal approach to the parts of speech, as opposed to the functionalist, semantic, and relativist approaches that have dominated the subject.

Linguistic Universals

The book details:

• Title: Linguistic Universals.
• Edited by: Ricardo Mairal and Juana Gil.
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 1.43 Mb.
• Format: PDF.
• Quality: High .
• Date: 2006.
• Pages: 230.

The discovery of 'linguistic universals' - the properties that all languages have in common - is a fundamental goal of linguistic research. Linguists face the task of accounting for why languages, which apparently differ so greatly from one another on the surface, display striking similarities in their underlying structure. This volume brings together a team of leading experts to show how different linguistic theories have approached this challenge.

Drawing on work from both formal and functional perspectives, it provides a comprehensive overview of the most notable work on linguistic universals - with chapters on syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology and typology - and explores a range of central issues, such as the

The Phonological Enterprise

The book details:

• Title: The Phonological Enterprise.
• Author(s): Mark Hale and Charles Reiss.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 1.43 Mb.
• Format: PDF.
• Quality: High.
• Date: 2008 .
• Pages: 305.

  This book scrutinizes recent work in phonological theory from the perspective of Chomskyan generative linguistics and argues that progress in the field depends on taking seriously the idea that phonology is best studied as a mental computational system derived from an innate base, phonological Universal Grammar. Two simple problems of phonological analysis provide a frame for a variety of topics throughout the book.

The competence-performance distinction and markedness theory are both addressed in some detail, especially with reference to phonological acquisition. Several aspects of Optimality Theory, including the use of Output-Output Correspondence, functionalist argumentation and

Sound Change and the History of English

The book details:

• Title: Sound Change and the History of English.
• Author(s): Jeremy J. Smith.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 1.51 Mb.
• Format: PDF .
• Date: 2007 .
• Pages: 213.

This book addresses the question: why do sound changes happen, when and where they do? Jeremy Smith discusses the origins of a series of sound changes in English. He relates his arguments to larger questions about the nature of explanation in history and historical linguistics, and examines the interplay between sound change and social change. Drawing on the latest research in linguistics and history he shows how insights in one field illuminate the other.

After the opening chapter describing the book's approach and a general theoretical framework for the study of sound-change, the author discusses problems of evidence and considers the nature of phonological processes. He then presents detailed investigations of major sound-changes from three transitional periods: first, when English emerged as a language distinct from the other West Germanic varieties; secondly, during the transition from Old to Middle English; and thirdly during the time when Middle English evolved into Early Modern English.

English as a Second Language: Languages and Linguistics

The book details:

• Title: English as a Second Language: Languages and Linguistics.
• Author(s): David J. Alonso.
• Publisher: Nova.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 1.59 Mb.
• Format: PDF .
• Date: 2011.
• Pages: 207.

English as a Second Language (ESL) education has gained an increasingly important role in career development in science, business, and industry on the global stage. Language teaching practice often assumes that most of the difficulties that learners face in the study of English are a consequence of the degree to which their native language differs from English. One great challenge for adult ESL learners is to reduce or eliminate 'foreign accent' in their English pronunciation.

This book presents current research in the study of ESL,

Growing Up with Literature

The book details:

• Title: Growing Up with Literature.
• Author(s): Walter E. Sawyer, EdD.
• Publisher: Wadsworth.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 5.35 Mb.
• Format: PDF .
• Date: 2012, 6 Edition.
• Pages: 400.

GROWING UP WITH LITERATURE, Sixth Edition, provides a practical and understandable presentation of how to use children's literature/picture books to enhance literacy and language development in children ages birth to eight years. You will learn effective strategies for selecting and evaluating books, planning reading experiences, sharing stories with children, and using stories to help children deal with stress and problems (bibliotherapy). All genres of literature are addressed, including ABC/Counting books, folk and fairy tales, fables, and traditional/contemporary fiction and nonfiction. With 200 new children's literature titles, and up-to-date research on language development and brain development, this edition is on the cutting edge of knowledge in this area.

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It is high time that we decided just what is meant by a word. Our first impulse, no doubt, would have been to define the word as the symbolic, linguistic counterpart of a single concept. We now know that such a definition is impossible. In truth it is impossible to define the word from a functional standpoint at all, for the word may be anything from the expression of a single concept--concrete or abstract or purely relational (as in _of_ or _by_ or _and_)--to the expression of a complete thought (as in Latin _dico_ "I say" or, with greater elaborateness of form, in a Nootka verb form denoting "I have been

accustomed to eat twenty round objects [e.g., apples] while engaged in [doing so and so]"). In the latter case the word becomes identical with the sentence.

Language Origins

The book details:

• Title: Language Origins: Perspectives on Evolution.
• Author(s): Maggie Tallerman.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 2.25 Mb.
• Format: PDF.
• Date: 2005.
• Pages: 447.

This book addresses central questions in the evolution of language: where it came from; how and why it evolved; how it came to be culturally transmitted; and how languages diversified. It does so from the perspective of the latest work in linguistics, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science, and deploys the latest methods and theories to probe into the origins and subsequent development of the only species that has languages.

Linguistic Categorization

The book details:

• Title: Linguistic Categorization: Prototype in Linguistic Theory.
• Author(s): John R. Taylor.
• Publisher: Oxf.
• Language: American English.
• Size: 42.6 Mb.
• Format: PDF.
• Date: 1995, 2nd Edition.
• Pages: 165 .

This text explores the implications of Eleanor Rosch's seminal work on categorization and prototype theory, extending the application of prototype theory from lexical semantics to morphology, syntax, and phonology. It provides a readable introduction to the field of cognitive linguistics. For this edition, the author has added a further chapter which updates the book, particularly in its treatment of lexical semantics.

The Language and Region

The book details:

• Title: The Language and Region.
• Author(s): Joan C. Beal.
• Publisher: Routledge.
• Language: British English.
• Size: 1.15 Mb.
• Format: PDF .
• Date: April 2006.
• Pages: 131.

Language and Region:

• provides an accessible guide to regional variation in English
• covers topical issues including loss of regional diversity and attitudes to regional accents and dialects
• examines the use of dialect in media, advertising and the tourist industry
• outlines the main linguistic characteristics of regional accents and dialects in terms of regional pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.

Affording hands-on practical experience of textual analysis, this book is essential reading for students of English language studies.

About the Author

Joan Beal is Professor of English Language and Director of the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests are in dialectology and the recent history of English. 

The book details:

• Title: The Language of Websites.
• Author(s): Mark Boardman.
• Publisher: Routledge
• .Language: British English.
• Size: 7.14 Mb.
• Format: PDF.
• Date: 2004 .
• Pages: 133.

The Intertext series has been specifically designed to meet the needs of contemporary English Language Studies. Working with Texts: A Core Introduction to Language Analysis (second edition 2001) is the foundation text, which is complemented by a range of 'satellite' titles. These provide students with hands-on practical experience of textual analysis through special topics, and can be used individually or in conjunction with Working with Texts.
The Language of Websites:

• explores the ways in which websites use and present language
• covers many different types of web-based interaction, from buying online and auction sites, to search engines, email links and chatrooms
• considers the structures of language online, such as audience interaction and how hypertext alters narrative structure
• features a full glossary.the book here now.

About the Author

Mark Boardman is Head of Media at South Craven School, Keighley, Yorkshire, UK. He is an experienced teacher, having taught English A Level for many years, and is a senior examiner for AQA English Language. He also founded and runs The English Language List, an email discussion group for teachers of English Language.  

The Language of Children

The book details:

• Title: The Language of Children.
• Author(s): Julia Gillen.
• Publisher: Routledge.
• Language: British English.
• Pages: 112 .
• Size: 2.40 Mb.
• Date: 2003.
• Format: PDF.

The Intertext series has been specifically designed to meet the needs of contemporary English Language Studies. Working with Texts: A Core Introduction to Language Analysis (second edition, 2001) is the foundation text, which is complemented by a range of 'satellite' titles. These provide students with hands-on practical experience of textual analysis through special topics and can be used individually or in conjunction with Working with Texts.
The Language of Children:

• introduces the key theories of language acquisition and provides a historical overview of the subject
• looks at all the ways children learn to communicate, from writing and talking to playing and using computers
• includes a wide variety of real texts and data, from records of childrens first words to children's hand-written stories and emails
• explores the language of children from a range of backgrounds and abilities, including deaf and bilingual children
• is user-friendly and accessible, and provides a full glossary.

About the Author

Julia Gillen is a Lecturer in Applied Language Studies at the Open University, UK.

Find out more resources  here to help you improve your English skills for free.

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The Linguistics Encyclopedia

The book details:

• Title: The Linguistics Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition.
• Edited by: Kirsten Malmkjær.
• Publisher: Routledge.
• Language: British English .
• Size: 4.79 Mb.
• Format: PDF.
• Date: 2003 .
• Pages: 687.

The Linguistics Encyclopedia has been thoroughly revised and updated and a substantial new introduction, which forms a concise history of the field, has been added.
The volume offers comprehensive coverage of the major and subsidiary fields of linguistic study. Entries are alphabetically arranged and extensively cross-referenced, and include suggestions for further reading.

New entries include:

Applied Linguistics; Cognitive Linguistics; Contrastive Linguistics; Cross-Linguistic Study; Forensic Linguistics; Stratificational Linguistics.

About the Author

Dr Kirsten Malmkjaer is Curriculum Leader for the MA Theory and Practice of Translation at the University of Middlesex. 

The Language of Magazines

The book details:

• Title: The Language of Magazines.
• Author(s): Linda McLoughlin
• Publisher: Routledge.
• Language: British English.
• Size: 9.41 Mb.
• Format: .html.
• Date: 2000 .
• Pages: 160 .

The Language of Magazines:
*shows how linguistic techniques such as puns and presuppositions are used by magazines to capture our attention
*examines how image and text combine to produce meaning
*discusses how ideological messages are conveyed
*analyses how the sexes are constructed through language
*looks at how magazines relate to culture
*explores a wide variety of magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Mens Health, Bliss, Diva, FHM, Sugar and Viz.

About the Author

Linda McLoughlin is a part-time lecturer in English language at Edge Hill College, Ormskirk, Lancashire. She has designed and taught BA and MA courses in English language, specialising in language and gender.

The Language of Humour

The book details:

• Title: The Language of Humour.
• Author(s): Alison Ross.
• Publisher: Routledge.
• Language: British English.
•  Size: 1.43 Mb.
• Format: PDF.
• Date: 1998.
• Pages: 129.

The Language of Humour:
* examines the importance of the social context for humour
* explores the issue of gender and humour in areas such as the New Lad culture in comedy and stand-up comedy
* includes comic transcripts from TV sketches such as Clive Anderson and Peter Cook.

About the author

Alison Ross is a visiting lecturer at Leeds University and Sheffield Hallam University. She is a senior examiner and moderator for the NEAB English Language A Level.

The Language of Politics

The book details:

• Title: The Language of Politics.
• Author(s): Adrian Beard
• Publisher: Routledge.
• Language: British English .
• Size: 2.12 Mb.
• Format: PDF.
• Date: December 1999 .
• Pages: 134 .

The Language of Politics:
* examines how both politicians and commentators describe political stances
* explores some of the most common linguistic features to be found in political speeches
* analyses electioneering through various written texts including manifestos, posters and pamphlets
* looks at how politicians answer questions both in the media and in parliament
* includes examples of political discourse from Britain, America and Australia
* has a comprehensive glossary of terms.

About the Author

Adrian Beard is Head of English at Gosforth School in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Principle Moderator at the Northern Examining and assessment Board for A-level English Literature. His previous publications include The Language of Sport for the Intertext series.

Words and Worlds: World Languages Review

The book details:

• Title: Words and Worlds: World Languages Review 
• Author(s): Fèlix Martí, Paul Ortega, Itziar Idiazabal and more
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters.
• Language: English.
• Size: 2.95 Mb.
• Date: 2005
• Pages: 357.
• Format: PDF.

World Languages Review aims to examine the sociolinguistic situation of the world: to describe the linguistic diversity that currently characterizes humanity, to evaluate trends towards linguistic uniformity, and to establish a set of guidelines or language planning measures that favour the weaker or more endangered linguistic communities, so that anyone engaged in language planning -government officials, institution leaders, researchers, and community members- can implement these measures.

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