An Introduction to English Language

✍ Scribed by Koenraad Kuiper; W. Scott Allan

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Year: 2017
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 384
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Back for its fourth edition, this core textbook offers a clear and engaging introduction to the building blocks of the English language, namely its words, sounds and sentences. Assuming no prior knowledge, this text combines accessibility with depth and is an ideal companion for anyone with an interest in how language works. Written by experienced and respected lecturers in the field, this book strips the subject down to its bare bones and offers detailed and clear explanations of key topics and theories, including variation in vocabularies, the International Phonetic Alphabet and relevance theory in relation to pragmatics. This is essential reading for undergraduate students of English language and linguistics. It is also a valuable resource for students on ESOL courses and teachers of English as a second or foreign language. It can be used as a stand-alone introductory text, or as a precursor to more advanced material. New to this Edition: - Brand new section on pragmatics, complete with downloadable e-resources available on the companion website - Fully revised and updated throughout, with a fresh text design and new examples - References to cognition and language introduced throughout the book in an accessible way

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Contents
Preface to the fourth edition
Acknowledgements
The International Phonetic Alphabet
How to use this book and its companion website
Chapter 1 Introduction: What is a Language?
1.1 Properties of human language
1.1.1 Language is a code
1.1.2 Linguistic symbols have function and form
1.1.3 Linguistic units are constructed according to rules
1.1.4 Language is specifically human
1.1.5 Language use is creative
1.1.6 Language use is constrained
1.1.7 Language change and variation
1.2 Linguistics
1.2.1 Inter- and applied linguistics
Glossary
Further reading
Electronic resources
PART 1 Words
Chapter 2 The Form and Function of Words
Introduction: dictionaries and lexemes
2.1 Words and their grammatical categories: syntactic categories and inflection
2.1.1 Introduction
2.1.2 Nouns
2.1.3 Adjectives
2.1.4 Adverbs
2.1.5 Verbs
2.1.6 Prepositions
2.2 Word formation
2.2.1 Compounding
2.2.2 Derivational affixation
2.2.3 Conversion
2.3 Kinds of morphemes
2.3.1 Bound and free morphemes
2.3.2 Stems and affixes
2.3.3 More on inflectional morphemes
2.4 Morphological properties
2.4.1 Existing and non-existing, possible and impossible words
2.4.2 Productivity
2.4.3 Diagramming word structure
Further exercises
Chapter 3 Word Meanings and Vocabularies
3.1 The meaning of words
3.1.1 Sameness and difference of sense
3.1.2 Oppositeness of sense
3.1.3 Sense components
3.1.4 Tropes
3.1.5 Word meanings in context
3.1.6 Reference
3.1.7 Word associations and connotations
3.2 Vocabularies
3.2.1 Adding to vocabularies
3.2.2 Coining new words
3.2.3 Change through time
3.2.4 Reduced usage, archaism and loss
3.2.5 Word histories
3.2.6 Dialect vocabularies
3.2.7 Specialist vocabularies
3.2.8 Formality and vocabulary
3.2.9 Dictionaries
Further exercises
Glossary
Further reading
Electronic resources
PART 2 Sounds
Chapter 4 Speech Sounds
4.1 Sounds and spelling
4.1.1 The International Phonetic Alphabet
4.2 Articulatory phonetics
4.2.1 Organs of speech
4.2.2 Speech production
4.2.3 Vowels
Further exercises
Chapter 5 The Phonology of English
Introduction – sounds: same vs different
5.1 Identification of phonemes
5.1.1 Complementary distribution
5.1.2 Defective distribution
5.1.3 Parallel distribution
5.1.4 Free variation
5.1.5 Variation and dialects
5.2 Phonemes and allophones revisited
5.3 Phonemic analysis
5.3.1 The phonemic system
5.3.2 Phonotactics
5.3.3 Allophonic rules
5.4 Allophonic processes
5.4.1 Aspiration
5.4.2 Assimilation
5.4.3 Elision
5.4.4 Insertion
5.5 Allophones
5.5.1 Oral stops
5.5.2 Voiced fricatives
5.5.3 Sonorants
5.5.4 Vowels
5.6 Derivations
5.7 Features
5.7.1 The necessity of features
Further exercises
Chapter 6 Syllables and Suprasegmentals
6.1 Syllables
6.1.1 Syllable boundaries and phonotactics
6.1.2 Syllable structure
6.1.3 Nucleus, rhyme, onset and coda
6.1.4 Rhyme schemes
6.2 Suprasegmental features of English
6.2.1 Pitch
6.2.2 Intonation
6.3 Stress
6.3.1 Levels of stress
6.3.2 Stress in connected speech: rhythm
6.3.3 Rhythm and meter in poetry
Further exercises
Glossary
Further reading
Electronic resources
PART 3 Sentences
Chapter 7 The Structure of Simple Sentences
Introduction
7.1 Simple phrases
7.1.1 Three ways to identify phrases
7.1.2 Heads and modifiers
7.1.3 Noun phrase
7.1.4 Adjective phrase
7.1.5 Prepositional phrase
7.1.6 Verb phrase
7.2 Simple clauses and their functional constituents
7.2.1 Subject
7.2.2 Predicate
7.2.3 Objects
7.2.4 Intensive complements
7.2.5 Adverbials
Further exercises
Chapter 8 Complex Syntax
8.1 Complex phrases and clauses
8.1.1 Sub-categorization of heads of phrase
8.1.2 Co-ordination
8.2 Syntactic relatedness
8.2.1 Yes/no question formation
8.2.2 Wh questions and wh movement
8.2.3 Relative clauses and wh movement
8.2.4 Commands
8.2.5 Passive
8.2.6 Tag questions and dialect
8.2.7 Main and subordinate clauses
8.2.8 Empty constituents
8.2.9 Grammatical change
8.3 Lexicalized phrases and clauses
Further exercises
Glossary
Further reading
Electronic resources
Chapter 9 Pragmatics
Introduction
9.1 Phenomena which require a theory of pragmatics
9.1.1 Deictics: words and expressions that shift their meaning
9.1.2 Assigning a referent or referents to a referring expression
9.1.3 Enrichment: filling in the missing bits
9.1.4 Enrichment: closing in
9.1.5 Disambiguation
9.1.6 Irony
9.2 Relevance theory and pragmatics
9.2.1 One’s cognitive environment
9.2.2 The central principles of relevance theory
9.2.3 Explaining pragmatic inference
9.2.4 Explicatures
9.2.5 Implicatures
9.3 Conclusion
Further exercises
Glossary
Further reading
Electronic resources
Answers to exercises
Index