How Languages Work: An Introduction to Language and Linguistics

✍ Scribed by Carol Genetti

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 710
• Edition: 2
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Language is a sophisticated tool which we use to communicate in a multitude of ways. Updated and expanded in its second edition, this book introduces language and linguistics - presenting language in all its amazing complexity while systematically guiding you through the basics. The reader will emerge with an appreciation of the diversity of the world's languages, as well as a deeper understanding of the structure of human language, the ways it is used, and its broader social and cultural context. Part I is devoted to the nuts and bolts of language study - speech sounds, sound patterns, sentence structure, and meaning - and includes chapters dedicated to the functional aspects of language: discourse, prosody, pragmatics, and language contact. The fourteen language profiles included in Part II reveal the world's linguistic variety while expanding on the similarities and differences between languages. Using knowledge gained from Part I, the reader can explore how language functions when speakers use it in daily interaction. With a step-by-step approach that is reinforced with well-chosen illustrations, case studies, and study questions, readers will gain understanding and analytical skills that will only enrich their ongoing study of language and linguistics.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half-title page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Glossing Conventions
The Book’s Approach
For Students: How to Use This Book
Part I Primary Chapters
1 Introduction: Language, Languages, and Linguistics
2 Phonetics: Physical Dimensions of Speech Sounds
3 Phonology: Organization of Speech Sounds
4 Morphology: What’s in a Word?
5 Word Classes: Evidence from Grammatical Behavior
6 Syntax: Words in Combination
7 Semantics: How Language Makes Sense
8 Pragmatics: Inference for Language
9 Discourse: Language Beyond the Sentence
10 Prosody: The Music of Language
11 Language in the Social World
12 Language Change: The Dynamicity of Linguistic Systems
13 Language Contact and Areal Linguistics
14 First Language Acquisition
15 Second Language Acquisition
Part II Language Profiles
1 Kabardian
2 Goemai
3 Manange
4 Finnish
5 Nuuchahnulth (Nootka)
6 South Conchucos Quechua
7 Tsez
8 Bardi
9 Lowland Chontal
10 Manambu
11 African–American English
12 Indonesian
13 Seneca
14 Akkadian
Glossary
References
Index
Appendix: IPA Summary Sheet