Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics

This new introduction offers a guide to the types of change at all levels of linguistic structure, as well as the mechanisms behind each type. Based on data from a variety of methods and a huge array of language families, it examines patterns of change, and brings together recent findings.

This book is an introduction to psycholinguistics, the study of human language processing. It deals with the central area of this field, the language abilities of the linguistically mature, monolingual adult. It aims to be comprehensive in its coverage, dealing with both written and spoken language, and their comprehension and production, and the nature of linguistic systems and models of processing. The book is divided into two parts. Part I identifies and investigates the main contributory areas of study, concerning the nature of the language signal, the biological foundations of language (including auditory and visual systems, the organisation of language in the brain, and articulatory and manual systems), and the sources of evidence on the abstract language system. Part II reviews a number of processing models and issues, covering perception and production of speech and writing, lexical storage and retrieval, and the comprehension and production of multiword utterances. The final chapter examines the issues that arise in the context of brain damage and the consequent impairment of language processing (in aphasia and related disorders), an additional important source of evidence and area of process modelling. Psycholinguistics provides an overview of the major contemporary issues surrounding the psychological foundations of language, most of which have roots in the last decade of research. It assumes a basic grounding in linguistic theory, but it is drawn from the author's considerable experience of teaching this subject, and has thus been designed to be accessible to students of linguistics and psychology, as well as for any reader with an interest in the psychological foundations of human language. It will be an essential work for students and specialists alike.

Bernard Comrie defines tense as the grammaticalisation of location in time. In this textbook he introduces readers to the range of variation found in tense systems across the languages of the world, bringing together a rich collection of illustrative material that student and specialist alike will find invaluable. This systematic account of the data is carefully integrated with a theoretical discussion of tense that is sensitive both to the range of tense oppositions found cross-linguistically and also to the constraints on that variation. For the most part the book is written without formalism, nor is it written within the framework of any specific current theory of linguistics. Nevertheless, as the final chapter makes clear, a formal theory of tense can build upon the insights gained here. For all readers, Dr Comrie's coherent and characteristically elegant account of this complex grammatical category will provide a solid basis for further research on tense, even in a language as thoroughly studied as English.

Historical Linguistics is concerned with the process of language change through time. It investigates how and why the language of individuals, a social group or a whole 'speech community' develops in respect of its pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Dr Bynon regards language as essentially a dynamic phenomenon, whose character can be at best only partly understood by a static, and necessarily idealized, synchronic approach. In Part I she establishes the theoretical framework by providing a systematic survey of the three main models of language development - the neogrammarian, structuralist, and transformational generative. Examples drawn substantially from English and German, but also from classical languages, French, Welsh and a variety of others, are used to explain and compare these approaches. In Part II she turns to sociolinguistics and shows how changes within a language over a period of time, and changes brought about by contact between languages, are both indicators and agents of more general cultural developments. Accounts of bilingualism and of pidgin and Creole languages are included as well as wider-ranging examples of different kinds of borrowing such as loan words, loan translations and extensions of meaning. The student is provided with a practical and critical guide both to what has been done and what can be done to discover and verify these linguistic relationships. Designed primarily as a textbook for linguistics and philology students, this book will also be of interest to those studying English language, classics and modern languages.

Most societies in today's world are multilingual. 'Language contact' occurs when speakers of different languages interact and their languages influence each other. This book is an introduction to the subject, covering individual and societal multilingualism, the acquisition of two or more languages from birth, second language acquisition in adulthood, language change, linguistic typology, language processing and the structure of the language faculty. It explains the effects of multilingualism on society and language policy, as well as the consequences that long-term bilingualism within communities can have for the structure of languages. Drawing on the author's own first-hand observations of child and adult bilingualism, the book provides a clear analysis of such phenomena as language convergence, grammatical borrowing, and mixed languages.

Aimed at students of linguistics and researchers in morphology, syntax, and semantics, this textbook introduces a wide variety of topics related to passives, causatives, and other voices, and systematizes how they are similar and how they differ.

An accessible introduction to lexical structure and design, and the relation of the lexicon to grammar as a whole. The Lexicon can be used for introductory and advanced courses, and includes a range of exercises and in-class activities designed to engage students, and help them acquire the knowledge and skills they need.

Aimed at both students and professionals of linguistics who seek a deeper understanding of philosophy of language, as well as philosophers who wish to connect their debates with the practice of linguistics, this book will serve the ever increasing number of courses on philosophy of language for linguistics students.

This advanced-level textbook takes a critical approach to the analysis of syntactic structures, using a highly restrictive analytic toolkit to introduce students to the methods of syntactic analysis that have proven successful in accounting for a huge range of phenomena in natural language sentence patterns.

We live our lives in conversation, building families, societies and civilisations. In over seven thousand languages across the world, the basic infrastructure by which we communicate remains the same. This book introduces the methods and findings of conversation analysis, the field that has, more than any other, illuminated the mechanics of interaction.

This lively introduction to figurative language develops new analytical tools and proposes a cohesive view of a broad range of concepts, including metaphor, metonymy, simile, and irony. Comprehensive and practical, the book provides definitions of major concepts, offers in-depth analysis of examples and surveys figurative structures in different discourse genres.

The definitive introduction to relevance theory. It covers the theory from the basics up, building a complete picture and providing the basis for further research in one, easy-to-read textbook. Worked examples in the text support student learning and exercises test understanding.

How did the biological, brain and behavioural structures underlying human language evolve? When, why and where did our ancestors become linguistic animals, and what has happened since? This book provides a clear, comprehensive but lively introduction to these interdisciplinary debates.

A unique examination of a central concept of linguistic analysis: features, such as Number, Person and Tense. Corbett brings together two issues: how features vary between languages and how they work. The book has wide relevance across the discipline.

An introduction to the topic of language endangerment, answering questions such as: what is it? How and why does it happen? Wy should we care? The book outlines the causes of language endangerment, explaining what makes a language 'safe', and highlighting the danger signs that threaten a minority language.

This useful textbook serves as a guide to different types of language acquisition: monolingual and bilingual first language development and child and adult second language acquisition. The essential guide to studying first and second language acquisition, it will be used on courses in linguistics, modern languages and developmental psychology.

The ideal introduction for students of semantics, Lexical Meaning fills the gap left by more general semantics textbooks, providing the teacher and the student with insights into word meaning beyond the traditional overviews of lexical relations. The book explores the relationship between word meanings and syntax and semantics more generally.

Word grammar is a theory of language structure and is based on the assumption that language, and indeed the whole of knowledge, is a network, and that virtually all of knowledge is learned. It combines the psychological insights of cognitive linguistics with the rigour of more formal theories.

This book describes a range of the most important kinds of texts in English and introduces methodological techniques used to analyse them.

Since the publication of F. R. Palmer's first edition of Mood and Modality in 1986, when the topic of 'modality' was fairly unfamiliar, there has been considerable interest in the subject. In this book, Palmer investigates the category of modality, drawing on a wealth of examples from a wide variety of languages.

When using language, many aspects of our messages are left implicit in what we say. While grammar is responsible for what we express explicitly, pragmatics explains how we infer additional meanings. Pragmatics and Grammar lays out a methodology for students and scholars to distinguish between the two.

Gender is a fascinating category, central and pervasive in some languages and totally absent in others. In this new, comprehensive account of gender systems, over 200 languages are discussed, from English and Russian to Archi and Chichewa. Detailed analysis of individual languages provides clear illustrations of specific types of system.

Frank Palmer's new book is a typological survey of grammatical roles, such as Agent and Patient, and grammatical relations, such as Subject and Direct Object. A great wealth of examples is used to show that the grammatical systems of the familiar European languages are far from typical of many of the world's languages.

Alessandro Duranti introduces linguistic anthropology as an interdisciplinary field which studies language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural practice. Linguistic Anthropology will appeal to both undergraduates and graduate students.

This book provides a basic textbook for such courses as well as being of interest to people working in departments of speech and in communications generally.

Case is an accessible introduction to the ways relations between words in sentences are marked in languages. In this revised 2001 edition, Blake refines and expands on his discussions of the most important concepts in the study of case and incorporates significant additions to the data.

Language is a skill that young children master with incredible ease and speed, and the remarkable way in which they achieve this has long fascinated linguists and developmental psychologists alike. This accessible new textbook introduces the field of child language acquisition, exploring language development from birth.

Assuming little or no prior knowledge of the topic, this textbook provides a clearly organized introduction to tone and tonal phonology. Comprehensive in scope, it examines the main types of tonal systems found in Africa, the Americas, and Asia, using examples from the widest possible range of tone languages.

Understanding Minimalism, first published in 2005, is an introduction to the Minimalist Program - the model of syntactic theory within generative linguistics. Accessibly written, it presents the basic principles and techniques of the minimalist program in a step-by-step fashion. Over 100 exercises are provided, encouraging students to put these new skills into practice.