This important new study examines in detail a semantic-pragmatic pattern surrounding the basic verb 'acquire' in nearly 30 Southeast Asian languages, concentrating on Lao, Vietnamese, Khmer, Kmhmu, Hmong, and varieties of Chinese.
The book makes a significant contribution to empirical work on semantic and grammatical change in a linguistic area, as well as representing theoretical advances in cognitive semantics. Gricean pragmatics, semantic change, grammaticalisation, language contact, and areal linguistics. The book also examines how changes in the speech of individuals actually become changes in large-scale public convention, 'language contact' is reconsidered, and traditional distinctions such as that between 'internal' and 'external' linguistic mechanisms are challenged.
This groundbreaking new book is for specialists in Southeast Asian linguistics as well as scholars of descriptive semantics and pragmatics, grammaticalisation, linguistic change and evolution, areal linguistics and language contact, history and linguistic anthropology.

Working Welsh offers a new approach to building up and consolidating learners' fluency and confidence, focusing on the mechanics - the words and phrases that build and drive sentences and make them fit together. 200 Welsh words and phrases are listed alphabetically, explained in clear and accessible language, and given ample exemplification to illustrate their meaning and use. All instances of mutation are marked with the usual typographic signs, and cross-references are given throughout to related entries. Grammatical appendices and an English index round off the manual. Working Welsh is an innovative resource for post-beginner students wishing to explore and master the principal discourse-drivers in modern spoken and standard Welsh.

Analyzing the semantic and pragmatic constraints on the Japanese particle mo, roughly equivalent to the English too, this book shows how the complex mechanism of the constraints accounts for its discourse function - that is, how it enables the hearer to process the sentence to achieve more effectively the speaker's intended discourse function are related to each other.
The author provides a model to explain how the presupposition of a linguistic form and its discourse function are related to each other. In doing so, the notion of 'contextual relevance', the relation between a proposition and the context, is introduced and provides grounds for modeling this concept in the case of mo - incorporating the requirement that the proposition of a mo sentence and the context have a common entailment with contextual relevance. The monosemous account of mo also explains how the particle sometimes generates the meaning of even when the context involves scalar expectation.

Production, Perception and Phontactic Patterns presents the first experimental study of articulatory dynamics of Russian and of secondary articulents in general, with a special focus on the nature of positional markedness scales, one of the key concepts in the current phonological theory (Optimality Theory). Through a series of experiments the author questions the traditional assumption that positional markedness scales are directly encoded in Universal Grammar and provides an alternative account based on gestural recoverability. This study combines a sophisticated and in-depth analysis of language-particular phonetic detail with wide cross-linguistic generalisations and contributes to the increasingly influential body of research that investigates phonetic factors in the search for explanations of phonological universals.

Possession is one of the most widely studied topics in the generative grammar. Recently there has been increasing interest in the syntax and semantics of possession. Although many studies have been conducted on European languages, research on possessive constructions in Japanese has been quite sparse.
This dissertation investigates the syntax of possession in Japanese within the framework of the Minimalist Program. A primary focus is on the question of how possessive semantics is represented in syntax at the sentential level when there seems to be no designated verb of possession - specifically, in possessives with verbs aru 'be.inanimate', iru 'be.animate' and suru 'do'.

This thesis presents pioneering work on the processing of a variety of distinct types of ellipsis sentences, concentrating on the role played by focus, intonation and parallelism. Through rigorous and well-documented experiments, the author shows that no special mechanisms are needed to process ellipsis sentences and that the effects of parallelism and prosody follow from properties observed in the processing of nonelided sentences.
While much is known about the processing of nonelided sentences, this book sheds valuable insights into the relatively little is known problem of processing ellipsis sentences.

This book presents rigorous and criterial definitions of the major parts of speech, noun, verb and adjective, that account both for their syntactic behaviour and for their observed typological variation.
Based on an examination of languages from five different groups, Salishan, Cora, Quechua, Totonac and Hausa, this book argues that parts of speech must be defined by combining the criteria of syntactic markedness, which characterises lexical classes in terms of unmarked syntactic roles and semantic prototypicality, which delimits their prototypical meanings.

First published in 1988. This title explores the phonology of Sekani, a northern Athabaskan language, within the framework of Lexical Phonology. After providing an overview of the language of Sekani and the theory of Lexical Phonology, the author goes on to explore various issues in the application of this theory. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

First published in 1984. This study is designed as an introductory course in phonology for linguistics students. Like phonology itself, the book is divided into two main parts, the first dealing with segmental phonology, and the second with suprasegmental aspects, including stress, rhythm and intonation. Finally, there is a section on applied phonology, including dialects, historical change and language acquisition, all areas which provide the raw material for theoretical phonology. While the author is sympathetic to orthodox generative phonology, he also offers a critique of it, and argues that theoretical phonology should be concerned with the fundamental phonological processes of language-processes which are found repeatedly in different languages at different periods of time.

First published in 1991. The existence of morphonology had been the subject of intense debate in twentieth-century linguistic theory. Attempts to identify putatively morphonological phenomena had often foundered on the widespread assumption of a rigid dichotomy between synchronic morphological structures and the phonetic processes which historically shared them. With the difficulties of establishing any role for morphonology clearly identified, the author introduces a comparative and historical survey of the morphologization of metaphony in Italian dialects. On the basis of this the existence is argued of authentic synchronic 'morphonological' interaction between morphological structures and phonetic processes, such that inflectional paradigms serve to specify phonetic details of implementation of incipient sound changes. The circumstances under which such interaction may be expected to occur are discussed. This book is an important contribution to our understanding of both morphology and phonology, taking seriously the implications of abandoning a rigid distinction between synchronic morphology and diachronic phonology. It successfully integrates linguistic theory with the analysis of philological data, and indicates the direction for future research on morphonology. This detailed study of Italian dialects also constitutes a valuable addition to the study of Romance dialectology.

First published in 1994. This study aims to provide evidence for the natural class of sounds comprised of front vowels, front glides and coronal consonants. The author also shows that a revised definition of the articulator feature [coronal] properly characterises this natural class of sounds. The study provides a formal representation of front vowels and coronal consonants and their interaction within a nonlinear model of feature organisation. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

First published in 1994. In this study, the author proposes that neutralization is the result of a wellformedness condition that the author calls the Laryngeal Constraint: In languages that have laryngeal neutralization, a laryngeal node is only licensed in a particular syllabic configuration; elsewhere the node will delink to repair the violation of well-formedness. This approach to neutralization is required to correctly explain the typology of laryngeal neutralization. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

The Earliest English provides a student-friendly introduction to Old English and the earliest periods of the history of the English Language as it evolved before 1215. Using non-technical language, the book covers basic terminology, the linguistic and cultural backgrounds to the emergence and development of OE, and the OE vocabulary that students studying this phase of the English language need to know. In eight carefully structured units, the authors show how the vocabulary of Old English contains many items familiar to us today; how its characteristic poetic form is based on a beautiful and intricate simplicity; how its patterns of word building and inflectional structure are paralleled in several present day languages and how and why the English language and its literature continued to change so that by the mid-12th century the English language looks more like the 'English' that we are familiar with in the 21st century. Features of the book include: the provision of accessible guides to some important 'problem topics' of classical OE stimulating cross-linguistic comparisons, e.g. the pronoun system of OE as compared with the pronoun system of present day Dutch cleverly laid out translation exercises, with structural help in the form of selective glossaries careful division into eight units, designed for both classroom use and self-study Written in a clear and accessible manner, The Earliest English provides a comprehensive introduction to the evolution of Old English language and literature, and will be an invaluable textbook for students of English Language and Linguistics.

Routledge English Language Introductions cover core areas of language study and are one-stop resources for students.
Assuming no prior knowledge, books in the Routledge English Language Introductions series offer an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries and key readings - all in the same volume. The innovative and flexible 'two-dimensional' structure is built around four sections - introduction, development, exploration and extension - which offer self-contained stages for study. Each topic can also be read across these sections, enabling the reader to build gradually on the knowledge gained.
Grammar and Vocabulary:
* covers the core areas of the subject: words and sentences, word classes, word structure, slots and fillers, sentence patterns, clause and phrase, grammar rules and vocabularies
* draws on a wide range of real texts from newspaper articles, adverts, poems and websites
* provides classic readings by key names in the discipline, such as Halliday, Quirk, Ayto and Trudgill.
This is an accessible and user-friendly textbook for all students of English language and linguistics.

Related link: www.routledge.com/textbooks/grammar

Contents:
Acknowledgements How to use this book A. Introduction: Key Concepts in Grammar and Vocabulary: A.1 Words and sentences A.2 Word classes A.3 Word structure A.4 Slots and fillers A.5 Sentence patterns A.6 Clause and phrase A.7 Grammar rules A.8 Vocabularies B. Development: Further Concepts in Grammar and Vocabulary: B.1 Types of sentence B.2 Noun and verb B.3 Making new words B.4 Subject and Object B.5 Noun phrase and verb phrase B.6 Main and subordinate B.7 Breaking rules B.8 'Jargon' C. Exploration: Aspects of Investigation: C.1 Sentence types in use C.1.1 Declaratives C.1.2 Interrogatives C.1.3 Imperatives C.2 Classes of words C.2.1 Nouns and pronouns C.2.2 Adjectives C.2.3 Adverbs and prepositions C.3 Types of word structure C.3.1 Compounds C.3.2 Derivations C.3.3 Multi-word items C.4 Types of slot C.4.1 Object and Complement C.4.2 Object and Adverbial C.4.3 More on Subjects C.5 Components of phrases C.5.1 Modifying nouns C.5.2 Tense, aspect and modality C.5.3 Adjective phrase C.6 Types of clause C.6.1 Noun clauses C.6.2 Adjective clauses C.6.3 Adverbial clauses C.7 Grammatical rules in context C.7.1 Spoken grammar C.7.2 Creative grammar C.7.3 Humour and ambiguity C.8 Word-choice in use C.8.1 Dialect C.8.2 Topic C.8.3 Formality D. Extension: Readings in Grammar and Vocabulary: D.1 Linguistic Units and the Sentence (Aarts and Aarts) D.2 Grammatical Class; The Problem of Labelling (Allerton) D.3 Lexicalization (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik) D.4 Valency Theory (Herbst) D.5 Pattern and Meaning (Hunston and Francis) D.6 The Clause Complex (Halliday) D.7 Standard English (Trudgill) D.8 Introduction to 20th Century Words (Ayto) Further Reading References Glossary of terms and index

This book brings together for the first time a series of previously published papers featuring Ian Roberts' pioneering work on diachronic and comparative syntax over the last thirty years in one comprehensive volume. Divided into two parts, the volume engages in recent key topics in empirical studies of syntactic theory, with the eight papers on diachronic syntax addressing major changes in the history of English as well as broader aspects of syntactic change, including the introduction to the formal approach to grammaticalisation, and the eight papers on comparative syntax exploring head-movement, the nature and distribution of clitics, and the nature of parametric variation and change. This comprehensive collection of the author's body of research on diachronic and comparative syntax is an essential resource for scholars and researchers in theoretical, comparative, and historical linguistics.

First published in 1994. The goal of this study is to find the correlations between the internal constituency of the syllable and the sonority of segments. Its major claim is that valid correlations can be established only under the moraic theory of syllable-internal structure. This work thus represents an argument for the moraic theory of the syllable. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

First published in 1976. This title presents a study of Yucatec Maya segmental phonology by children. The aim of the study is to describe the phonological systems revealed in the speech of group of children in order to determine the kinds of structural differences which exist among these pedolectal variants. This title will be of great interest to students of linguistics.

Introducing English Grammar provides a basic grounding in English grammar, without going into too much detail or theory, and will lay the foundation for further grammatical studies. David Young presents English grammar in a coherent and lively way. He dispels the popular notion among students that grammar is simply a set of dreary rules and argues for the importance of grammar in describing the structure and function of language itself. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter and the book includes integrated diagrams and a glossary of technical terms at the back of the book.

Antonymy is the technical name used to describe 'opposites', pairs of words such as rich/poor, love/hate and male/female. Antonyms are a ubiquitous part of everyday language, and this book provides a detailed, comprehensive account of the phenomenon.
This book demonstrates how traditional linguistic theory can be revisited, updated and challenged in the corpus age. It will be essential reading for scholars interested in antonymy and corpus linguistics.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203166256

First published in 1991. In this study, the author investigates the proper treatment of harmony processes in phonological theory. The data examined lead to a formulation of morphologically governed harmony processes which involves multi-planar representations. The analysis of multi-planar harmony leads into a discussion of Plane Conflation and Bracket Erasure in Lexical Phonology. This title will be of great interest to students of linguistics.

First published in 1995. This investigation shows that cliticization is not a totally unified phenomenon. Asymmetries in the behaviour of phonological and syntactic clitics show that no single principle predicts all clitic behaviour. The study explores the idea that modifications to the original five parameter system of analysis can be altered to a more efficient analysis in terms of three parameters. This title will be of interest to students of phonetics and phonology.

First published in 1989. The development of morphological and phonological theory within the broad framework of generative grammar poses a number of important questions concerning the mutual relationship of phonology and morphology. This study aims to answer these questions. On the basis of Polish and English language material, the author examines the most important aspects of phonology-morphology interaction, and suggests the best model with which to describe these phenomena.

First published in 1986. This book presents studies of intonation undertaken from within a number of different traditions: acoustic phonetics, phonology, psychology, social psychology, syntax, conversation analysis, developmental phonetics and sociolinguistics. The studies reported are empirically based, and give an indication of the many methodologies which have been developed in different disciplines for the investigation of the nature, structure and functions of intonation.