How do we find the right word for the job? Where does that word come from? Why do we spell it like that? And how do we know what it means?
Words are all around us - we use them every day to communicate our joys, fears, hopes, opinions, wishes and demands - but we don't often think about them too deeply. In this highly accessible introduction to English words, the reader will discover what the study of words can tell them about the extraordinary richness and complexity of our daily vocabulary and about the nature of language in general.
Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, the book covers a wide range of topics, including the structure of words, the meaning of words, how their spelling relates to pronunciation, how new words are manufactured or imported from other languages, and how the meaning of words changes with the passage of time. It also investigates how the mind deals with words by highlighting the amazing intellectual feat performed routinely when the right word is retrieved from the mental dictionary. This revised and expanded second edition brings the study of words right up to date with coverage of text messaging and email and includes new material on psycholinguistics and word meaning.
With lively examples from a range of sources - encompassing poetry, jokes, journalism, advertising and cliches - and including practical exercises and a fully comprehensive glossary, English Words is an entertaining introduction to the study of words and will be of interest to anyone who uses them.

Contemporary Linguistics can be used from first year through to final year as a main text for students taking degree courses in linguistics, English language and cognitive science and by MA students on TEFL courses. It is also highly suitable for students taking language options in media and cultural studies, modern language, psychology and philosophy, as well as for speech therapy courses. Contemporary Linguistics : An introduction is a comprehensive, fully up-to-date introduction to linguistics. The book covers not only how language is structured, but also how it functions both socially and culturally, and how it is acquired and processed by speakers. It will prepare students to go on to more advanced work and, at the same time, will serve as a basic reference that students can continue to consult throughout their studies. The text explores all the core areas of linguistics as well as numerous interdisciplinary and related areas. Core topics covered include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, the genetic and typological classification of the languages of the world, and historical linguistics. Interdisciplinary areas discussed include language and the brain, psycholinguistics - the study of language processing, first and second language acquisition, language in social contexts and the fast-growing area of computational linguistics. Related areas explored include writing systems and animal communication.

How do we find the right word for the job? Where does that word come from? Why do we spell it like that? And how do we know what it means?
Words are all around us - we use them every day to communicate our joys, fears, hopes, opinions, wishes and demands - but we don't often think about them too deeply. In this highly accessible introduction to English words, the reader will discover what the study of words can tell them about the extraordinary richness and complexity of our daily vocabulary and about the nature of language in general.
Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, the book covers a wide range of topics, including the structure of words, the meaning of words, how their spelling relates to pronunciation, how new words are manufactured or imported from other languages, and how the meaning of words changes with the passage of time. It also investigates how the mind deals with words by highlighting the amazing intellectual feat performed routinely when the right word is retrieved from the mental dictionary. This revised and expanded second edition brings the study of words right up to date with coverage of text messaging and email and includes new material on psycholinguistics and word meaning.
With lively examples from a range of sources - encompassing poetry, jokes, journalism, advertising and cliches - and including practical exercises and a fully comprehensive glossary, English Words is an entertaining introduction to the study of words and will be of interest to anyone who uses them.

Frontiers of Phonology is a collection of essays that present a selective overview of trends in the linguistic analysis of sound structure. The essays are written by specialists from Europe, Canada and the USA and discuss issues from three broad areas of phonology: the nature and representation of phonological features; the role and structure of the skeletal tier and syllable structure; and the competing claims of derivational and declarative approaches to phonology. The book provides a forum for lively discussion of important theoretical topics from various standpoints including metrical and autosegmental phonology, dependency phonology and declarative phonology. The contributors, who are protagonists of these different standpoints, compare notes and show the merits of their different approaches. The essays discussing derivational issues offer an excellent introduction to the area of constraints based phonology, and by covering the phonology of many languages the book provides an understanding of how human languages in general use sound.

"Frontiers of Phonology" is a collection of essays that present a selective overview of trends in the linguistic analysis of sound structure. The essays are written by specialists from Europe, Canada and the USA and discuss issues from three broad areas of phonology: the nature and representation of phonological features; the role and structure of the skeletal tier and syllable structure; and the competing claims of derivational and declarative approaches to phonology.
The book provides a forum for lively discussion of important theoretical topics from various standpoints including metrical and autosegmental phonology, dependency phonology and declarative phonology. The contributors, who are protagonists of these different standpoints, compare notes and show the merits of their different approaches. The essays discussing derivational issues offer an excellent introduction to the area of constraints based phonology, and by covering the phonology of many languages the book provides an understanding of how human languages in general use sound.

Although the study of word structure has always been at the heart of linguistic investigations, in the couple of decades following the publication of Chomsky's Syntatical Structures (1957) morphological investigations were marginalized. The dominant view in generative linguistics was that all grammatical aspects of word-formation should be dealt with by syntax and all the aspects of words relating to their pronunciation should be part of the province of phonology. Gradually, however, morphology has been rehabilitated during the last twenty years.

This six volume collection draws together the most significant contributions to morphological theory and analysis which all serious students of morphology should be aware of. By comparing the stances taken by the different schools about the important issues, the reader will be able to judge the merits of each, with the benefit of evidence rather than prejudice.

The second edition of this hugely successful textbook provides comprehensive coverage of a wide range of topics in theoretical and applied linguistics. Written by leading academics in the field, this text offers a firm grounding in linguistics and includes engaging insights into current research. It covers all the key areas of linguistic analysis, including phonetics, morphology, semantics and pragmatics, and core domains of study, comprising the history of the English language, regional and social variation, style and communication and interaction. Fresh material on research methods outlines key areas for consideration when carrying out a research project, and provides students with the framework they need to investigate linguistic phenomena for themselves. This is an invaluable resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students on English language and linguistics degree programmes. New to this Edition: - Seven new chapters covering topics such as second language acquisition, corpus linguistics and research methods - A number of chapters have been substantially revised, including those on World Englishes, Literacies in Cyberspace and TEFL, TESOL and Linguistics - Fully updated throughout to reflect the latest advances in the field