Linguistics: An Introduction

by Andrew Radford , Martin Atkinson , David Britain , Harald Clahsen , Andrew Spencer

• ISBN13: 9780521472616
• ISBN10: 052147261X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-04-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Linguistics: An Introduction is a self-contained introduction to language and linguistics, suitable for use as a textbook and for self-study. Written by a team of distinguished linguists, it offers a unified approach to language from several perspectives. A language is a complex structure represented in the minds of its speakers, and this provides the tools necessary for understanding this structure. It explains basic concepts and recent theoretical ideas in the major areas of linguistics (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics), as well as the applications of these to the study of child language acquisition, psycholinguistics, language disorders, and sociolinguistics. It is divided into three sections: sounds, words, and sentences. In each of these sections, the foundational concepts are introduced along with their applications in the above fields, giving this a clear and unique structure. Each section is accompanied by extensive exercises and guidance on further reading.

Table of Contents

List of figures	x
List of maps	xii
List of tables	xiii
A note for course organisers and class teachers on the use of this book	xv
Introduction	1	(23)
Linguistics	3	(4)
Developmental linguistics	7	(3)
Psycholinguistics	10	(2)
Neurolinguistics	12	(4)
Sociolinguistics	16	(3)
Exercies	19	(5)
Further reading and references	24	(1)
Part 1 Sounds	25	(110)
Introduction	27	(2)
Sounds and suprasegmentals	29	(23)
Consonants	31	(8)
Vowels	39	(6)
Suprasegmentals	45	(4)
Exercises	49	(3)
Sound variation	52	(14)
Linguistic variables and sociological variables	52	(5)
Stylistic variation	57	(1)
Linguistically determined variation	58	(3)
Variation and language change	61	(1)
Exercises	62	(4)
Sound change	66	(18)
Consonant change	66	(3)
Vowel change	69	(4)
The transition problem: regular sound change versus lexical diffusion	73	(3)
Suprasegmental change	76	(2)
Exercises	78	(6)
Phonemes, syllables and phonological processes	84	(21)
Phonemes	84	(4)
Syllables	88	(3)
Syllabification and the Maximal Onset Principle	91	(1)
Phonological processes	92	(3)
Phonological features	95	(2)
Features and processes	97	(4)
Exercises	101	(4)
Child phonology	105	(15)
Early achievements	105	(1)
Phonological processes in acquisition	106	(4)
Perception, production and a dual lexicon model	110	(7)
Exercises	117	(3)
Processing sounds	120	(15)
Speech perception	120	(5)
Speech production	125	(5)
Other aspects of phonological processing	130	(3)
Exercises	133	(2)
Further reading and references	135	(8)
Appendix 1: The International Phonetic Alphabet	137	(1)
Appendix 2: List of distinctive features	138	(3)
Appendix 3: Distinctive feature matrix for English consonant phonemes	141	(2)
Part 2 Words	143	(131)
Introduction	145	(2)
Word classes	147	(15)
Lexical categories	147	(3)
Functional categories	150	(3)
The morphological properties of English verbs	153	(3)
Inflectional classes in Italian and Russian	156	(4)
Exercises	160	(2)
Building words	162	(18)
Morphemes	162	(3)
Morphological processes - derivation and inflection	165	(6)
Compounds	171	(2)
Clitics	173	(2)
Allomorphy	175	(2)
Exercises	177	(3)
Morphology across languages	180	(13)
The agglutinative ideal	180	(6)
Types of morphological operations	186	(4)
Exercises	190	(3)
Word meaning	193	(18)
Entailment and hyponymy	194	(5)
Meaning opposites	199	(1)
Semantic features	200	(4)
Dictionaries and prototypes	204	(3)
Exercises	207	(4)
Children and words	211	(15)
Early words - a few facts	211	(3)
Apprentices in morphology	214	(4)
The semantic significance of early words	218	(5)
Exercises	223	(3)
Lexical processing and the mental lexicon	226	(17)
Serial-autonomous versus parallel-interactive processing models	226	(6)
On the representation of words in the mental lexicon	232	(8)
Exercises	240	(3)
Lexical disorders	243	(11)
Words and Morphemes in aphasia	244	(1)
Agrammatism	245	(3)
Paraphasias	248	(2)
Dissociations in SLI subjects' inflectional systems	250	(2)
Exercises	252	(2)
Lexical variation and change	254	(20)
Borrowing words	254	(2)
Register: words for brain surgeons and soccer players, hairdressers and life-savers	256	(1)
Biscuit or cookie? Variation and change in word choice	257	(3)
Same word - new meaning	260	(4)
Variation and change in morphology	264	(7)
Exercises	271	(3)
Further reading and references	274	(3)
Part 3 Sentences	277	(145)
Introduction	279	(3)
Basic terminology	282	(10)
Categories and functions	282	(3)
Complex sentences	285	(4)
The functions of clauses	289	(1)
Exercises	290	(2)
Sentence structure	292	(12)
Merger	292	(6)
Tests for constituency	298	(2)
Constraints on merger: features and checking	300	(2)
Exercises	302	(2)
Empty categories	304	(17)
Empty INFL	304	(6)
PRO: the empty subject of infinitive clauses	310	(2)
Covert complements	312	(1)
Empty constituents in nominal phrases	313	(5)
Exercises	318	(3)
Movement	321	(17)
Head movement	322	(3)
Operator movement	325	(6)
Yes-no questions	331	(2)
Other types of movement	333	(3)
Exercises	336	(2)
Syntactic variation	338	(19)
Inversion in varieties of English	338	(4)
Syntactic parameters of variation	342	(5)
The null subject parameter	347	(2)
Parametric differences between English and German	349	(5)
Exercises	354	(3)
Logical form	357	(21)
Preliminaries	357	(2)
A philosophical diversion	359	(5)
Covert movement and Logical Form	364	(7)
More evidence for covert movement	371	(4)
Exercises	375	(3)
Children's sentences	378	(16)
Setting parameters: two examples	379	(2)
Null subjects in early Child English	381	(3)
Non-finite clauses in Child English	384	(5)
Children's nominals	389	(2)
Exercises	391	(3)
Sentence processing	394	(12)
Click studies	395	(2)
Processing empty categories	397	(2)
Strategies of sentence processing	399	(5)
Exercises	404	(2)
Syntactic disorders	406	(16)
Agrammatism	407	(5)
Paragrammatism	412	(1)
Specific Language Impairment (SLI)	413	(3)
Conclusion	416	(3)
Exercises	419	(3)
Further reading and references	422	(2)
Bibliography	424	(5)
Index	429