E-Book Overview
Are you looking for a genuine introduction to the linguistics of English that provides a broad overview of the subject that sustains students' interest and avoids excessive detail? Introducing English Linguistics accomplishes this goal in two ways. First, it takes a top-down approach to language, beginning with the largest unit of linguistic structure, the text, and working its way down through successively smaller structures (sentences, words, and finally speech sounds). The advantage of presenting language this way is that students are first given the larger picture - they study language in context - and then see how the smaller pieces of language are a consequence of the larger goals of linguistic communication. Second, the book does not contain invented examples, as is the case with most comparable texts, but instead takes its sample materials from the major computerised databases of spoken and written English, giving students a more realistic view of language.
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Introducing English Linguistics Are you looking for a genuine introduction to the linguistics of English that provides a broad overview of the subject, that sustains students’ interest and avoids excessive detail? Introducing English Linguistics accomplishes this goal in two ways. First, unlike traditional texts, it takes a top-down approach to language, beginning with the largest unit of linguistic structure, the text, and working its way down through successively smaller structures (sentences, words, and finally speech sounds). The advantage of presenting language this way is that students are first given the larger picture – they study language in context – and then as the class progresses, they see how the smaller pieces of language are really a consequence of the larger goals of linguistic communication. Second, Introducing English Linguistics does not contain invented examples, as is the case with most comparable texts, but instead takes its sample materials from the major computerized databases of spoken and written English, giving students a more realistic view of language. is Professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His recent publications include English Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction (Cambridge, 2002).
CHARLES F . MEYER
Cambridge Introductions to Language and Linguistics This new textbook series provides students and their teachers with accessible introductions to the major subjects encountered within the study of language and linguistics. Assuming no prior knowledge of the subject, each book is written and designed for ease of use in the classroom or seminar, and is ideal for adoption on a modular course as the core recommended textbook. Each book offers the ideal introductory material for each subject, presenting students with an overview of the main topics encountered in their course, and features a glossary of useful terms, chapter previews and summaries, suggestions for further reading, and helpful exercises. Each book is accompanied by a supporting website. Books published in the series: Introducing Phonology David Odden Introducing Speech and Language Processing John Coleman Introducing Phonetic Science Michael Ashby and John Maidment Introducing Second Language Acquisition Muriel Saville-Troike Introducing English Linguistics Charles F. Meyer Forthcoming: Introducing Sociolinguistics Miriam Meyerhoff Introducing Morphology Rochelle Lieber Introducing Historical Linguistics Brian Joseph Introducing Language Bert Vaux Introducing Semantics Nick Riemer Introducing Psycholinguistics Paul Warren
Introducing English Linguistics CHARLES F. MEYER
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambr