Language and Linguistics

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, May 29, 1981 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 356 pages
This 1981 book is a general introduction to linguistics and the study of language, intended particularly for beginning students and readers with no previous knowledge or training in the subject. There is first a general account of the nature of language and of the aims, methods and basic principles of linguistic theory. John Lyons then introduces in turn each of the main sub-fields of linguistics: the sounds of language, grammar, semantics, language change, psycholinguistics: the sounds of language, grammar, semantics, language change, psycholinguistics, language and culture. Throughout the book he emphasizes particularly those aspects of the discipline that seem fundamental and most likely to remain important. He stresses throughout the cultural at least as much as the biological context of human language, and shows how the linguist's concerns connect productively with those of the traditional humanities and the social sciences. Each chapter has a wide-ranging set of discussion questions and revision exercises, and extensive suggestions for further reading. The exposition is marked throughout by the author's characteristic clarity, balance and authority.

From inside the book

Contents

Language
1
12 Some definitions of language
3
13 Languagebehaviour and languagesystems
8
14 Language and speech
11
15 The semiotic point of view
17
16 The fiction of homogeneity
24
17 There are no primitive languages
27
Further reading
31
Languagechange
177
62 Languagefamilies
182
63 The comparative method
190
64 Analogy and borrowing
199
65 The causes of languagechange
205
Further reading
211
Some modern schools and movements
214
72 Structuralism
216

Linguistics
33
22 Is linguistics a science?
35
23 Terminology and notation
44
24 Linguistics is descriptive not prescriptive
45
25 Priority of synchronic description
52
26 Structure and system
57
Further reading
62
The sounds of language
64
32 Phonetic and orthographic representation
67
33 Articulatory phonetics
70
34 Phonemes and allophones
82
35 Distinctive features and suprasegmental phonology
87
36 Phonological structure
93
Further reading
96
Grammar
98
42 Grammatically productivity and arbitrariness
102
43 Parts of speech formclasses and grammatical categories
107
44 Some additional grammatical concepts
111
45 Constituentstructure
115
46 Generative grammar
122
Further reading
127
Questions and exercises
129
Semantics
134
homonymy polysemy synonymy
142
sense and denotation
149
54 Semantics and grammar
154
55 Sentencemeaning and utterancemeaning
161
56 Formal semantics
168
Further reading
173
Questions and exercises
174
73 Functionalism
222
74 Generativism
226
Further reading
233
Questions and exercises
234
Language and mind
236
82 Mentalism rationalism and innateness
240
83 Language and the brain
246
84 Languageacquisition
249
85 Other areas of psycholinguistics
255
86 Cognitive science and artificial intelligence
260
Further reading
262
Language and society
264
92 Accent dialect and idiolect
266
93 Standards and vernaculars
274
94 Bilingualism codeswitching and diglossia
279
95 Practical applications
284
96 Stylistic variation and stylistics
288
Further reading
295
Questions and exercises
296
Language and culture
299
102 The SapirWhorf hypothesis
301
103 Colourterms
310
104 Pronouns of address
315
105 Cultural overlap cultural diffusion and translatability
320
Further reading
327
Questions and exercises
328
Bibliography
331
Index
349
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information