Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics
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£12.99
ISBN: 140393391X
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This book is an invaluable glossary of significant Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics designed for undergraduate and A-Level students of English Language and Linguistics. It also provides a very useful overview of the subject as well as covering principal figures in linguistic criticism and their contribution to the subject. Organised into the core subject areas of linguistics, it enables the reader to contextualise each particular definition and gain a wider understanding of each topic. Available from all good bookshops priced £12.99.

Contents  
General Editors' Preface
How to Use this Guide
Linguistics: A Brief Survey
General Terms and Criticism
Phonetics and Phonology
Syntax
Semantics and Pragmatics
Linguistic Branches
References
Further Reading
Index

Sample Definitions  
Phoneme / Phonologist
Phonologists examine the systematic relationships between sounds within the grammar of the language. Of central importance here is the concept of the PHONEME. Phonemes are abstract units of sound which are part of the mental apparatus of native users of the language, and which constitute our essential competence as speakers and listeners. Having said that, however, not all linguists accept their existence. Some prefer to see the structural relationships between sounds in terms of their distinctive features.

Semantics
Semantic investigation of language operates at two grammatical ranks: word rank, and sentence rank. At word rank semanticists explore the relationships which words have with each other within the language as a whole. This constitutes their SENSE, that is, the meaning which a word has by virtue of its place in the linguistic system.

Stylistics
Stylistics is concerned with using the methodology of linguistics to study the concept of 'style' in language. Every time we use language we necessarily adopt a style of some sort: we make a selection from a range of syntactic and lexical possibilities according to the purpose of the communication

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