Linguistics, 7e

An Introduction to Linguistics and Communication

by Akmajian, Farmer, Bickmore, Demers, Harnish

ISBN: 9780262288880 | Copyright 2017

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Note about the online course: The online course accompanying the 7th edition of Linguistics has been discontinued. If you have purchased a print copy of this book, you can find the course materials in the appendices of the eBook. The access code from your print book will allow you 6-months of access to the eBook. Click on the 'I have an access code' button located on the purchase page to redeem your access to the eBook and course materials. 
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This popular introductory linguistics text is unique for its integration of themes. Rather than treat morphology, phonetics, phonology, syntax, and semantics as completely separate fields, the book shows how they interact. The authors provide a sound introduction to linguistic methodology, focusing on a set of linguistic concepts that are among the most fundamental within the field. By studying the topics in detail, students can get a feeling for how work in different areas of linguistics is done.

As in the last edition, part I covers the structural and interpretive parts of language—morphology, phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, variation, and change. Part II covers use and context of language and includes chapters on pragmatics, psychology of language, language acquisition, and language and the brain. This seventh edition has been extensively revised and updated; new material includes a chapter on computational linguistics, more non-English examples, and a wide range of exercises, quizzes, and special topics.

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Cover (pg. C1)
Contents (pg. vi)
Acknowledgments (pg. x)
Note to the Teacher (pg. xii)
PART I THE STRUCTURE OF HUMAN LANGUAGE (pg. 2)
Introduction (pg. 4)
Chapter 1 What Is Linguistics? (pg. 6)
Chapter 2 Morphology: The Study of the Structure of Words (pg. 14)
2.1 WORDS: SOME BACKGROUND CONCEPTS (pg. 14)
2.2 COMPLEX WORDS AND MORPHEMES (pg. 19)
2.3 NEOLOGISMS: HOW ARE NEW WORDS CREATED? (pg. 27)
2.4 INFLECTIONAL VERSUS DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY (pg. 45)
2.5 AGGLUTINATION VERSUS INFLECTION (pg. 48)
2.6 PROBLEMATIC ASPECTS OF MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS (pg. 49)
2.7 SPECIAL TOPICS (pg. 52)
The Meaning of Complex Words (pg. 52)
Morphological Anaphora (pg. 53)
Chapter 3 Phonetics and Phonemic Transcription (pg. 62)
3.1 SOME BACKGROUND CONCEPTS (pg. 63)
3.2 THE REPRESENTATION OF SPEECH SOUNDS (pg. 68)
3.3 SPECIAL TOPICS (pg. 93)
Vowels before /ɹ/ (pg. 93)
Contractions in Casual Spoken English (pg. 95)
Consonant Clusters (pg. 97)
Chapter 4 Phonology: The Study of Sound Structure (pg. 104)
4.1 WHAT IS PHONOLOGY? (pg. 104)
4.2 THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF SPEECH SOUNDS: DISTINCTIVE FEATURE THEORY (pg. 105)
4.3 THE EXTERNAL ORGANIZATION OF SPEECH SOUNDS (pg. 121)
4.4 SPECIAL TOPIC (pg. 134)
The Word-Level Tone Contour of English (pg. 134)
Conclusion (pg. 136)
Chapter 5 Syntax: The Study of Sentence Structure (pg. 144)
5.1 SOME BACKGROUND CONCEPTS (pg. 144)
5.2 AN INFORMAL THEORY OF SYNTAX (pg. 149)
5.3 A MORE FORMAL ACCOUNT OF EARLY TRANSFORMATIONAL THEORY (pg. 188)
5.4 SPECIAL TOPICS (pg. 196)
More on Dependencies (pg. 196)
Evolution of Phrase Structure and Transformational Rules (pg. 201)
Chapter 6 Semantics: The Study of Linguistic Meaning (pg. 216)
6.1 SEMANTICS AS PART OF A GRAMMAR (pg. 216)
6.2 THEORIES OF MEANING (pg. 217)
6.3 THE SCOPE OF A SEMANTIC THEORY (pg. 224)
6.4 SPECIAL TOPICS (pg. 236)
Mood and Meaning (pg. 236)
Deictics and Proper Names (pg. 240)
Definite Descriptions: Referential and Attributive (pg. 244)
Natural Kind Terms, Concepts, and the Division of Linguistic Labor (pg. 246)
Anaphora and Coreference (pg. 247)
Character and Content: Semantic Minimalism (pg. 249)
Chapter 7 Language Variation (pg. 262)
7.1 LANGUAGE STYLES AND LANGUAGE DIALECTS (pg. 262)
7.2 SOME PROPERTIES OF THE GRAMMAR OF INFORMAL STYLE IN ENGLISH (pg. 272)
7.3 OTHER LANGUAGE VARIETIES (pg. 279)
7.4 SPECIAL TOPIC (pg. 292)
Dialect or Language? (pg. 292)
Chapter 8 Language Change (pg. 300)
8.1 SOME BACKGROUND CONCEPTS (pg. 300)
8.2 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF INDO-EUROPEAN AND THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE CHANGE (pg. 304)
8.3 THE LINGUISTIC HISTORY OF ENGLISH (pg. 320)
8.4 SPECIAL TOPICS (pg. 330)
Language Families of the World (pg. 330)
Establishing Deep Linguistic Relationships (pg. 331)
PART II COMMUNICATION AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE (pg. 344)
Introduction (pg. 346)
Chapter 9 Pragmatics: The Study of Language Use and Communication (pg. 350)
9.1 SOME BACKGROUND CONCEPTS (pg. 350)
9.2 THE MESSAGE MODEL OF LINGUISTIC COMMUNICATION (pg. 352)
9.3 THE INFERENTIAL MODEL OF LINGUISTIC COMMUNICATION (pg. 358)
9.4 DISCOURSE AND CONVERSATION (pg. 374)
9.5 SPECIAL TOPICS (pg. 379)
Performatives (pg. 379)
Speech Acts (pg. 381)
Meaning, Saying, and Implicating (pg. 384)
Impliciture and Neo-Gricean Pragmatics (pg. 388)
Chapter 10 Psychology of Language: Speech Production and Comprehension (pg. 404)
10.1 PERFORMANCE MODELS (pg. 404)
10.2 SPEECH PRODUCTION (pg. 404)
10.3 LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION (pg. 412)
10.4 SPECIAL TOPICS (pg. 441)
The McGurk Effect (pg. 441)
Connectionist Models of Lexical Access and Letter Recognition (pg. 444)
Chapter 11 Language Acquisition in Children (pg. 460)
11.1 SOME BACKGROUND CONCEPTS (pg. 460)
11.2 IS THERE A “LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE”? (pg. 468)
11.3 IS THE HUMAN LINGUISTIC CAPACITY UNIQUE? CHILDREN AND NONHUMAN PRIMATES COMPARED (pg. 484)
11.4 SPECIAL TOPIC (pg. 493)
Principles and Parameters (pg. 493)
Chapter 12 Language and the Brain (pg. 504)
12.1 IS LANGUAGE LOCALIZED IN THE BRAIN—AND IF SO, WHERE? (pg. 505)
12.2 HOW DOES THE BRAIN ENCODE AND DECODE SPEECH AND LANGUAGE? (pg. 510)
12.3 ARE THE COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE NEUROANATOMICALLY DISTINCT? (pg. 517)
12.4 SPECIAL TOPICS (pg. 521)
PET and fMRI Imaging (pg. 521)
Event-Related Potentials (pg. 525)
Is FOXP2 a “Language Gene”? (pg. 530)
Glossary (pg. 536)
Index (pg. 562)
Appendices (pg. APX1-1)
Computational Linguistics (pg. CL-1)

Adrian Akmajian

The late Adrian Akmajian was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona.


Ann K. Farmer

Ann K. Farmer is an Information Engineer at Google.


Lee Bickmore

Lee Bickmore is a linguistic anthropologist and phonologist at University at Albany.

Richard A. Demers

Richard A. Demers is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona.


Robert M. Harnish

The late Robert M. Harnish was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Arizona.


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