| |
| |
| |
| A Language Like English | |
| |
| |
| The Story of Aks | |
| |
| |
| Language, Language Everywhere | |
| |
| |
| The Power of Language | |
| |
| |
| Name Calling | |
| |
| |
| Judging by Ear | |
| |
| |
| A Puzzle: What Makes Us Hear an Accent? | |
| |
| |
| The System of Language | |
| |
| |
| Arbitrariness and Systematicity | |
| |
| |
| A Scholar to Know: Ferdinand de Saussure | |
| |
| |
| Creativity | |
| |
| |
| Grammar | |
| |
| |
| Linguistics | |
| |
| |
| Human Language vs. Animal Communication | |
| |
| |
| Birds and Bees | |
| |
| |
| Language and Society: Relevance of Brain Size | |
| |
| |
| Chimps and Bonobos | |
| |
| |
| Distinctive Characteristics of Human Language | |
| |
| |
| The Process of Language Change | |
| |
| |
| A Puzzle: Do Languages Have Families | |
| |
| |
| Mechanics of Language Change | |
| |
| |
| Progress or Decay? | |
| |
| |
| Attitudes about Language Change | |
| |
| |
| Special Focus: Evolution of Human Language | |
| |
| |
| Summary | |
| |
| |
| Suggested Reading | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Language and Authority | |
| |
| |
| Who Is in Control? | |
| |
| |
| Language Academies | |
| |
| |
| Language Academies | |
| |
| |
| Language Mavens | |
| |
| |
| Defining Standard English | |
| |
| |
| Descriptive versus Prescriptive Grammar Rules | |
| |
| |
| Case Study One: Double Negatives | |
| |
| |
| Case Study Two: Ain't | |
| |
| |
| Case Study Three: Who/Whom | |
| |
| |
| Spoken versus Written Language | |
| |
| |
| A Puzzle: Which Is More Permanent | |
| |
| |
| The Written or the Spoken Word | |
| |
| |
| Language and Society: Are We Losing Our Memories | |
| |
| |
| Dictionaries of English | |
| |
| |
| The Earliest Dictionaries of English | |
| |
| |
| The Beginnings of Modern Lexicography | |
| |
| |
| Historical Lexicography | |
| |
| |
| American Lexicography | |
| |
| |
| A Question to Discuss: Should Dictionaries Ever Prescribe | |
| |
| |
| English Grammar, Usage, and Style | |
| |
| |
| The Earliest Usage Books | |
| |
| |
| Prescriptive vs | |
| |
| |
| Descriptive Tendencies in Grammars of English | |
| |
| |
| Modern Approaches to English Usage | |
| |
| |
| Special Focus: Corpus Linguistics | |
| |
| |
| Origins of Corpus Linguistics | |
| |
| |
| Corpora Linguistics in the Twenty-first Century | |
| |
| |
| Summary | |
| |
| |
| Suggested Reading | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| English Phonology | |
| |
| |
| Definitions of Phonetics and Phonology | |
| |
| |
| The Anatomy of Speech | |
| |
| |
| The International Phonetic Alphabet | |
| |
| |
| English Consonants | |
| |
| |
| Stops | |
| |
| |
| Fricatives | |
| |
| |
| Affricates | |
| |
| |
| A Puzzle: Does English Have Initial/�/? | |
| |
| |
| Nasals | |
| |
| |
| Language Variation at Work: Who Drops Their g's? | |