Routledge. 1990. — 558 pages. — ISBN 0-415-02064-6; ISBN 0-203-40361-4In this indispensable reference, twenty-nine leaders in the field describe how language works-accounting for its nature, use, study, and history. An Encyclopaedia of Language provides a truly comprehensive overview of how the various branches of linguistic study have arrived at their current positions. It divides the subject into three logical sections:the "inner nature" of language;
its interaction with other disciplines; and
some special aspects of its study and use.Readers will find detailed coverage of: how language works; how language is taught and learned; phonetics; grammar and semantics; how linguists research their subjects and interpret results; second languages; language and computation; writing systems; the history of language study; the evolution of language; the distribution of languages around the world; lexicography; dialectology; and other topics.Contents
Notes on the Contributors
Editor’s Introduction
The Inner Nature of Language
Language as available sound: phonetics
Language as organised sound: phonology
Language as form and pattern: grammar and its categories
Language as a mental faculty: Chomsky’s progress
Language, meaning and sense: semantics
Language, meaning and context: pragmatics
Language as a written medium: text
Language as a spoken medium: conversation and interaction
Language universals and language types
The Larger Province of Language
Language and mind: psycholinguistics
Language in the brain: neurolinguistics
The breakdown of language: language pathology and therapy
Language and behaviour: anthropological linguistics
Language in society: sociolinguistics
Second languages: how they are learned and taught
Language in education
Language and literature
Language and computation
Special Aspects of Language
Language as words: lexicography
Language and writing-systems
Sign language
Language and its students: the history of linguistics
Language engineering: special languages
Language as it evolves: tracing its forms and families
Language as geography
Languages of the world: who speaks what
Index of topics and technical terms
Index of names
