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.
Author(s): John Lyons
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 1981
Language: English
City: Cambridge
Tags: language, linguistics, tongue
Contents
Preface ix
1 Language
1.1 What is language?
1.2 Some definitions of ‘language’
1.3 Language-behaviour and language-systems
1.4 Language and speech
1.5 The semiotic point of view
1.6 The fiction of homogeneity
1.7 There are no primitive languages
Further reading
Questions and exercises
2 Linguistics
2.1 Branches of linguistics
2.2 Is linguistics a science?
2.3 Terminology and notation
2.4 Linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive
2.5 Priority of synchronic description
2.6 Structure and system
Further reading
Questions and exercises
3 The sounds of language
3.1 The phonic medium
3.2 Phonetic and orthographic representation
3.3 Articulatory phonetics
3.4 Phonemes and allophones
3.5 Distinctive features and suprasegmental
phonology
3.6 Phonological structure
Further reading
Questions and exercises
4 Grammar
4.1 Syntax, inflection and morphology
4.2 Grammaticality, productivity and arbitrariness
4.3 Parts of speech, form-classes and grammatical
categories
4.4 Some additional grammatical concepts
4.5 Constituent-structure
4.6 Generative grammar
Further reading
Questions and exercises
5 Semantics
5.1 The diversity of meaning
5.2 Lexical meaning: homonymy, polysemy,
synonymy
5.3 Lexical meaning: sense and denotation
5.4 Semantics and grammar
5.5 Sentence-meaning and utterance-meaning
5.6 Formal semantics
Further reading
Questions and exercises
6 Language-change
6.1
Historical linguistics
6.2
Language-families
6.3
The comparative method
6.4
Analogy and borrowing
6.5
The causes of language-change
Further reading
Questions and exercises
7 Some modern schools and movements
7.1 Historicism
7.2 Structuralism
7.3 Functionalism
7.4 Generativism
Further reading
Questions and exercises
8 Language and mind
8.1
Universal grammar and its relevance
8.2
Mentalism, rationalism and innateness
8.3
Language and the brain
8.4
Language-acquisition
8.5
Other areas of pyscholinguistics
8.6
Cognitive science and artificial intelligence
Further reading
Questions and exercises
9 Language and society
9.1 Sociolinguistics, ethnolinguistics and
psycholinguistics
9.2 Accent, dialect and idiolect
9.3 Standards and vernaculars
9.4 Bilingualism, code-switching and diglossia
9.5 Practical applications
9.6 Stylistic variation and stylistics
Further reading
Questions and exercises
10 Language and culture
10.1 What is culture?
10.2 The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
10.3 Colour-terms
10.4 Pronouns of address
10.5 Cultural overlap, cultural diffusion and
translatability
Further reading
Questions and exercises
Bibliography
Index
