An Introduction to Language

Front Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 9
Preface......Page 15
About the Authors......Page 21
PART 1: The Nature of Human Language......Page 23
Linguistic Knowledge......Page 25
What Is Grammar?......Page 35
Language Universals......Page 39
Animal “Languages”......Page 43
In the Beginning: The Origin of Language......Page 49
Language and Thought......Page 51
What We Know about Human Language......Page 56
Summary......Page 58
References for Further Reading......Page 59
Exercises......Page 60
CHAPTER 2: Brain and Language......Page 65
The Human Brain......Page 66
The Autonomy of Language......Page 80
Language and Brain Development......Page 84
Summary......Page 90
References for Further Reading......Page 91
Exercises......Page 92
PART 2: Grammatical Aspects of Language......Page 97
CHAPTER 3: Morphology: The Words of Language......Page 98
Content Words and Function Words......Page 100
Morphemes: The Minimal Units of Meaning......Page 102
Rules of Word Formation......Page 109
Sign Language Morphology......Page 125
Morphological Analysis: Identifying Morphemes......Page 126
Summary......Page 129
Exercises......Page 130
CHAPTER 4: Syntax: The Sentence Patterns of Language......Page 139
What the Syntax Rules Do......Page 140
Sentence Structure......Page 145
Sentence Relatedness......Page 177
UG Principles and Parameters......Page 186
Sign Language Syntax......Page 189
Summary......Page 190
References for Further Reading......Page 191
Exercises......Page 192
CHAPTER 5: The Meaning of Language......Page 201
What Speakers Know about Sentence Meaning......Page 202
Compositional Semantics......Page 206
Lexical Semantics (Word Meanings)......Page 214
Pragmatics......Page 229
Summary......Page 238
Exercises......Page 240
CHAPTER 6: Phonetics: The Sounds of Language......Page 251
Sound Segments......Page 252
Articulatory Phonetics......Page 257
Prosodic Features......Page 274
Phonetic Symbols and Spelling Correspondences......Page 277
The “Phonetics” of Signed Languages......Page 279
Summary......Page 281
References for Further Reading......Page 282
Exercises......Page 283
CHAPTER 7: Phonology: The Sound Patterns of Language......Page 288
The Pronunciation of Morphemes......Page 289
Phonemes: The Phonological Units of Language......Page 294
Distinctive Features of Phonemes......Page 300
The Rules of Phonology......Page 306
Prosodic Phonology......Page 318
Sequential Constraints of Phonemes......Page 322
Why Do Phonological Rules Exist?......Page 324
Phonological Analysis......Page 326
Summary......Page 330
References for Further Reading......Page 331
Exercises......Page 332
PART 3: The Psychology of Language......Page 345
CHAPTER 8: Language Acquisition......Page 346
Mechanisms of Language Acquisition......Page 347
Knowing More Than One Language......Page 379
Summary......Page 388
References for Further Reading......Page 390
Exercises......Page 391
The Human Mind at Work: Human Language Processing......Page 397
Computer Processing of Human Language......Page 413
Summary......Page 440
References for Further Reading......Page 442
Exercises......Page 443
PART 4: Language and Society......Page 451
Dialects......Page 452
Languages in Contact......Page 474
Language and Education......Page 485
Language in Use......Page 491
Summary......Page 499
References for Further Reading......Page 501
Exercises......Page 502
CHAPTER 11: Language Change: The Syllables of Time......Page 510
The Regularity of Sound Change......Page 511
Phonological Change......Page 513
Morphological Change......Page 516
Syntactic Change......Page 518
Lexical Change......Page 522
Reconstructing “Dead” Languages......Page 531
Extinct and Endangered Languages......Page 540
The Genetic Classification of Languages......Page 542
Types of Languages......Page 547
Why Do Languages Change?......Page 550
Summary......Page 552
References for Further Reading......Page 553
Exercises......Page 554
CHAPTER 12: Writing: The ABCs of Language......Page 562
The History of Writing......Page 563
Modern Writing Systems......Page 569
Writing and Speech......Page 575
Summary......Page 583
References for Further Reading......Page 584
Exercises......Page 585
Glossary......Page 591
Index......Page 623