English Words

Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Tilte......Page 2
Title......Page 3
Copyright......Page 4
Dedication......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 11
Acknowledgements......Page 13
Abbreviations......Page 15
Key to symbols used......Page 17
1.1  WHY STUDY WORDS?......Page 20
1.2  OVERVIEW OF COMING CHAPTERS......Page 23
2.1  INTRODUCTION......Page 25
2.2.1  Word-forms......Page 26
2.2.2  Words as vocabulary items......Page 30
2.2.3  Grammatical words......Page 34
2.3  SUMMARY......Page 36
EXERCISES......Page 37
3.2  CLOSE MORPHOLOGICAL ENCOUNTERS: ZOOMING IN ON MORPHEMES......Page 38
3.3.1  Allomorphs: morph families......Page 41
3.3.2  Contrast......Page 44
3.4  FREEDOM AND BONDAGE......Page 45
3.5  SOUND SYMBOLISM: PHONAESTHEMES AND ONOMATOPOEIA......Page 46
3.6  VERBAL BLUEPRINTS......Page 47
3.6.1  Tiny words (isolating languages)......Page 49
3.6.3  Labyrinthine words (synthetic languages)......Page 50
3.6.5  No thoroughbreds......Page 52
EXERCISES......Page 54
4.2.1  Roots are the core......Page 56
4.2.2  Affixes are for appending......Page 57
4.3  THE MAIN TYPES OF WORD-BUILDING: INFLECTION AND DERIVATION......Page 59
4.4  DERIVATION: FABRICATING WORDS......Page 60
4.4.1  Affixation: prefixes and suffixes......Page 61
4.4.2  Conversion......Page 67
4.4.3  Compound parade......Page 68
4.4.4  Wishy-washy words......Page 73
EXERCISES......Page 74
5.2  PHONOLOGICALLY CONDITIONED ALLOMORPHS......Page 76
5.2.1  Selecting underlying representations......Page 80
5.2.2  Derivations......Page 82
5.3 PHONOLOGY IN THE SHADE: LEXICAL AND GRAMMATICAL CONDITIONING......Page 84
EXERCISES......Page 85
6.1  THE NATURE OF THE LEXICON......Page 88
6.3  SYNTACTIC INFORMATION IN THE LEXICON......Page 89
6.5  RENDEZVOUS WITH LEXICAL PHONOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY......Page 90
6.5.1  Neutral and non-neutral affixes......Page 91
6.5.2  The lexicon is like a layered cake......Page 92
6.6  PRODUCTIVITY, THE TIME-WARP AND CRANBERRIES......Page 96
6.7  PEEPING BEYOND THE LEXICON......Page 98
EXERCISES......Page 99
7.1  WRITING SYSTEMS......Page 102
7.2  IS THE ENGLISH ORTHOGRAPHY MAD?......Page 103
7.2.1  The apparent madness in the English spelling system......Page 104
7.2.2  There is a method in the madness: spelling rules and pronunciation......Page 105
7.2.3 Is A for apple? Why vowel letters pinch like illfitting shoes......Page 109
7.3  MORPHOLOGICAL SIGNPOSTS IN THE SPELLING......Page 113
7.4  LEXICAL SIGNPOSTING IN THE SPELLING......Page 114
7.5  SPELLING REFORM......Page 115
7.6  IS SPEECH DEGENERATE WRITING?......Page 118
EXERCISES......Page 120
8.1  THE PRODUCTION LINE......Page 122
HUMBLE PIE......Page 125
8.3  CLITICS......Page 127
EXERCISES......Page 130
9.2  JARGON......Page 132
9.3  SLANG......Page 133
9.4  CLICHÉS AND CATCH-PHRASES......Page 134
9.5  A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME......Page 138
9.5.1  Semantic widening......Page 139
9.5.2  Semantic narrowing......Page 140
9.5.4  Loss account......Page 141
9.6  CLIPPING......Page 143
9.7  ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS......Page 145
9.8  FADS AND COPYCAT FORMATIONS......Page 146
9.10  BLENDS......Page 147
9.11  EUPHEMISM......Page 148
EXERCISES......Page 150
10.1.1  Direct and indirect borrowing......Page 152
10.1.2  Loanwords and loanshifts......Page 153
10.1.4  Why borrow?......Page 154
10.1.5  The grass is ever greener on the other side......Page 157
10.1.6  Nativisation of loanwords......Page 158
10.1.7  Effects of borrowing......Page 161
10.2  SCANDINAVIAN LOANWORDS......Page 162
10.3.1  The Norman French legacy......Page 163
10.3.2  French words in modern English......Page 165
10.4  WORDS FROM OTHER MODERN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES......Page 169
10.5  LOANWORDS FROM NON-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES......Page 170
10.6  THE GERMANIC INHERITANCE......Page 171
EXERCISES......Page 173
11.1  A MIND FULL OF WORDS......Page 176
Grammatical information......Page 177
Meaning......Page 178
11.1.2  The organisation of the mental lexicon......Page 179
11.1.3  To parse or not to parse......Page 180
11.2.1  Understanding speech......Page 183
11.2.2  Selective listening......Page 185
11.2.3  Exploiting syntactic and semantic clues......Page 186
11.3.1  Speech errors as evidence in favour of the articulatory programme......Page 188
11.3.2  Two-stage models of lexical access in speech production......Page 190
11.3.3  It’s just on the tip of my tongue......Page 193
11.3.4  Malapropisms......Page 194
11.4.1  Broca’s aphasia......Page 195
11.4.2  Wernicke’s aphasia......Page 196
11.5  FREUDIAN SLIPS......Page 197
11.6  THE SPREADING ACTIVATION MODEL......Page 198
11.7  SUMMARY......Page 199
EXERCISES......Page 200
References......Page 209
NAME INDEX......Page 214
SUBJECT INDEX......Page 216