This book explains the usage of more than 1,000 food-related expressions in everyday English. The 13 comprehensive chapters of the book cover the entire alphabet of food phrases from "soup to nuts" (or as in the index, from "above the salt" to "zest") as well as cooking and dining terms. The book provides many food…

Using examples drawn from books, magazines, newspapers, and television programs, this book examines linguistic sexism in the hope that if people consciously discard the semantic symbols of deeply rooted cultural assumptions, in time they will be freed from their power. The nine chapters discuss the following topics: how the way the culture's…

The nature of language change over time is examined, and an evolutionary theory of language is proposed. The text, intended for laymen, students, and experts alike, first addresses the reasons and mechanisms by which language changes, and attempts to identify a relationship between the essence of language, reasons for change, and the genesis of…

The book, designed as a textbook for introductory study of semantics within college-level linguistics, focuses on the study of meaning as it is systematically encoded in the vocabulary and grammar of natural languages. The term "semantics" is presumed here to include pragmatics. An introductory section explains fundamental theoretical and…

The history of Slavic prosody gives an account of Slavic languages at the time of their differentiation and relates these developments to issues in phonological theory. It is first argued that the syllable structure of Slavic changes before the fall of the jers and suggests that intra- and intersyllabic reorganization in Late Common Slavic was far…

The textbook is designed as a self-contained introduction to English syntax, providing an overview of key theoretical concepts and descriptive devices used in contemporary linguistic work rather than a historical perspective and using varieties of English from around the world rather than other languages for illustration. Chapter topics include:…

Learnability theory is an attempt to illuminate the concept of learnability using a mathematical model of learning. Two models of learning of categorial grammars are examined here: the standard model, in which sentences presented to the learner are flat strings of words, and one in which sentences are presented in the form of functor-argument…

Modern primary teachers must adapt literacy programmes and ensure efficient learning for all. They must also support children with language and literacy difficulties, children learning English as an additional language and possibly teach a modern foreign language. To do this effectively, they need to understand the applied linguistics research…

A study of child language development that takes a combined developmental and functional view of language acquisition is reported. It has three parts. The first outlines a variety of functional approaches in linguistics, links linguistic theory with what is known about children's emerging conceptual and social development, particularly in the…

Discussed in the monograph are procedures and conclusions of Dr. Catherine Garvey's research on the social speech of 48 preschool children. It is explained that each S was observed and videotaped while in a playroom with two other children. Findings are cited for the following areas of study (with sample conclusions in parentheses): social…

This book traces the development of speech from a time when the spiritual roots of words were still experienced, down to the present day when words are in danger of being little else than 'bits' of information. The book illustrates the origins of everyday words and names and traces the use of words through history. It shows how certain sounds…

The chapters in this volume report new research evidence, review new concepts, and acquaint classroom teachers at the elementary level with the ideas of those most active in the field of linguistics. Discussion, which focuses on the relationships between linguistics and language arts, reading, spelling instruction, and the teaching of grammar and…

The textbook provides an intensive introduction to recent work in syntactic theory within the minimalist framework. The approach taken is to presuppose no background knowledge of syntactic theory or historical linguistics. Rather than compare English with other languages, illustrations are drawn from varieties of English from around the world.…

This book is a concise history of structural linguistics, charting its development from the 1870s to the present day. It explains what structuralism was and why its ideas are still central today. For structuralists, a language is a self-contained and tightly organized system whose history is of changes from one state of the system to another. This…

Language is a child's major tool for learning about the world. This book presents a naturalistic case study of one child's use of language from two-and-a-half to five years, drawing on systemic functional theory to argue that cognitive development is essentially a linguistic process and offering a new description and interpretation of linguistic…