An introduction to the history of languages, from distant past to distant future, looking at how languages arise, change, and die, and showing how the histories of peoples and languages are closely connected. It mixes chapters on general processes with accounts of specific languages, including Chinese, Arabic, Greek, Latin, and English.
Oxford Textbooks in LinguisticsReeks
Deze serie biedt een uitgebreide maar toegankelijke introductie tot het vakgebied van de taalkunde en de vele deelgebieden ervan. Ontworpen voor studenten van alle niveaus, biedt het duidelijke en actuele uitleg van kernconcepten. Elk deel behandelt specifieke gebieden van taalkundig onderzoek en rust lezers uit met een solide basis voor verdere academische verkenning. Het dient als een essentiële bron voor iedereen die de structuur en complexiteit van menselijke taal wil begrijpen.






Aanbevolen leesvolgorde
Compositional Semantics
- 352bladzijden
- 13 uur lezen
This book provides an introduction to compositional semantics and to the syntax/semantics interface, adopting a Direct Compositionality view while (where appropriate) also presenting a competing view based on Logical Form and comparing the two.
An Introduction to Multilingualism
- 320bladzijden
- 12 uur lezen
A tour de force. The book includes discussions of all the latest trends, such as multilingualism on the internet and urban youth language, and weaves them seamlessly into existing research traditions. It covers a whole gamut of social and individual aspects of the subject with clarity, erudition, and panache. It is a first-class teaching tool, offering relevant discussion points after each chapter. Above all, it is a pleasure to read. Penelope Gardner-Chloros, Birkbeck, University of London
Compositional Semantics: An Introduction to the Syntax/Semantics Interface
- 448bladzijden
- 16 uur lezen
Focusing on compositional semantics and the syntax/semantics interface, this book merges Direct Compositionality with Logical Form approaches. It serves as an essential resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in linguistics, philosophy of language, and related disciplines, offering a comprehensive introduction to these complex concepts.
Diachronic Syntax
- 524bladzijden
- 19 uur lezen
Focusing on the generative approach to linguistics, the book explores its application in understanding language change. It addresses key historical linguistics topics such as word-order change, grammaticalization, and reanalysis. The author, Ian Roberts, connects syntactic change with first-language acquisition and examines language contact effects. The text includes diverse examples from various languages, along with guides for further reading and a comprehensive glossary, making it an excellent resource for students studying syntactic change.
The History of Languages. An Introduction
- 280bladzijden
- 10 uur lezen
"This is an introduction to the history of languages, from the distant past to a glimpse at what languages may be like in the distant future. It looks at how languages arise, change, and ultimately vanish, and what lies behind their different destinies. What happens to languages, he argues, has to do with what happens to the people who use them, and what happens to people, individually and collectively, is affected by the languages they speak. The book opens by examining what the languages are the hunter-gatherers might have spoken and the changes to language that took place when agriculture made settled communities possible. It then looks at the effects of the invention of writing, the formation of empires, the spread of religions, and the recent dominance of world powers, and shows how these relate to great changes in the use of languages. Tore Janson discusses the appearance of new languages, the reasons why some languages spread and others die, considers whether similar cyclical processes are found at different times and places, and examines the causes of internal changes in languages and dialects. The book ranges widely among the world's languages and mixes thematic chapters on general processes of change with accounts of specific languages, including Chinese, Arabic, Latin, Greek, and English."--Publisher's website
A Practical Introduction to Phonetics
- 248bladzijden
- 9 uur lezen
'Review from previous edition 'an introduction to general phonetics that integrates the articulatory and the acoustic aspects of the subject in a way that few other introductory works do; that gives a comprehensive view of the whole subject' -Kritikon LitterarumThis book is an introduction to practical phonetics, that is, to the description and classification of the sounds of speech. The book's unique approach leads readers to explore the entire range of human sounds by a series of introspective experiments carried out in their own vocal tracts. This highly practical exploration of the subject is informed throughout by recent research, particularly in the aerodynamics and acoustics of speech. The second edition, now part of the Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics series, has been updated throughout, and is now consistent with the revised International Phonetic Alphabet (1996).
Speech Acts and Clause Types: English in a Cross-Linguistic Context
- 464bladzijden
- 17 uur lezen
Exploring the connection between morphosyntactic properties and illocutionary forces, this book integrates concepts from linguistics, philosophy, and sociology. It serves as a comprehensive resource for students and educators, making it suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in semantics, pragmatics, and morphosyntax, offering a multidisciplinary approach to understanding sentence structure and meaning.
A Functional Discourse Grammar for English
- 320bladzijden
- 12 uur lezen
This is the first textbook on Functional Discourse Grammar, a recently developed theory of language structure which analyses utterances at the pragmatic, semantic, morphosyntactic and phonological level. It focuses principally on English and provides extensive exercises for students to use and evaluate the theory.
Linguistic Categorization
- 320bladzijden
- 12 uur lezen
This book provides a readable and clearly articulated introduction to an important area in the broader field of Cognitive Linguistics. Taking as its starting point the categorization of colour it explores the far reaching implications of Eleanor Rosch's seminal work on prototype categorization extending it's application of prototype theory from lexical semantics to the study of morphology, syntax, and phonology. First published in 1989 the third edition of this populat text has been fully revised and updated to include recent developments in Cognitive Linguistics. It introduces basic issues in the study of word meaning, and demonstrates the viability of the prototype approach to the study of phonology, syntax and acquistion. The new edition expands the treatment of polysemy, meaning relatedness, idioms and grammatical constructions The book presupposes no prior knowledge of linguistics and will therefore be particulary suited to undergraduate courses.
An Introduction to Multilingualism: Language in a Changing World
- 320bladzijden
- 12 uur lezen
Focusing on the complexities of multilingualism, this book integrates perspectives from linguistics, sociology, history, political philosophy, and psychology. It equips readers with analytical tools to explore various forms of multilingualism and encourages critical thinking through discussion questions and problems at the end of each chapter, making it a comprehensive resource for understanding language in a dynamic global context.
Linguistic Typology
- 512bladzijden
- 18 uur lezen
Jae Jung Song covers a great variety of topics, both related to theoretical (such as explanation in typology and sampling of languages) and empirical aspects (such as phonological typology and case marking) of the field, which is the best way to present it to readers. The book is a brilliant testament to the authors 25 years of teaching and research in linguistic typology. Seppo Kittilä, University of Helsinki
Pragmatics
- 400bladzijden
- 14 uur lezen
Pragmatics is one of the rapidly growing fields in contemporary linguistics. Huang provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the central topics in pragmatics - implicature, presupposition, speech acts, and deixis.
The Lexicon
- 320bladzijden
- 12 uur lezen
This book provides an introduction to the study of words, and how we use words to create meaning. It offers an accessible description of the main properties of words and the organizational principles of the lexicon, based on theoretical accounts and extensive empirical data.