1. A Language Like English.
The Story of Aks.
Language, Language Everywhere.
The Power of Language.
Name Calling.
Judging by Ear.
A Puzzle: What Makes Us Hear an Accent?
The System of Language.
Arbitrariness and Systematicity.
A Scholar to Know: Ferdinand de Saussure.
Creativity.
Grammar.
Linguistics.
Human Language vs. Animal Communication.
Birds and Bees.
Language and Society: Relevance of Brain Size.
Chimps and Bonobos.
Distinctive Characteristics of Human Language.
The Process of Language Change.
A Puzzle: Do Languages Have Families.
Mechanics of Language Change.
Progress or Decay?
Attitudes about Language Change.
Special Focus: Evolution of Human Language.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
2. Language and Authority.
Who Is in Control?
Language Academies.
Language Academies.
Language Mavens.
Defining Standard English.
Descriptive versus Prescriptive Grammar Rules.
Case Study One: Double Negatives.
Case Study Two: Ain't.
Case Study Three: Who/Whom.
Spoken versus Written Language.
A Puzzle: Which Is More Permanent? The Written or the Spoken Word?
Language and Society: Are We Losing Our Memories?
Dictionaries of English.
The Earliest Dictionaries of English.
The Beginnings of Modern Lexicography.
Historical Lexicography.
American Lexicography.
A Question to Discuss: Should Dictionaries Ever Prescribe?
English Grammar, Usage, and Style.
The Earliest Usage Books.
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Tendencies in Grammars of English.
Modern Approaches to English Usage.
Special Focus: Corpus Linguistics.
Origins of Corpus Linguistics.
Corpora Linguistics in the Twenty-first Century.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
3. English Phonology.
Definitions of Phonetics and Phonology.
The Anatomy of Speech.
The International Phonetic Alphabet.
English Consonants.
Stops.
Fricatives.
Affricates.
A Puzzle: Does English Have Initial/ /?
Nasals.
Language Variation at Work: Who Drops Their g's?
Liquids and Glides.
English Vowels.
Front vowels.
Back Vowels.
Central Vowel(s).
Language Variation and Change At Work: The cot/caught and pin/pen Mergers.
Diphthongs.
Natural classes.
Phonemes and Allophones.
Sample Allophones.
Minimal Pairs.
Phonological Rules.
Assimilation.
Deletion.
Insertion.
Metathesis.
Language Change at Work: Is the Larynx Undergoing Metathesis?
Syllables and Phonotactic Constraints.
Perception of Sound.
Special Focus: History of English Spelling.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
4. English Morphology.
Definition of Morphology.
Open and Closed Classes of Morphemes.
A Puzzle: Exceptions to the Closedness of Closed Classes?
Bound and Free Morphemes.
Language Change at Work: Bound Morphines Becoming Free.
Two Classes of Bound Morphemes: Inflectional and Derivational.
Language Change at Work: The Origins of Inflectional -s.
Affixes and Combining Forms.
Morphology Trees.
A Puzzle: What About Complex Words That Seems to Have Only One Morpheme?
Ways of Forming English Words.
Combining.
Shortening.
A Puzzle: Is It Clipping or Backformation?
Blending.
Language Change: Alice in Wonderland and the portmanteau.
Shifting Frequency of Different Word-Formation Processes.
Language Change: Success Rates for New Words.
Borrowing and the Multicultural Vocabulary of English.
A Puzzle: What's Wrong with Amorality?
Special Focus: Slang and Creativity.
Summary.
Selected Reading.
Exercises.
5. Syntax: The Grammar of Words.
Defining Syntax and Lexical Categories.
Open Class Lexical Categories.
Language Change at Work: Is it fish or fishes, oxen or oxes?
Adjectives.
A Puzzle: Am I good or well?
Verbs.
A Puzzle: Did I lie down or lay down?
Adverbs.
A Puzzle: If I do badly, why don't I run fastly?
Closed Class Lexical Categories.
Prepositions.
A Puzzle: What is the up in call up?
Conjunctions.
Pronouns.
Language Variation at Work: Himself, Hisself, Hisownself.
Complementizers.
Determiners.
Auxiliary Verbs.
Challenges to Categorization.
A Puzzle: What can phonology reveal about modifying -ing forms?
Noun modifiers.
Special Focus: Descriptive Syntax and Prescriptive Rules.
Hopefully.
Split infinitive.
Sentence-final prepositions.
Its/it's.
Singular generic 'they'.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
6. Syntax: Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences.
Generative Grammar.
Universal Grammar.
A Scholar to Know: Noam Chomsky (1928 - ).
Principles and Parameters.
Constituents and Hierarchies.
Constituent Hierarchies.
Clauses and Sentences.
Constituency Tests.
Phrase Structure Rules.
Basic Phrase Structure Trees.
Complex Phrase Structure Trees.
Subordinate Adverbial Clauses.
Relative Clauses.
Language Variation at Work: Which Is It, which or that?
Complementizer clauses.
Reduced Subordinate Clauses.
Infinitive Phrases.
Gerund and Participial Phrases.
A Puzzle: What Is the it in "It is raining"?
Transformations.
wh-questions.
Negation.
Yes-no Questions.
Tag Questions.
Passive Constructions.
A Question to Discuss: How did this passive sentence get constructed?
Relative Pronoun Deletion.
Phrasal Verb Particle Movement.
Does Generative Grammar Succeed?
Special Focus: Syntax and Prescriptive Grammar.
Sentence Fragments and Run-on Sentences.
Colons, Semi-Colons, and Comma Splices.
Dangling Participles.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
7. Semantics.
Definition of Semantics.
The Limits of Reference.
The Role of Cognition.
The Role of Linguistic Context.
A Puzzle: How do Function Words Mean?
The Role of Physical and Cultural Context.
Language Change in Progress: The Formation of Idioms.
A Brief History of Theories of Reference.
Plato and Forms.
Repairing Plato.
From Reference to Discourse.
From Reference to Translation.
Lexical Fields.
Hyponym to Homonym (and Other Nyms).
Hyponomy.
Meronymy.
Synonymy.
A Question to Discuss: Does the Thesaurus Have a Bad Name?
Antonymy.
Homonymy.
A Language Puzzle: How Is the Mental Lexicon Organized?
Componential Analysis.
Prototype Semantics.
Lexical Prototype Semantics.
Analogical Mapping.
Conceptual Metaphor.
Processes of Semantic Change.
Generalization and Specialization.
Metaphorical Extension.
Euphemism and Dysphemism.
Pejoration and Amelioration.
The Intersection of Semantics and Syntax.
Projection Rules.
Thematic Roles.
How Sentences Mean.
Linguistic Relativity.
Special Focus: Politically Correct Language.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
8. Spoken Discourse.
Defining Discourse Analysis.
Speech Act Theory: Accomplishing Things with Words.
Scholars to Know: John L. Austin (1911-1960) and John Searle (1932 - ).
Components of Speech Acts.
Direct and Indirect Speech Acts.
Types of Illocutionary Acts.
Performative Speech Acts.
The Cooperative Principle: Successfully Exchanging Information.
Conversational Maxims.
A Scholar to Know: Herbert Paul Grice (1913-1988).
Conversational Implicature.
A Question to Discuss: Entailment and Implicature.
Relevance.
Politeness and "Face": Negotiating Relationships in Speaking.
Positive and Negative Politeness and Face.
Face-Threatening Acts.
Language and Society: The Power of Compliments.
Discourse Markers: Signaling Discourse Organization and Authority.
Function of Discourse Markers.
Types of Discourse Markers.
Language Change at Work: Beowulf and Discourse Markers.
Language Change at Work: Like, I was like, what is going on with the word like?
Conversation Analysis: Taking Turns and the Conversational Floor.
Structure of Conversation.
Turn-Taking.
Turn-Taking Violations.
Maintenance and Repair.
Style Shifting: Negotiating Social Meaning.
Indexical Meaning.
Style and Creativity.
Special Focus: Do Men and Women Speak Differently?
Early Language and Gender Research.
Different Models for Gender Difference.
Language and Society: Do Men Gossip?
Queer Sociolinguistics.
Language and Identity.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
9. Stylistics.
Definition of Stylistics.
Systematicity and Choice.
The World of Texts: Genres and Registers.
Defining Genre and Register.
Variation among Text Types.
Which Comes First ...?
Textual Unity: Cohesion.
Defining Cohesion.
Elements of Cohesion.
Conjunction.
Telling Stories: The Structure of Narratives.
Definition of Narrative.
The Components of a Narrative.
Investigating Speakers and Perspective.
Varieties of Perspective.
Speech: Direct and Indirect.
Investigating Actions.
Role of Action in Narrative.
Action in Action.
Attitudes in Action.
Investigating Word Choice.
Diction.
Metaphor.
Language in the News: Literary Forensics.
Rhythm and Rhyme in Poetry.
Poeticity and Its Axes.
A Scholar to Know: Roman Jakobson (1896-1982).
Meter, Rhythm, and Scansion.
Prosody and Verse Structure.
A Question to Discuss: Meter Between the Words?
Sound, Meaning, and Poetic Technique.
Language Variation at Work: Hip Hop Rhymes.
Special Focus: What Makes "Good Writing"?
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
10. Language Acquisition.
Theories about Children's Language Acquisition.
Noam Chomsky and Universal Grammar.
Debates about Language "Hard Wiring".
Language and the Brain.
Children Learning Sounds.
Language Acquisition Tests.
Acquisition of Phonemic Differences.
Children Learning Words.
Babbling and First Words.
Language and the Brain: Imitating Faces.
Language Variation at Work: Deaf Children Learning ASL.
Language and the Brain: What Causes "The Terrible Twos"?
Acquisition of Word Meaning.
Children Learning Grammar.
Patterns of Children's Errors.
Acquisition of Complex Grammatical Constructions.
Language and the Brain: What Explains Infantile Amnesia?
The Role of Parents in Language Acquisition.
Features of Parentese.
Language Change at Work: Reduplication.
Role of Parentese.
Language Acquisition in Special Circumstances.
Pidgins and Creoles.
Nicaraguan Sign Language.
Critical Age Hypothesis.
Is There an Age Critical Period?
A Case Study: Genie.
Acquisition of Languages Later in Life.
When Things Go Wrong.
Broca's Aphasia.
Wernicke's Aphasia.
Dyslexia.
Special Focus: Children and Bilingualism.
Children Learning Two Languages.
Bilingual Education Programs.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
11. Language Variation.
Dialect.
Definition of Dialects.
Dialects vs. Languages.
A Question to Discuss: Is American English a Dialect or a Language?
Standard and Nonstandard Dialects.
Dialectology.
Language Variation at Work: Pop vs. Soda.
Variationist Sociolinguistics.
A Scholar to Know: William Labov (1927 - ).
Sociolinguistics vs. Generative Grammar.
Speech Communities and Communities of Practice.
Variationist Sociolinguistic Methodologies.
Sampling.
Soliciting Language.
Analyzing Results.
Ethical Issues.
A Question to Discuss: Should We Preserve Dialects?
Major Factors in Language Variation within Speech Communities.
Age.
Gender.
Class.
Race and Ethnicity.
Language Variation at Work: Chicano English.
Social Networks.
Effects of Language Contact.
Dialect Contact.
Language Contact.
Pidgins and Creoles.
Language in the News: The Myth of One Creole.
Speaker Attitudes and Language Variation.
A Question to Discuss: What Does "Linguistic Equality" Mean?
Special Focus: Code-switching.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
12. American Dialects.
The Politics of American Dialects.
Who Speaks a Dialect?
Speakers Who Control Multiple Dialects.
Judgments and Humor about Dialects.
Dialect Diversity and National Unity.
Language Variation at Work: The Inconsistency of Language Attitudes.
Regional Variation.
A Sample Walk.
Language Variation at Work: Why does 'unless' mean 'in case' in Pennsylvania?
Defining Regions.
The Emergence of Regional Dialects.
General Principles.
Retention.
Language Variation at Work: Regional Food Terms.
Naturally Occurring Internal Language Change.
Language Contact.
Language Variation at Work: A Dragonfly by Any Other Name.
Coining.
Social factors.
The History of Regional Dialects in the United States.
The Beginnings of American English.
The Northern Dialect Region.
The Southern Dialect Region.
The Midland Region.
The Western Region.
Dialects within Dialect Regions.
Appalachian Speech: A Case Study of Regional Variation.
Phonological Features.
Morphological and Syntactic Features.
Lexical Features.
Language Variation at Work: Jack, Will, and Jenny in the Swamp.
Social Variation.
Slang and Jargon versus Dialects.
Social Dialects.
African American English: A Case Study of Social Variation.
Historical Origins.
Phonological Features.
Morphological and Syntactic Features.
Lexical Features.
Special Focus: The Ebonics Controversy.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
13. History of English: Old to Early Modern English.
Old English (449-1066 c.e.): History of Its Speakers.
When Did English "Begin"?
Which Germanic Dialect Is "Old English"?
Language Change at Work: How English Was Written Down.
Where Do the Names English and England Originate?
Old English Lexicon.
Latin Borrowing.
Old Norse Borrowing.
Native English Word Formation.
Old English Grammar.
The Origins of Modern English Noun Inflections.
The Gender of Things.
The Familiarity of Personal Pronouns.
The Many Faces of Modifiers.
The Origins of Some Modern English Irregular Verbs.
Variation in Word Order.
Middle English (1066-1476 c.e.): History of Its Speakers.
The Norman Conquest.
A Scholar to Know: J. R. R. Tolkien the Philologist.
The Renewal of English.
The Emergence of a Standard.
Middle English Dialects.
The Middle English Lexicon.
French Borrowing.
Latin Borrowing.
Other Borrowing.
Word Formation Processes.
Middle English Grammar.
The Loss of Inflections and Its Effects.
The Inflections that Survive.
Early Modern English (1476-1776 c.e.): History of Its Speakers.
The Printing Press.
The Study of English.
A Piece of History: The Fire at Ashburnham House.
Early Modern English Lexicon.
Greek and Latin Borrowing.
Romance Borrowing.
Semantic Change in the Native Lexicon.
Affixation.
Early Modern English Grammar.
Older Grammatical Retentions.
Developments in Morphosyntax.
Language Change at Work: The Invention of pea.
The Fate of Final -e.
Language Change at Work: The Great Vowel Shift.
Looking Ahead.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
14. History of English: Modern and Future English.
Modern English (1776 - Present): Social Forces at Work.
Prescription and the Standard Variety.
The Media.
Imperialism.
Globalization.
Language Change at Work: The Debated Origins of O.K.
Modern English: Language Change in Progress.
Word Formation.
Lexical Borrowing.
Phonological Changes.
Grammatical Changes.
The Status of English in the United States.
A Piece of History: The Myth of the "German Vote" in 1776.
States with English Plus Resolutions: New Mexico (1989), Oregon (1989), Rhode Island.
(1992), Washington (1989).
A Question to Discuss: Official State Languages.
The Status of English around the World.
The Meaning of a "Global Language".
English as a Global Language.
World English's.
The Future of English as a Global Language.
What Happens After Modern English?
English and the Internet.
Summary.
Suggested Reading.
Exercises.
Bibliography.
Glossary.
Index.
