This series offers concise and clear introductions to the main areas of language study. Each volume delves into a specific topic, providing accessible explanations for a broad audience. It serves as an excellent resource for students, educators, and anyone curious about the fundamental concepts of linguistics. The books build a solid foundation in understanding how language works.
Recent social and political changes have focused attention on the debate about the relationship between language and culture. This book offers an accessible survey of key concepts such as social context and cultural authenticity, using insights from fields which include linguistics, sociology and anthropology.
This work investigates real-world problems involving language. As such it has the difficult task of mediating between academic expertise and lived experience, attempting to reconcile opposed interests and perspectives. It provides a comprehensive overview of pressing issues in the field.
Phonetics is an essential part of linguistics, as it is through analysing spoken language that linguistic data is collected. This book leads the reader through the main areas of phonetics, including how speech sounds are made and how phoneticians classify them in certain ways, the International Phonetic Alphabet, and how sounds are transmitted from speaker to hearer. schovat popis
This is an introduction to linguistics, the study of human language. The author provides a succinct but lucid outline of the ways in which language has been defined, described, and explored, and guides readers towards further exploration of their own.
Psycholinguists have shown that the comprehension and production of even the simplest language is a highly complex, almost miraculous, process. This brief introduction shows how psycholinguistic research can act as a window to the workings of the human mind.
An account of how meaning is expressed and interpreted in spoken and written texts. The book explains key concepts like context, co-text and schema and explores their relevance to an understanding of how texts are constructed and interpreted. It discusses the relationship between analysis and interpretation with particular reference to the work of critical discourse analysis, and looks at the contribution that corpus linguistics has made to the analysis and interpretation of text. Name of series: Oxford Introductions to Language Study
This accessible book examines issues such as test design, the rating process, validity, measurement, and the social dimension of language testing. It looks at both traditional and newer forms of language assessment, and the challenges posed by new views. schovat popis
... a powerful tool in opening the door, even to the novice, into this field. - Issues in Applied Linguistics
A short, accessible introduction to this key area of language study by a respected expert in the field. Describes some of the creative processes by which new senses develop for words and phrases. Informs the reader about current thinking and acts as a guide for further enquiry.
This is an introduction to pragmatics, the study of how people make sense of each other linguistically. The author explains, and illustrates, basic concepts such as the co-operative principle, deixis, and speech acts, providing a clear, concise foundation for further study.
Sociolinguistics is the study of the different ways in which different groups of people use language. This book provides a brief but comprehensive introduction to the field, making links with related disciplines such as history, politics, and gender studies.
This book deals with the study of style in language, how styles can be recognized, and their features. It examines how style is used in literary and non-literary texts, and how familiarity with style is a matter of socialization. The author also discusses the relationship between text and discourse, the production and reception of meaning as a dynamic contextualized interaction, the question of perspective and the variable representation of reality, and how stylistics can complement literary criticism. The final chapter deals with social reading and ideological positioning, including some thoughts on feminist stylistics and critical discourse analysis.
Translation is one of the most important cross-linguistic and cross-cultural practices. This short introduction focuses on what you need to know about it: the different perspectives on translation and key issues such as equivalence in translation, translation evaluation, and the role of translation in language teaching, globalization, and intercultural communication.
Explains what grammar is, why languages have to have it, and how different languages exploit it. This book includes an introduction on the theoretical and pedagogical approaches to grammatical description, the notion of 'universal grammar', the role of grammar in establishing social and educational norms, and the grammar of International English.
This book provides an accessible introduction to anyone interested in the history of the English language. It outlines the major issues and terminology used in the field of Historical Linguistics, a required part of most university-level language and linguistics courses, and creates an opening into the field for the new reader.
