How Languages Work: An Introduction to Language and Linguistics

Book Preface

How Languages Work is designed to be the primary text for a university-level introductory course in linguistics. The audience for the book includes:

• undergraduates taking an introductory linguistics course as a general education requirement;
• beginning linguistics students with limited background in the field;
• linguistics graduate students seeking a helpful reference and introductory discussions of a wide range of sub-disciplines and a range of languages;
• students in related disciplines (such as education, anthropology, writing, or communication) that seek grounding in linguistics; and
• general readers with an avid love of languages.

In addition to courses offered within departments of linguistics, the book might be used in departments of anthropology, education, psychology, communication, applied linguistics, English, or other languages. It introduces the field of linguistics through its subfields, and prepares students for more advanced and specialized coursework

CONTENTS

PART I PRIMARY CHAPTERS

1 Introduction: language, languages, and linguistics
CAROL GENETTI 3
2 Phonetics: physical dimensions of speech sounds
MATTHEW GORDON 25
3 Phonology: organization of speech sounds
MATTHEW GORDON 49
4 Morphology: what’s in a word?
MARIANNE MITHUN 71
5 Word classes: evidence from grammatical behavior
CAROL GENETTI 100
6 Syntax: words in combination
CAROL GENETTI 118
7 Semantics: how language makes sense
MICHAEL ISRAEL 150
8 Pragmatics: inference for language
MIRA ARIEL 180
9 Discourse: language beyond the sentence
WALLACE CHAFE 200
10 Prosody: the music of language
WALLACE CHAFE 220
11 Language in the social world
MARY BUCHOLTZ 240
12 Language change: the dynamicity of linguistic systems
MARIANNE MITHUN 264
13 Language contact and areal linguistics
ALEXANDRA Y. AIKHENVALD 295
14 First language acquisition
PATRICIA M. CLANCY 318
15 Second language acquisition
DOROTHY CHUN AND JAN FRODESEN 351

PART I I LANGUAGE PROFILES

1 Kabardian
MATTHEW GORDON AND AYLA APPLEBAUM 375
2 Goemai
BIRGIT HELLWIG 391
3 Manange
KRISTINE HILDEBRANDT 404
4 Finnish
RITVA LAURY 424
5 Nuuchahnulth (Nootka)
TOSHIHIDE NAKAYAMA 441
6 South Conchucos Quechua
DANIEL J. HINTZ 463
7 Tsez
BERNARD COMRIE 482
8 Bardi
CLAIRE BOWERN 498
9 Lowland Chontal
LORETTA O’CONNOR 513
10 Manambu
ALEXANDRA Y. AIKHENVALD AND CAROL GENETTI 530
11 Indonesian
ROBERT ENGLEBRETSON 551
12 Seneca
WALLACE CHAFE 567
13 Akkadian
GUY DEUTSCHER 583
Glossary 596
References 627
Index 638