English Words A Linguistic Introduction [Paperback]

• accessibly written to give students a command of basic theory, skills in analyzing English words, and the foundation needed for more advanced study in linguistic theory or lexicology
• covers basic introductory material and investigates the structure of English vocabulary
• introduces students to the technical study of words from relevant areas of linguistics: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, historical linguistics and psycholinguistics

Acknowledgments.

IPA Transcription Key.

1. What is a word?.

1.1 Explaining word in words.

1.2 Language is a secret decoder ring.

1.3 Wordhood: the whole kit and caboodle.

1.4 Two kinds of words.

1.5 The anatomy of a listeme.

1.6 What don’t you have to learn when you’re learning a word?.

1.7 A scientific approach to language.

2. Sound and fury: English phonology.

2.1 English spelling and English pronunciation.

2.2 The voice box.

2.3 The building blocks of words I: Consonants in the IPA.

2.4 Building blocks II: Vowels and the IPA.

2.5 Families of sounds and Grimm’s law: a case in point.

3. Phonological words: Calling all Scrabble players!.

3.1 Guessing at words: The Scrabble problem.

3.2 Building Blocks III: The Syllable.

3.3 Phonotactic restrictions on English syllables.

3.4 From a stream of sound into words: Speech perception.

3.5 Syllables, rhyl3#