An Introduction to Language

Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, AN INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE, International Edition, is appropriate for a variety of fields--including education, languages, psychology, anthropology, English, and teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)--at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This completely updated edition retains the clear descriptions, humor, and seamless pedagogy that have made the text a perennial best-seller, while adding new information and exercises that render each topic fresh, engaging, and current.  

Features 

- The authors'' up-to-date descriptions of the major components of language--phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics-are presented at an introductory level that assumes no prior knowledge of linguistics.
- Discussions about the grammar and other linguistic characteristics of American Sign Language, and other sign languages of deaf people, are woven throughout to reveal the pervasive parallels with spoken languages.
- Each chapter ends with an array of helpful review materials, including a chapter summary, a comprehensive list of references, suggestions for further reading, and exercises.
- Numerous new exercises offer instructional options and learning opportunities designed to maximize students'' comprehension and mastery of text material.
- The text''s signature cartoons illustrate the authors'' clear descriptions of complex linguistic points and principles. 

Table of contents: 

Part I: The Nature of Human Language.
Introduction: Brain and Language.
Part II: Grammatical Aspects of Language.
1: Morphology: The Words of Language.
2: Syntax: The Sentence Patterns of Language.
3: The Meaning of Language.
4: Phonetics: The Sounds of Language.
5: Phonology: The Sound Patterns of Language.
Part III: The Biology and Psychology of Language.
6: What is Language?
7: Language Acquisition.
8: Language Processing: Humans and Computers.
Part IV: Language and Society.
9: Language in Society.
10: Language Change: The Syllables of Time.
11: Writing: the ABCs of Language.
Glossary.
Index.  

About the Authors: 

Victoria Fromkin
Victoria Fromkin received her bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1944 and her M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1963 and 1965, respectively. She was a member of the faculty of the UCLA Department of Linguistics from 1966 until her death in 2000, and served as its chair from 1972 to 1976. From 1979 to 1989 she served as the UCLA Graduate Dean and Vice Chancellor of Graduate Programs. She was a visiting professor at the universities of Stockholm, Cambridge, and Oxford. Professor Fromkin served as president of the Linguistics Society of America in 1985, president of the Association of Graduate Schools in 1988, and chair of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Aphasia. She received the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award and the Professional Achievement Award, and served as the U.S. Delegate and a member of the Executive Committee of the International Permanent Committee of Linguistics (CIPL). She was an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Science, the American Psychological Society, and the Acoustical Society of America, and in 1996 was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. She published more than one hundred books, monographs, and papers on topics concerned with phonetics, phonology, tone languages, African languages, speech errors, processing models, aphasia, and the brain/mind/language interface--all research areas in which she worked. Professor Fromkin passed away on January 19, 2000, at the age of 76. 

Robert Rodman
Robert Rodman received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1961, a master's degree in mathematics in 1965, a master's degree in linguistics in 1971, and his Ph.D. in linguistics in 1973. He has been on the faculties of the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kyoto Industrial College in Japan, and North Carolina State University, where he is currently professor of computer science specializing in the areas of forensic linguistics and computer speech processing. 

Nina Hyams
Nina Hyams received her bachelor's degree in journalism from Boston University in 1973 and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in linguistics from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 1981 and 1983, respectively. She joined the UCLA faculty in 1983, where she is currently professor of linguistics. Her main areas of research are childhood language development and syntax. She is author of the book LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND THE THEORY OF PARAMETERS (D. Reidel Publishers, 1986), a milestone in language acquisition research. She has also published numerous articles on the development of syntax, morphology, and semantics in children. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Utrecht and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and has given numerous lectures throughout Europe and Japan.

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