The Study of Language

This best-selling textbook provides an engaging and user-friendly introduction to the study of language. Assuming no prior knowledge in the subject, Yule presents information in short, bite-sized sections, introducing the major concepts in language study from how children learn language to why men and women speak differently, through all the key elements of language. This fourth edition has been revised and updated with twenty new sections, covering new accounts of language origins, the key properties of language, text messaging, kinship terms and more than twenty new word etymologies. To increase student engagement with the text, Yule has also included more than fifty new tasks, including thirty involving data analysis, enabling students to apply what they have learned. The online study guide offers students further resources when working on the tasks, while encouraging lively and proactive learning. This is the most fundamental and easy-to-use introduction to the study of language.Easy to follow, simple to understand - the most fundamental introduction to language study. Includes new tasks and an online study guide.From the contents:
1. The origins of language
2. Animals and human language
3. The sounds of language
4. The sound patterns of language
5. Word-formation
6. Morphology
7. Grammar
8. Syntax
9. Semantics
10. Pragmatics
11. Discourse analysis
12. Language and the brain
13. First language acquisition
14. Second language acquisition/learning
15. Gestures and sign languages
16. Writing
17. Language history and change
18. Language and regional variation
19. Language and social variation
20. Language and culture.