An Introduction to Language - Softcover

Collins, Peter C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0170178250 ISBN 13: 9780170178259

Publisher: Cengage Learning Australia, 2008

Synopsis

A comprehensive introduction to the study of language and linguistics, An Introduction to Language 6/e covers all the major topics in linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics as well as pragmatics, historical change, social and regional dialects, child language, writing, language processing, and the neurobiology of language. The comprehensive approach uses humour to enhance student interest in the diverse study of language from its origins to current areas of research and discovery. Features: * Covers all the major topics in linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics as well as pragmatics, historical change, social and regional dialects, child language, writing, language processing, and the neurobiology of language. * Exercises and data problems give students the chance to perform in-depth analysis of human language structures. * Improved glossary makes technical terms easy to locate and understand. * Text uses cartoons and quotations from literature to heighten interest and clarify complex topics. New to this edition: * Reorganization of chapters starts with studies of the brain as the key to understanding the nature of language structure, piquing the student's natural interest and making this a viable textbook for programs in cognitive science. * Up-to-the-minute material included in a new chapter on the brain and language, including PET and MRI scans of patients by foremost neurologist, Dr. Hanna Damasio. * "How to" sections have been added to provide students with procedures for phonological and morphological analysis. * The sign languages of the deaf are now discussed throughout the book (rather than in an isolated section) showing how all languages--signed and spoken--share universal features. * Chapters on child language acquisition, psycholinguistic studies of language processing, and computer processing of natural language have been updated. * Expanded chapter on Latino English. * Chapters and sections on semantics and pragmatics have been expanded. * The study of syntax and phonology has been revised to be less formal, emphasizing substantive characteristics of languages of the world.

About this title

About the Author

Victoria Fromkin received her bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles. She was a member of the faculty of the UCLA Department of Linguistics from 1966 until her death, 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 in 2000, at the age of 76.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cengage Learning Australia
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0170178250
• ISBN 13: 9780170178259
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 6
• Number of pages: 584