How Languages Work - Softcover

Genetti, Carol

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108454518 ISBN 13: 9781108454513

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Language is a sophisticated tool which we use to communicate in a multitude of ways. Updated and expanded in its second edition, this book introduces language and linguistics - presenting language in all its amazing complexity while systematically guiding you through the basics. The reader will emerge with an appreciation of the diversity of the world's languages, as well as a deeper understanding of the structure of human language, the ways it is used, and its broader social and cultural context. Part I is devoted to the nuts and bolts of language study - speech sounds, sound patterns, sentence structure, and meaning - and includes chapters dedicated to the functional aspects of language: discourse, prosody, pragmatics, and language contact. The fourteen language profiles included in Part II reveal the world's linguistic variety while expanding on the similarities and differences between languages. Using knowledge gained from Part I, the reader can explore how language functions when speakers use it in daily interaction. With a step-by-step approach that is reinforced with well-chosen illustrations, case studies, and study questions, readers will gain understanding and analytical skills that will only enrich their ongoing study of language and linguistics.

About this title

Book Description

This book introduces language as shaped by physical, cognitive, socio-interactional, and historical contexts. An introduction in linguistics and related disciplines, it can also be used in linguistic analysis, morphosyntax, and world languages courses. The second edition is thoroughly updated with an extra language profile and more examples.

About the Author

Carol Genetti is a Professor of Linguistics and the Anne and Michael Towbes Graduate Dean at University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a specialist in Himalayan languages and in the documentation and description of previously undescribed languages. Her Grammar of Dolakha Newar (2007) was awarded the inaugural Von der Gabelentz book award from the international Association for Linguistic Typology. She has published numerous articles, especially on the syntax of clause combining in Tibeto-Burman languages, but also on phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse, typology, grammaticalization, grammar writing, and historical linguistics. In addition, Professor Genetti has a strong interest in the documentation and conservation of endangered languages. She was founding Director of the Institute on Field Linguistics and Language Documentation (InField/CoLang) and Chair of the Committee on Endangered Languages and their Preservation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1108454518
• ISBN 13: 9781108454513
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 708