This book covers the vast field of the English Language. It is broadly arranged across three areas. Strands 1 to 5 cover the structure of English to include sounds, words, meanings, grammar and discourse. The aim of the early sections is to provide you with foundational skills and knowledge which you need to be able to produce your own analyses of the English language. It is important to point out right at the very beginning that the English language is constantly changing and that it is strongly influenced by its political, social and economic circumstances. The academic study of the English language is just as reliant on these conditions: almost everything we have necessarily presented as a fact is open to debate. We hope that the book gives you the opportunity to engage in these debates. Strands 6 to 11 cover the main sub-disciplines within language and linguistics study: acquisition and processing, history and society, the spread of English globally and the close analysis of literary language. Finally, the last two strands set out some methods of linguistic study, and a theoretical review of the field. Every strand is also covered in further detail by a devoted book in the RELI series. If you have read across a strand and found that you want to know more, the corresponding RELI book will pick you up and take you further. The RELI books are also innovative textbooks in that they do not aim to replace your teacher or lecturer, but instead they offer both student and expert a resource for you to adapt as you think most appropriate. You will want to take issue with what we say, test out our assumptions, and – we hope – feel motivated to read and explore further. We have always left space for tutors to mediate the material and for students to explore beyond the book. Especially in this coursebook introducing the study of the English language, there are many routes not taken which we have left for you to explore. The English language in all its rich diversity reveals its deeper complexities and its endless fascination the more closely you look at it and think about it. Welcome to the study of language. CONTENTS Contents cross-referenced x Acknowledgements xii A Introduction: key basic concepts 1 1 Phonetics and phonology 2 2 Morphology and lexicology 6 3 Semantics and pragmatics 10 4 Grammatical parts 14 5 Text and discourse 19 6 Early language acquisition 23 7 Psycholinguistics 27 8 History of English 30 9 Sociolinguistics 35 10 World Englishes 39 11 Stylistics 43 12 Methodological paradigms 48 13 Language theories 52 B Development: aspects of English 57 1 Consonants and vowels 58 2 Lexical semantics 64 3 Pragmatic principles 67 4 Syntax 73 5 Conversation 79 6 Literacy 84 7 Schemas 88 8 Standardisation 91 9 Language attitudes 95 10 Codification 99 11 Stylistic analysis 103 12 Techniques and ethics 107 13 Language and thought 111 C Exploration: investigating English language 117 1 Performing accents 118 2 Word plays 125 3 Doing politeness 129 4 Syntactic effects 135 viii CONTENTS 5 Texts in action 139 6 Learning to read 144 7 Exploring the mind 150 8 Corrections 155 9 Identify yourself 161 10 Influencing language 165 11 Exploring literature 171 12 Collecting data 178 13 Theory into practice 186 D Extension: linguistic readings 191 1 Glottalisation in Cardiff (Collins and Mees) 192 2 The search for units of meaning (Sinclair) 200 3 The speech acts of the in-group (Cutting) 206 4 Prefabricated expressions in spoken language (Cheshire) 214 5 Advertising discourse (Cook) 220 6 Socialisation and grammatical development (Ochs and Schieffelin) 226 7 Promoting perception (Field) 232 8 Lexical change (Smith) 239 9 Social relationships and social practices (Milroy and Gordon) 245 10 The development of World Englishes (Kirkpatrick) 251 11 Transitivity as point of view (Simpson) 257 12 Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research (Dörnyei) 265 13 Researching ‘real’ language (Carter and Sealey) 271 Further reading 278 References 282 Glossarial index 297 CONTENTS CROSS-REFERENCED INTRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT 1 Sounds 2 Words 3 Meanings 4 Grammar 5 Discourse 6 Acquisition 7 Processing 8 History 9 Society References Further reading Glossarial Index Phonetics and phonology 2 Consonants and vowels 58 Morphology and lexicology 6 Lexical semantics 64 Semantics and pragmatics 10 Pragmatic principles 67 Grammatical parts 14 Syntax 73 Text and discourse 19 Conversation 79 Early language acquisition 23 Psycholinguistics 27 Literacy 84 Schemas 88 History of English 30 Standardisation 91 Sociolinguistics 35 Language attitudes 95 Topic 10 Globalisation World Englishes 39 Codification 99 11 Stylistics Stylistics 43 Stylistic analysis 103 12 Methods Methodological paradigms 48 Techniques and ethics 107 13 Theory Language theories 52 Language and thought 111 Performing accents 118 Glottalisation in Cardiff (Collins/Mees) 192 CONTENTS CROSS-REFERENCED EXPLORATION EXTENSION Word plays 125 The search for units of meaning (Sinclair) 200 Doing politeness 129 The speech acts of the in-group (Cutting) 206 Syntactic effects 135 Prefabricated expressions in spoken language (Cheshire) 214 Texts in action 139 Advertising discourse (Cook) 220 Learning to read 144 Socialisation and grammatical development (Ochs/Schieffelin) 226 Exploring the mind 150 Corrections 155 Identify yourself 161 Promoting perception (Field) 232 Lexical change (Smith) 239 Social relationships and social practices (Milroy/Gordon) 245 Influencing language 165 The development of World Englishes (Kirkpatrick) 251 Exploring literature 171 Transitivity as point of view (Simpson) 257 Collecting data 178 Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research (Dörnyei) 265 1 Sounds 2 Words 3 Meanings 4 Grammar 5 Discourse 6 Acquisition 7 Processing 8 History 9 Society References Further reading Glossarial Index 10 Globalisation 11 Stylistics 12 Methods 13 Theory Theory into practice 186 Researching ‘real’ language (Carter/Sealey) 271 Topic . (Simpson) 25 7 12 Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research (Dörnyei) 26 5 13 Researching ‘real’ language (Carter and Sealey) 27 1 Further reading 27 8 References 28 2 Glossarial index 29 7 CONTENTS. Schieffelin) 22 6 7 Promoting perception (Field) 23 2 8 Lexical change (Smith) 23 9 9 Social relationships and social practices (Milroy and Gordon) 24 5 10 The development of World Englishes (Kirkpatrick) 25 1 11. Grammatical parts 14 5 Text and discourse 19 6 Early language acquisition 23 7 Psycholinguistics 27 8 History of English 30 9 Sociolinguistics 35 10 World Englishes 39 11 Stylistics 43 12 Methodological