The Study of Language

This revised and updated edition incorporates many changes that reflect developments in language study over the past decade. There is an entirely new chapter on pragmatics. with an expansion of the chapter on semantics. The explosion of interest in many of the ''applied'' areas of language study is also reflected in additional sections on speech recognition systems, sign languages, women''s and men''s language, input in language learning, and several other topics. The study questions and discussion topies following each chapter have also been thoroughly revised. with the addition of forty new tasks for students; and the further reading sections have been revised. updated and expanded. resulting in a comprehensive bibliography of contemporary thinking on language. The new edition also has many more illustrations, examples. and quotes from a wide range of commentators, from Groucho Marx to Gary Larson. and notes on new developments in contemporary English and other languages. The presentation retains the clear and lively style which made the first edition a widely used introduction to the study of language.