English Words: History and Structure
Editorial CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Mainland Spain
- Publisher CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
- ISBN13 9780521709170
- ISBN10 0521709172
- Type Book
- Pages 216
- Published 2009
- Language English
- Bookbinding Rustic
English Words: History and Structure
Editorial CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Mainland Spain
Book Details
- Lecturers can request inspection copies of this title.
- Courses: English Word-Formation, Structure of the English Language, A History of English Words, American English, English Morphology, Morphology and Syntax of English, Morphology, Vocabulary and Vocabulary Teaching, Approaches to Meaning, A History of the English Language English Language, Linguistics departments
This new edition is concerned primarily with the learned vocabulary of English - the words borrowed from the classical languages. It surveys the historical events that define the layers of vocabulary in English, introduces some of the basic principles of linguistic analysis, and is a helpful manual for vocabulary discernment and enrichment. The new edition has been updated with a discussion of the most recent trends of blending and shortening associated with texting and other forms of electronic communication and includes a new classification of the types of allomorphy. It discusses important topics such as segment sonority and the historical shifting of long vowels in English, and includes a new section on Grimm's law, explaining some of the more obscure links between Germanic and Latinate cognates. Exercises accompany each chapter and an online workbook contains readings and exercises to strengthen knowledge acquired in the classroom.
Updated with recent research on topics such as texting and other forms of electronic communication Includes a new classification of the types of allomorphy An online workbook contains extra readings and exercises
Contents1. Lexical heritage; 2. The background of English; 3. The early modern English cultural scene; 4. Smaller than words: morphemes and types of morphemes; 5. Allomorphy, phonetics, and affixation; 6. Replacement rules; 7. Deletion rules and other kinds of allomorphy; 8. Fossilized allomorphy. False cognates and other etymological pitfalls; 9. Semantic relations and semantic change; 10. The pronunciation of classical words in English.
Review'This text is very accessible to all levels of reader. Stockwell and Minkova assume no knowledge of linguistics or linguistic terminology, and they explain all technical concepts and jargon in simple terms. Anyone studying the history of the English language, or any branch of diachronic linguistics, will benefit from it. English Words: History and Structure is suitable both for undergraduates and those with a more casual interest in the subject.' Daniel Austin, Fun-with-words.com