How Language Works"This book is not about music, cookery, or sex. But it is about how we talk about music, cookery, and sex--or, indeed, anything at all." Language is so fundamental to everyday life that we take it for granted. But as linguist Crystal makes clear, language is an extremely powerful tool that defines the human species. Crystal offers general readers a personal tour of the intricate workings of language. He moves effortlessly from big subjects like the origins of languages, how children learn to speak, and how conversation works to subtle but revealing points such as how email differs from both speech and writing in important ways, how language reveals a person's social status, and how we decide whether a word is rude or polite. Broad and deep, but with a light and witty touch, this is a layman's guide to how we communicate with one another.--From publisher description. |
Contents
Introducing language 1 How what works? | 1 |
How to treat body language 5 | 2 |
How we use the edges of language 11 | 2 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
19th century ability alphabet analyse approach articulation auditory behaviour bilingual brain century child communication complex consonants contrast convey cope cultural dialects dictionary dysgraphia dyslexia effect English especially Esperanto everyday example express factors foreign language functions grammar graphemes graphology guage identify important intonation involved kind known larynx learners letters lexemes lexical lingua franca linguistic listening logograms look after languages major meaning medium million morphemes movement names noun organized particular patterns phonetic phonology pidgin possible problem produce pronunciation pulmonic egressive punctuation range reading recognize referred relationship semantic sense sentence sequence sign language social soft palate speak speakers speech perception speech sounds spelling spoken language structure syllables symbols talk teaching tongue translation usually utterances variation variety vary verb vibration vocabulary vocal folds vocal tract vowels Wernicke's area widely words writing systems written language
References to this book
From Isolation to Intimacy: Making Friends Without Words Phoebe Caldwell,Jane Horwood No preview available - 2007 |