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The aim of this series is to provide discussions of the main topics in general or theoretical linguistics through books of moderate size covering single topics. The level of treatment is uniform, and suitable for undergraduate students taking linguistics as part of an introductory course and the editors will oversee the entire series to ensure that the treatments are integrated and the overlap between works is minimal. It will be possible for a complete course to be developed around the texts and it is likely that universities will do so.Topics singled out for treatment are morphology, syntax, phonetics, phonology, sociolinguistics, language acquisition and semantics as well as aspects of historical linguistics.

  • General Editors: Umberto Ansaldo, Peter Austin, Bernard Comrie, Roger Lass, David Lightfoot, Keren Rice, Ian Roberts, Suzanne Romaine, Michelle Sheehan, Ianthi Tsimpli

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79 results in Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics

Page 1 of 4

Continuing Syntax
  • Hierarchy and Locality
  • Ian Roberts
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    April 2025
    Print publication:
    30 April 2025
  • A logical and clear exposition of hierarchy and locality by a leading figure in the field, Continuing Syntax takes students from an introductory level of syntactic theory to an understanding of cutting-edge research in the field. A comprehensive range of topics is covered, including configurationality, head-movement, clause structure, nominal structure, subjacency, barriers and phases, ensuring that students have a thorough understanding of all the main components of contemporary theory. The many example sentences, extensive glossary, end-of-chapter exercises and annotated further reading lists allow readers to embed and extend their knowledge as they progress through the book. A self-contained work ideal for intermediate-level students, this volume also builds on the author's Beginning Syntax, and lays the foundation for a third volume, Comparing Syntax, which introduces formal syntactic typology.

Stylistics
  • 2nd edition
  • Lesley Jeffries, Dan McIntyre
  • Published online:
    18 February 2025
    Print publication:
    09 January 2025
  • Stylistics is the linguistic study of style in language. Now in its second edition, this book is an introduction to stylistics that locates it firmly within the traditions of linguistics. Organised to reflect the historical development of stylistics, it covers key principles such as foregrounding theory, as well as recent advances in cognitive and corpus stylistics. This edition has been fully revised to cover all the major developments in the field since the first edition, including extensive coverage of corpus stylistics, new sections on a range of topics, additional exercises and commentaries, updated further reading lists, and an entirely re-written final chapter on the disciplinary status of stylistics and its relationship to linguistics, plus a manifesto for the future of the field. Comprehensive in its coverage and assuming no prior knowledge of the subject, it is essential reading for students and researchers new to this fascinating area of language study.

Construction Grammar
  • Thomas Hoffmann
  • Published online:
    20 September 2023
    Print publication:
    28 July 2022
  • What do speakers of a language have to know, and what can they 'figure out' on the basis of that knowledge, in order for them to use their language successfully? This is the question at the heart of Construction Grammar, an approach to the study of language that views all dimensions of language as equal contributors to shaping linguistic expressions. The trademark characteristic of Construction Grammar is the insight that language is a repertoire of more or less complex patterns – constructions – that integrate form and meaning. This textbook shows how a Construction Grammar approach can be used to analyse the English language, offering explanations for language acquisition, variation and change. It covers all levels of syntactic description, from word-formation and inflectional morphology to phrasal and clausal phenomena and information-structure constructions. Each chapter includes exercises and further readings, making it an accessible introduction for undergraduate students of linguistics and English language.

Beginning Syntax
  • An Introduction to Syntactic Analysis
  • Ian Roberts
  • Published online:
    23 March 2023
    Print publication:
    20 April 2023
  • A coherent introduction to generative syntax by a leader in the field, this textbook leads students through the theory from the very beginning, assuming no prior knowledge. Introducing the central concepts in a systematic and engaging way, it covers the goals of generative grammar, tacit native-speaker knowledge, categories and constituents, phrase structure, movement, binding, syntax beyond English, and the architecture of grammar. The theory is built slowly, showing in a step-by-step fashion how different versions of generative theory relate to one-another. Examples are carefully chosen to be easily understood, and a comprehensive glossary provides clear definitions of all the key terms introduced. With end of chapter exercises, broader discussion questions, and annotated further reading lists, 'Beginning Syntax' is the ideal resource for instructors and beginning undergraduate students of syntax alike. Two further textbooks by Ian Roberts, 'Continuing Syntax' and 'Comparing Syntax', will take students to intermediate and advanced level.

Morphosyntax
  • Constructions of the World's Languages
  • William Croft
  • Published online:
    04 August 2022
    Print publication:
    04 August 2022
  • Bringing together the results of sixty years of research in typology and universals, this textbook presents a comprehensive survey of Morphosyntax - the combined study of syntax and morphology. Languages employ extremely diverse morphosyntactic strategies for expressing functions, and Croft provides a comprehensive functional framework to account for the full range of these constructions in the world's languages. The book explains analytical concepts that serve as a basis for cross-linguistic comparison, and provides a rich source of descriptive data that can be analysed within a range of theories. The functional framework is useful to linguists documenting endangered languages, and those writing reference grammars and other descriptive materials. Each technical term is comprehensively explained, and cross-referenced to related terms, at the end of each chapter and in an online glossary. This is an essential resource on Morphosyntax for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and linguistic fieldworkers.

Language Contact
  • 2nd edition
  • Yaron Matras
  • Published online:
    18 September 2020
    Print publication:
    10 September 2020
  • Language contact occurs when speakers of different languages interact and their languages influence one another. Drawing on the author's own first-hand observations of child and adult bilingualism, this book combines his original research with an up-to-date introduction to key concepts, to provide a holistic, original theory of contact linguistics. Going beyond a descriptive outline of contact phenomena, it introduces a theory of contact-induced language change, linking structural change to motivations in discourse and language processing. Since the first edition was published, the field has rapidly grown, and this fully revised edition covers all of the most recent developments, making it an invaluable resource for researchers and advanced students in linguistics.

Register, Genre, and Style
  • 2nd edition
  • Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad
  • Published online:
    08 May 2019
    Print publication:
    16 May 2019
  • A fully updated and expanded second edition of this flagship work, which introduces methodological techniques to carry out analyses of text varieties, and provides descriptions of the most important text varieties in English. Part I introduces an analytical framework for studying registers, genre conventions, and styles, while Part II provides more detailed corpus-based descriptions of text varieties in English, including spoken interpersonal varieties, general and professional written varieties and emerging electronic varieties. Part III introduces more advanced analytical approaches and deals with larger theoretical concerns, such as the relationship between register studies and other sub-disciplines of linguistics, and practical applications of register analysis. A new chapter on EAP and ESP has been added, with new sections on the important differences between academic writing in the humanities and sciences, and a case study on engineering reports as an ESP register and genre. Coverage of new electronic registers has been updated, and a new analysis of hybrid registers has been added.

Word-Formation in English
  • 2nd edition
  • Ingo Plag
  • Published online:
    30 April 2019
    Print publication:
    12 July 2018
  • This book is the second edition of a highly successful introduction to the study of word-formation, that is, the ways in which new words are built on the bases of other words (e.g. happy - happy-ness), focusing on English. The book's didactic aim is to enable students with little or no prior linguistic knowledge to do their own practical analyses of complex words. Readers are familiarized with the necessary methodological tools to obtain and analyze relevant data and are shown how to relate their findings to theoretical problems and debates. The second edition incorporates new developments in morphology at both the methodological and the theoretical level. It introduces the use of new corpora and data bases, acquaints the reader with state-of-the-art computational algorithms modeling morphology, and brings in current debates and theories.

The Lexicon
  • James Pustejovsky, Olga Batiukova
  • Published online:
    19 March 2019
    Print publication:
    17 January 2019
  • What is the lexicon, what does it contain, and how is it structured? What principles determine the functioning of the lexicon as a component of natural language grammar? What role does lexical information play in linguistic theory? This accessible introduction aims to answer these questions, and explores the relation of the lexicon to grammar as a whole. It includes a critical overview of major theoretical frameworks, and puts forward a unified treatment of lexical structure and design. The text can be used for introductory and advanced courses, and for courses that touch upon different aspects of the lexicon, such as lexical semantics, lexicography, syntax, general linguistics, computational lexicology and ontology design. The book provides students with a set of tools which will enable them to work with lexical data for all kinds of purposes, including an abundance of exercises and in-class activities designed to ensure that students are actively engaged with the content and effectively acquire the necessary knowledge and skills they need.

Grammatical Voice
  • Fernando Zúñiga, Seppo Kittilä
  • Published online:
    22 February 2019
    Print publication:
    14 March 2019
  • The grammatical category of voice covers a wide range of phenomena, including causatives, applicatives, passives, antipassives, middles, and others. Drawing on data from over 200 languages, Fernando Zúñiga and Seppo Kittilä illustrate the semantic, morphological, and syntactic variation of voice across languages from a range of families and regions. They approach the topic from a broad and explicit perspective, and discuss a variety of topics that are not always regarded as voice, in order to make a clear and useful conceptual delimitation. Clearly organized and accessibly written, the book will be welcomed by students and scholars of linguistics, especially those interested in how grammatical categories work.

Philosophy of Language
  • Zoltán Gendler Szabó, Richmond H. Thomason
  • Published online:
    26 October 2018
    Print publication:
    01 November 2018
  • This unique textbook introduces linguists to key issues in the philosophy of language. Accessible to students who have taken only a single course in linguistics, yet sophisticated enough to be used at the graduate level, the book provides an overview of the central issues in philosophy of language, a key topic in educating the next generation of researchers in semantics and pragmatics. Thoroughly grounded in contemporary linguistic theory, the book focus on the core foundational and philosophical issues in semantics and pragmatics, richly illustrated with historical case studies to show how linguistic questions are related to philosophical problems in areas such as metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Students are introduced in Part I to the issues at the core of semantics, including compositionality, reference and intentionality. Part II looks at pragmatics: context, conversational update, implicature and speech acts; whilst Part III discusses foundational questions about meaning. The book will encourage future collaboration and development between philosophy of language and linguistics.

Pragmatics
  • Stephen C. Levinson
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    09 June 1983
  • Those aspects of language use that are crucial to an understanding of language as a system, and especially to an understanding of meaning, are the acknowledged concern of linguistic pragmatics. This textbook provides a lucid and integrative analysis of the central topics in pragmatics - deixis, implicature, presupposition, speech acts, and conversational structure. A central concern of the book is the relation between pragmatics and semantics, and Dr Levinson shows clearly how a pragmatic approach can resolve some of the problems semantics have been confronting and simplifying semantic analyses. The exposition is always clear and supported by helpful exemplification. The detailed analyses of selected topics give the student a clear view of the empirical rigour demanded by the study of linguistic pragmatics, but Dr Levinson never loses sight of the rich diversity of the subject. An introduction and conclusion relate pragmatics to other fields in linguistics and other disciplines concerned with language usage - psychology, philosophy, anthropology and literature.

Analyzing Sound Patterns
  • An Introduction to Phonology
  • Long Peng
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    08 August 2013
  • Analyzing Sound Patterns is a clear and concise introduction to phonological phenomena, covering a wide range of issues from segmental to suprasegmental problems and prosodic morphology. Assuming no prior knowledge of problem solving, this textbook shows students how to analyze phonological problems with a focus on practical tools, methodology and step-by-step instructions. It is aimed at undergraduate and beginning graduate students and places an instructional focus on developing students' analytical abilities. It includes extensive exercises of various types which engage students in reading and evaluating competing analyses, and involves students in a variety of analytical tasks. This textbook:is designed around related phonological problems and demonstrates how they are analyzed step by steppresents and compares competing accounts of identical problems, and discusses and evaluates the arguments that distinguish one analysis from anotherdetails how a broad array of sound patterns are identified and analyzed.

Stylistics
  • Lesley Jeffries, Daniel McIntyre
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2010
  • Stylistics is the linguistic study of style in language. It aims to account for how texts project meaning, how readers construct meaning and why readers respond to texts in the way that they do. This book is an introduction to stylistics that locates it firmly within the traditions of linguistics. Organised to reflect the historical development of stylistics from its origins in Russian formalism, the book covers key principles such as foregrounding theory, as well as more recent developments in cognitive stylistics. It includes an examination of both literary and non-literary texts, and substantial coverage of methodologies for stylistic analysis. Throughout the book, the emphasis is on the practicalities of producing stylistic analyses that are objective, replicable and falsifiable. Comprehensive in its coverage and assuming no prior knowledge of the topic, Stylistics will be essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students new to this fascinating area of language study.

Syntactic Analysis
  • An HPSG-based Approach
  • Robert D. Levine
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    06 February 2017
  • In syntactic analysis, as in linguistics generally, the skills required to first identify, and then make sense of, complex patterns in linguistic data involve a certain specific kind of reasoning, where various alternatives are entertained and modified in light of progressively broader empirical coverage. Rather than focus on transmitting the details of complex theoretical superstructures, this textbook takes a practical, analytical approach, starting from a small set of powerful analytic tools, applied first to simple phenomena and then to the passive, complement and raising/control constructions. The analytic tools are then applied to unbounded dependencies, via detailed argumentation. What emerges is that syntactic structure, and intricate networks of dependencies linking different parts of those structures, are straightforward projections of lexical valence, in tandem with very general rules regulating the sharing of feature values. Featuring integrated exercises and problems throughout each chapter, this book equips students with the analytical tools for recognizing and assessing linguistic patterns.

Analysing English Sentences
  • 2nd edition
  • Andrew Radford
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    04 August 2016
  • Andrew Radford has acquired an unrivalled reputation over the past thirty years for writing syntax textbooks in which difficult concepts are clearly explained without the excessive use of technical jargon. Analysing English Sentences continues in this tradition, offering a well-structured introduction to English syntax and contemporary syntactic theory which is supported throughout with learning aids such as summaries, lists of key hypotheses and principles, extensive references, handy hints and exercises. Instructors will also benefit from the book's free online resources, which include PowerPoint slides of chapter key points and analyses of exercise material, as well as an answer key for all the in-book exercises. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated throughout, including additional exercises and an entirely new chapter on exclamative and relative clauses. Assuming no prior knowledge of grammar, this is an approachable introduction to the subject for undergraduate and graduate students.

Endangered Languages
  • An Introduction
  • Sarah G. Thomason
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    23 April 2015
  • Most of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today will vanish before the end of this century, taking with them cultural traditions from all over the world, as well as linguistic structures that would have improved our understanding of the universality and variability of human language. This book is an accessible introduction to the topic of language endangerment, answering questions such as: what is it? How and why does it happen? Why should we care? The book outlines the various causes of language endangerment, explaining what makes a language 'safe', and highlighting the danger signs that threaten a minority language. Readers will learn about the consequences of losing a language, both for its former speech community and for our understanding of human language. Illustrated with case studies, it describes the various methods of documenting endangered languages, and shows how they can be revitalised.

Conversation Analysis
  • Rebecca Clift
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    08 September 2016
  • We live our lives in conversation, building families, societies and civilisations. In over seven thousand languages across the world, the basic infrastructure by which we communicate remains the same. This is the first ever book-length linguistic introduction to conversation analysis (CA), the field that has done more than any other to illuminate the mechanics of interaction. Starting by locating CA by reference to a number of cognate disciplines investigating language in use, it provides an overview of the origins and methodology of CA. By using conversational data from a range of languages, it examines the basic apparatus of sequence organisation: turn-taking, preference, identity construction and repair. As the basis for these investigations, the book uses the twin analytic resources of action and sequence to throw new light on the origins and nature of language use.

Language Change
  • Joan Bybee
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    28 May 2015
  • How and why do languages change? This new introduction offers a guide to the types of change at all levels of linguistic structure, as well as the mechanisms behind each type. Based on data from a variety of methods and a huge array of language families, it examines general patterns of change, bringing together recent findings on sound change, analogical change, grammaticalization, the creation and change of constructions, as well as lexical change. Emphasizing crosslinguistic patterns and going well beyond traditional methods in historical linguistics, this book sees change as grounded in cognitive processes and usage factors that are rarely mentioned in other textbooks. Complete with questions for discussion, suggested readings and a useful glossary of terms, this book helps students to gain a general understanding of language as an ever-changing system.

Relevance Theory
  • Billy Clark
  • Published online:
    05 June 2013
    Print publication:
    11 July 2013
  • Over the past twenty years, relevance theory has become a key area of study within semantics and pragmatics. In this comprehensive new textbook, Billy Clark introduces the key elements of the theory and how they interconnect. The book is divided into two parts - the first providing an overview of the essential machinery of the theory, and the second exploring how the original theory has been extended, applied and critically discussed. Clark offers a systematic framework for understanding the theory from the basics up, building a complete picture and providing the basis for advanced research across a range of topics. With this book, students will understand the fundamentals of relevance theory, its origins in the work of Grice, the relationship it has to other approaches, and its place within recent developments and debates.

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