Language Change: Progress or Decay? - Couverture souple

Livre 5 sur 7: Cambridge Approaches to Linguistics

Aitchison, Jean

 
9780521795357: Language Change: Progress or Decay?

Synopsis

This is a lucid and up-to-date overview of language change. It discusses where our evidence about language change comes from, how and why changes happen, and how languages begin and end. It considers both changes which occurred long ago, and those currently in progress. It does this within the framework of one central question - is language change a symptom of progress or decay? It concludes that language is neither progressing nor decaying, but that an understanding of the factors surrounding change is essential for anyone concerned about language alteration. For this substantially revised third edition, Jean Aitchison has included two new chapters on change of meaning and grammaticalization. Sections on new methods of reconstruction and ongoing chain shifts in Britain and America have also been added as well as over 150 new references. The work remains non-technical in style and accessible to readers with no previous knowledge of linguistics.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

À propos de l?auteur

Jean Aitchison is the Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communication at the University of Oxford. She is author of The Articulate Mammal (4th edition, 1998), Words in the Mind (2nd edition, 1994), Linguistics (5th edition, 1999), The Seeds of Speech (Cambridge, 1996) and The Language Web (Cambridge, 1997).

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Autres éditions populaires du même titre