An A to Z format for quick reference, suggestions based on current language practice, chart of levels of speech and writing geared to context, descriptive and prescriptive entries, guidelines for nonsexist usage.

Assembles the twentieth-century philosopher's ideas and conclusions regarding issues and problems pertaining to word usage.

In the course of the discussion, Professor Quine pinpoints the difficulties involved in translation, brings to light the anomalies and conflicts implicit in our language's referential apparatus, clarifies semantic problems connected with ...

This reference grammar provides, for the first time, a description of the grammar of Mandarin Chinese, the official spoken language of China and Taiwan, in functional terms, focusing on the role and meanings of word-level and sentence-level ...

The book is designed to serve as a text for the increasing number of courses on African-American English and as a convenient reference for students of linguistics, black studies and anthropology at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

This Second Edition of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language has been fully revised for a new generation of language-lovers.

The Generative Lexicon presents a novel and exciting theory of lexical semantics that addresses the problem of the "multiplicity of word meaning"; that is, how we are able to give an infinite number of senses to words with finite means.

This fourth edition has been revised and updated throughout using key concepts and examples to guide the reader through this fascinating area, including: - New sections on: koines and koineisation linguistic landscapes New Englishes ...

Represents the only up-to-date concise history of American literature Covers fiction, poetry, drama and non-fiction, as well as looking at other forms of literature including folktales, spirituals, the detective story, the thriller and ...

How does language work, and how do we learn to speak? Why do languages change over time, and why do they have so many quirks and irregularities? In this book, the profound mysteries of language are explored.