KEY CONCEPTS IN LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS ‘This is brilliant book. It combines the readability of Pinker with the breadth and erudition of Crystal, and deserves a place of honour as a summary of the best of twentieth-century linguistics—liberal, scholarly, forward-looking, undogmatic, sensible, practical and above all wide ranging. Every linguist will be pleased with most of it…and every student will cling to it and love it.’ Richard Hudson, University College London Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics is an A-Z guide to the main terms and concepts used in the study of language and linguistics. The book includes definitions of: • terms used in grammatical analysis from phoneme to componential analysis; • branches of linguistics from semantics to neurolinguistics; • approaches used in studying language from critical discourse analysis to Systemic Linguistics; • linguistic phenomena from code-switching to conversational implicature; • language varieties from pidgin to standard language. Each entry begins with a brief definition of the term followed by a more detailed description. Entries trace the origin of the concept, mention the key associated individuals, provide a guide to further reading and are extensively cross- referenced. R.L.Trask is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex. His numerous publications include The History of Basque (1996), Language: The Basics (1995), A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology (1995) and A Dictionary of Grammatical Terms (1993). KEY CONCEPTS SERIES Other titles available from Routledge Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies (second edition) Tim O’Sullivan, John Hartley, Danny Saunders, Martin Montgomery and John Fiske Key Concepts in Cinema Studies Susan Hayward Key Concepts in Post-Colonial Studies Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and HelenTiffin Key Concepts in Popular Music Roy Shuker KEY CONCEPTS IN LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS R.L.Trask London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1999 R.L.Trask Reprinted 1999 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Trask, R.L. (Robert Lawrence) 1944– Key concepts in language and linguistics / R.L.Trask. p. cm. (Key concepts) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-15741-2 (HB). —ISBN 0-415-15742-0 (PB). 1. Linguistics—Dictionaries. I. Title. II. Series. P29.T687 1998 410′.3–dc21 98–24025 CIP ISBN 0-203-29906-X Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-26534-3 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-15742-0 (Print Edition) (Pbk) ISBN 0-415-15741-2 (Hbk) CONTENTS Preface and acknowledgements vi List of Key Concepts viii KEY CONCEPTS 1 Bibliography 232 Index 243 PREFACE The book in your hand is neither a dictionary nor an encyclopedia, but something in between. As its title suggests, it provides fairly detailed coverage of nearly 300 key concepts in the study of language. The named concepts selected for inclusion are all among the most important in the field, and among those which every beginning student is likely to encounter. The concepts are taken from every area of language study, from traditional grammar to contemporary grammatical theory, from child language to language and brain, from lexicography to the linguistic study of literary texts, from men’s and women’s speech to language and power. Each entry provides a brief definition of the term entered and then goes on to explain the concept in some detail—often with numerous examples— and it also introduces and explains related terms, which are given in bold italics. Wherever possible, the historical origins of the concept are described, including the time of introduction and the names of individuals who have made the concept prominent. When a concept is controversial, the entry says so. Cross-references to other concepts with their own entries are frequent, and are always given in boldface. In most cases, the entry concludes with cross-references to other entries which are related, and with a list of suggested further reading, usually arranged from briefest and most elementary to most advanced and comprehensive. A complete bibliography of the suggested reading is provided after the main part of the book. Where little or no further reading is suggested, this usually means that the concept, though fundamental, is often maddeningly difficult to look up in textbooks, and here I have been at pains to provide the kind of explanation not readily available elsewhere. At the front of the book you will find an alphabetical list of all the concepts with their own entries. At the end, you will find a detailed index; this includes not only the terms entered as headwords but also all other terms introduced within entries. So, if you don’t find the term you’re looking for in the main list, be sure to check the index, which includes hundreds of additional terms. The index also includes references to individuals named in the entries. I hope that this book will prove to be of great utility to students undertaking the study of almost any aspect of language for the first time, either at undergraduate level or at post-graduate level. vii Acknowledgements I am indebted to Kieron Corless for inviting me to write this book, and to Nicola Woods, Lyn Pemberton and Richard Coates for various types of advice and assistance in the writing of it. R.L.Trask Brighton, UK October 1997 KEY CONCEPTS A accent adjective adverb affix agreement airstream mechanism alternation ambiguity analogy anaphor animal communication anthropological linguistics aphasia apparent time applied linguistics arbitrariness argument artificial language aspect autonomy of language ix auxiliary B basic word order behaviourism bilingualism bioprogram hypothesis Black English C caregiver speech case clause code-switching cognitive linguistics cognitive science coherence cohesion colloquial speech communicative competence comparative reconstruction competence complement componential analysis computational linguistics conjunction connotation consonant constituent structure