David Crystal's A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics has long been the standard single-volume reference for its field. Now available in its sixth edition, it has been revised and updated to reflect the latest terms in the field. Includes in excess of 5,100 terms, grouped into over 3,000 entries Coverage reflects recommendations by a team of experts in phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, making it exceptionally comprehensive Incorporates new ideas stemming from the minimalist program Contains a separate table of abbreviations and table of symbols, along with an updated International Phonetic Alphabet Updates entries to reflect the way established terms are now perceived in light of changes in the field, providing a unique insight into the historical development of linguistics Remains the standard single-volume reference for the field of linguistics and phonetics.

The fully updated new edition of the essential single-volume reference, covering the full fields of linguistics and phonetics Now in its seventh edition, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics remains the definitive resource work for students of linguistics and phonetics. Originally created by David Crystal and revised for the new seventh edition with Alan C. L. Yu, this dictionary features a wealth of new entries by a team of experts in phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics. Throughout the text, most pre-existing entries have been updated to reflect the current body of knowledge in the areas of linguistics and phonetics. Covering more than 5,100 terms, the new seventh edition reflects the latest state of the field and accounts for evolutions in research and theory since the publication of the prior edition. The entries provide clear and authoritative definitions of each term and are supported by additional information such as the historical context in which a term was used or the relationship between a term and others from associated fields. This useful work: Features new and updated entries reflecting the way established terms are now perceived in light of changes in the field Integrates ideas from the minimalist program, situating linguistic theory in the broader cognitive sciences Includes tables of abbreviations, symbols, and the International Phonetic Alphabet Offers unique insights into the historical development of linguistics Identifies major lexical variants as separate headwords, enabling readers to quickly find the location of a term Provides word-class identifiers and usage examples for single-word headwords, especially useful for non-native English speakers A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Seventh Edition is an invaluable reference work for professionals, students, and general readers alike, and remains an essential resource for anyone studying linguistics or phonetics at the university level.

A groundbreaking history of worldwide English in all its dialects, differences, and linguistic delights: “Informative . . . distinctive . . . a spirited celebration.” —The Guardian In this “well-informed and appealing” work (Publishers Weekly), David Crystal puts aside the usual focus on “standard” English, and instead provides a startlingly original view of where the richness, creativity, and diversity of the language truly lies—in the accents and dialects of nonstandard English users all over the world. Whatever their regional, social, or ethnic background, each group has a story worth telling, whether it is in Scotland or Somerset, South Africa or Singapore. He reminds us that for several hundred wonderful years, there was no such thing as “incorrect” English—and traces the evolution of the language from a few thousand Anglo-Saxons to the 1.5 billion people who speak it today. Moving from Beowulf to Chaucer to Shakespeare to Dickens and the present day, Crystal puts regional speech and writing at center stage, giving a sense of the social realities behind the development of English. This significant shift in perspective enables us to understand for the first time the importance of everyday, previously marginalized, voices in our language—and provides an argument too for the way English should be taught in the future. “A work of impeccable scholarship [that] could easily serve as a standard textbook for students of linguistics, but Mr. Crystal, reaching out to a more general audience, recognizes that even the most avid reader might flinch at the sections on Old Norse grammatical influence. Cleverly, he has sprinkled the book with little digressions, set apart in boxes, that address historical mysteries, strange loanwords, interesting etymologies and the like.” —The New York Times “Learned and often provocative . . . demonstrates repeatedly that common conceptions about language are often historically inaccurate—split infinitives bothered no one until recently (likewise sentence-ending prepositions).” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Simply the best introductory history of the English language family that we have. The plan of the book is ingenious, the writing lively, the exposition clear, and the scholarly standard uncompromisingly high.” —J.M. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

The Cambridge Dictionary of Linguistics provides concise and clear definitions of all the terms any undergraduate or graduate student is likely to encounter in the study of linguistics and English language or in other degrees involving linguistics, such as modern languages, media studies and translation. lt covers the key areas of syntax, morphology, phonology, phonetics, semantics and pragmatics but also contains terms from discourse analysis, stylistics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics and corpus linguistics. It provides entries for 246 languages, including 'major' languages and languages regularly mentioned in research papers and textbooks. Features include cross-referencing between entries and extended entries on some terms. Where appropriate, entries contain illustrative examples from English and other languages and many provide etymologies bringing out the metaphors lying behind the technical terms. Also available is an electronic version of the dictionary which includes 'clickable' cross-referencing.

No ordinary dictionary, David Crystal's Dictionary of Language includes not only descriptions of hundreds of languages literally from A to Z (Abkhaz to Zyryan) and definitions of literary and grammatical concepts, but also explanations of terms used in linguistics, language teaching, and speech pathology. If you are wondering how many people speak Macedonian, Malay, or Makua, or if you're curious about various theories of the origins of language, or if you were always unsure of the difference between structuralism, semiotics, and sociolinguistics, this superbly authoritative dictionary will answer all of your questions and hundred of others.

Historical and comparative linguistics has been a major scholarly discipline for 200 years, and yet this is the first dictionary ever devoted to it. With nearly 2400 entries, this dictionary covers every aspect of the subject, from the most venerable work to the exciting advances of the last few years, many of which have not even made it into textbooks yet.All of the traditional terms are here, but so are the terms only introduced recently, in connection with such varied subjects as pidgin and creole languages, the sociolinguistic study of language change, mathematical and computational methods, the novel approaches to linguistic geography, the controversial proposals of new and vast language families, and the attempts at relating the results of the historical linguists to those of the archaeologists, the anthropologists and the geneticists.More than just a dictionary, this book provides genuine linguistic examples of most of the terms entered, detailed explanations of fundamental concepts, critical assessment of controversial ideas, cross-references to related terms, and an abundance of references to the original literature.Features:*The first dictionary in the field.*Comprehensive coverage.*Clearly written and accurate entries.*Covers traditional and contemporary terminology.*Provides linguistic examples of terms defined.*Supplies numerous cross-references to related terms.*Includes hundreds of references to the original literature.