The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

This completely revised and expanded edition of Crystal's acclaimed book incorporates developments in the lively field of language study.

David Crystal (Author)

9780521736503, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 June 2010

524 pages, 200 b/w illus. 20 maps 100 tables
27.6 x 21.9 x 3.6 cm, 2.1 kg

'One of the world's foremost linguistic experts, Crystal has authored numerous tomes on the history and study of the English language, though this, with its full-colour illustrations and exhaustive index, is arguably the most comprehensive. A useful guide for anyone - from the interested layperson to the most widely read of academics.' The Independent

This new, thoroughly revised edition of the acclaimed Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language incorporates the major developments in language study which have taken place since the mid 1990s. Two main new areas have been added: the rise of electronic communication in all its current forms from email to texting, and the crisis affecting the world's languages, of which half are thought to be so seriously endangered that they will die out this century. • All language statistics have been updated, and additional information provided about their linguistic affiliation • All topics involving technology have been revised to take account of recent developments, notably in phonetics, language disability, and computing • Maps have been revised to include new countries or country names • Special attention has been paid to fast-moving areas such as language teaching and learning • The text design has been completely updated with many new illustrations throughout

Preface to 1st edition
Preface to 2nd edition
Preface to 3rd edition
Part I. Popular Ideas About Language: 1. The prescriptive tradition
2. The equality of languages
3. The magic of language
4. The functions of language
5. Language and thought
Part II. Language and Identity: 6. Physical identity
7. Psychological identity
8. Geographical identity
9. Ethnic and national identity
10. Social identity
11 Contextual identity
12. Stylistic identity and literature
Part III. The Structure of Language: 13. Linguistic levels
14. Typology and universals
15. The statistical structure of language
16. Grammar
17. Semantics
18. Dictionaries
19. Names
20. Discourse and text
21. Pragmatics
Part IV. The Medium of Language: Speaking and Listening: 22. The anatomy and physiology of speech
23. The acoustics of speech
24. The instrumental analysis of speech
25. Speech reception
26. Speech interaction with machines
27. The sounds of speech
28. The linguistic use of sound
29. Suprasegmentals
30. Sound symbolism
Part V. The Medium of Language: Writing and Reading: 31. Written and spoken language
32. Graphic expression
33. Graphology
34. The process of reading and writing
Part VI. The Medium of Language: Signing and Seeing: 35. Sign language
36. Sign language structure
37. Types of sign language
Part VII. Child Language Acquisition: 38. Investigating children's language
39. The first year
40. Phonological development
41. Grammatical development
42. Semantic development
43. Pragmatic development
44. Language development in school
Part VIII. Language, Brain, and Disability: 45. Language and the brain
46. Language disability
Part IX. The Languages of the World: 47. How many languages?
48. How many speakers?
49. The origins of language
50. Families of language
51. The Indo-European family
52. Other families
53. Language isolates
54. Language change
55. Pidgins and creoles
Part X. Language in the World: 56. The language barrier
57. Translating and interpreting
58. Artificial languages
59. World languages
60. Multilingualism
61. Language planning
62. Foreign language teaching and learning
63. Language for special purposes
Part XI. Language and Communication: 64. Language and other communication systems
65. Linguistics
Appendices: I. Glossary
II. Special symbols and abbreviations
III. Table of the world's languages
IV. Further reading
V. Index of languages, families, dialects, and scripts
VI. Index of authors and personalities
VII. Index of topics
Acknowledgements.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF], Language: reference & general [CB], Language [C]