Cambridge Approaches to Linguistics Reihe

How and why do languages change? Where does the evidence of language change come from? How do languages begin and end? This introduction to language change explores these and other questions, considering changes through time. The central theme of this book is whether language change is a symptom of progress or decay. This book will show you why it is neither, and that understanding the factors surrounding how language change occurs is essential to understanding why it happens. This updated edition remains non-technical and accessible to readers with no previous knowledge of linguistics.

Demonstrating how children learn to produce and distinguish between sounds, and their acquisition of words and meanings, this book explains their incredible mastery of language. William O'Grady provides readers with an overview not only of the language acquisition process itself, but also of the ingenious experiments and techniques that researchers use to investigate this mysterious phenomenon.

Exploring the origins and evolution of human language, this comprehensive introduction delves into its development over time. It offers insights into linguistic diversity and the factors that have shaped communication among humans. With its accessible approach, the book serves as a valuable resource for readers interested in understanding how language has evolved and its significance in human society.

In addition to surveying the history of the English language from its Indo-European origins to the present day, this introduction introduces the main theoretical and technical concepts of historical linguistics.

An investigation into the way people use language in speech and writing, this volume introduces the corpus-based approach, which is based on analysis of large databases of real language examples stored on computer.