[]() Further reading

These are mostly books which were published relatively recently, many of them in the last decade. Of course, numerous excellent books were published earlier. But it is possibly more useful to start with the present day, and work backwards. Anyone who starts at the beginning might never get to the end! These suggestions begin with general books, then move on to more specialized topics, mostly in the order in which they are dealt with in this book.

[]() Other introductions

[]()Aitchison, Jean, The language web: The power and problem of words (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). A readable introduction to language, based on radio talks (the BBC Reith lectures 1996).

[]()Akmajian, Adrian, Demers, R.A., Farmer, A.K. and Harnish, R.M., Linguistics: an introduction to language and communication, 5th edition (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001). A wide-ranging but fairly easy-to-read introduction.

[]()Bauer, Laurie and Trudgill, P. (eds.), Language myths (London: Penguin, 1998). A readable small book which debunks common false beliefs about language.

[]()Blake, Barry, All about language (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). A clear exposition of how language works.

[]()Crystal, David, How language works (London: Penguin, 2006). A whistle-stop survey.

[]()Fromkin, Victoria, Rodman, R. and Hyams, N., An introduction to language, 8th edition (New York: Thomson and Heinle, 2006). A readable general introduction, helped along by cartoons and quotations.

[]()Hudson, Grover, Essential introductory linguistics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000). A clear and straightforward guide.

[]()[]()McWhorter, John, Word on the street: Debunking the myth of a ‘pure’ standard English (Cambridge, MA: Perseus, 2000). Clear-headed information about the validity and value of non-standard varieties of English.

[]()O’Grady, William, Dobrovolsky, M. and Katamba, F., Contemporary linguistics: An introduction (London: Addison Wesley Longman, 1997). A clear introduction, with a good chapter on syntax.

[]()Pinker, Steven, The language instinct: The new science of language and mind (London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 1994). A wide-ranging overview within a biological framework.

[]()Radford, Andrew, Atkinson, M., Britain, D., Clahsen, H. and Spencer A., Linguistics: An introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). A straightforward, no-nonsense textbook.

[]()Wardaugh, Ronald, Understanding English grammar: A linguistic approach, 2nd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003). A clear and accessible account.

[]()Weisler, Steven and Milekic, S., Theory of language (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000). Clearly written, but dives fast into some quite complex issues.

[]()Yule, George, The study of language, 4th edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010). A broad-ranging outline survey.

[]() Books of readings, dictionaries and encyclopaedias

[]()Clark, Virginia, P., Eschholz, P.A. and Rosa, A.F. (eds.), Language: introductory readings, 7th edition (New York: Bedford St. Martin’s Press, 2007). A range of readable readings on different topics within linguistics.

[]()Crystal, David, A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics, 6th edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008). Useful guide to terminology.

[]()Crystal, David, The Cambridge encyclopaedia of language, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003). Intended for a general market, but informative and easy to read.

[]()[]()Fromkin, Victoria (ed.), Linguistics: An introduction to linguistic theory, 2nd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000). A ‘gang of 12’ from Los Angeles updated this clear textbook after Fromkin’s death.

[]()Heine, Bernd and Narrog, H., The Oxford handbook of linguistic analysis (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). A chunky volume containing over 30 different articles.

[]()Malmkjaer, Kirsten (ed.), The linguistics encyclopaedia, 2nd edition (London: Routledge, 2002). Over 70 substantial entries, covering most of linguistics, with suggestions for further reading.

[]()Matthews, Peter, The concise Oxford dictionary of linguistics, 2nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). A reliable guide.

[]()Trask, Larry, Key concepts in language and linguistics (London: Routledge, 1999). A range of linguistic terms explained, with suggestions for further reading. Beginning to seem dated, owing to Trask’s unexpected death.

[]() Language origin

[]()Aitchison, Jean, The seeds of speech: Language origin and evolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996; CUP Canto Edition, 2000). Outlines the birth and expansion of language.

[]()Anderson, Stephen R., Doctor Doolittle’s delusion: Animals and the uniqueness of human language (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004). Explores and explains the differences between human and animal communication.

[]()Hurford, James, The origins of meaning: Language in the light of evolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). Discusses the connection between animal and human cognition, and how meaning emerged.

[]()Jackendoff, Ray, Foundations of language: Brain, meaning, grammar, evolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). A marvellous book, which tries to bring together linguistics, evolution and psychology.

[]()[]()MacNeilage, Peter F., The origin of speech (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). An account of the origin of speech which emphasizes the role of the syllable.

[]() History of linguistics

[]()Matthews, Peter, Grammatical theory in the United States from Bloomfield to Chomsky (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). A useful book for understanding the concerns of twentieth-century linguistics.

[]()Robins, Robert H., A short history of linguistics, 4th edition (London: Longman, 1997). A survey of linguistic ideas from ancient Greece to the twentieth century.

[]() Phonetics and phonology

[]()Clark, John, Yallop, C. and Fletcher, J., An introduction to phonetics and phonology, 3rd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007). A thorough account, better on phonetics than phonology.

[]()Collins, Beverley S. and Mees, I., Practical phonetics and phonology: A resource book for students (London: Routledge, 2003). A useful guide.

[]()Cruttenden, Alan, Gimson’s pronunciation of English, 6th edition (London: Arnold, 1994). The standard guide to the sounds of British English.

[]()Goldsmith, J. (ed.), The handbook of phonological theory (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995). A fat tome, with essays by over 30 well-known phonologists on current issues.

[]()Hardcastle, W\.J. and Laver, J. (eds.), The handbook of phonetic sciences (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996). A large, wide-ranging tome. International Phonetics Association, Handbook of the International Phonetics Association (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). A phonetic description of the IPA, with illustrations from 29 different languages.

[]()[]()Ladefoged, P., A course in phonetics, 5th edition (Boston: Thomson Heinle, 2005). A broad general introduction, covering sounds from a wide variety of languages.

[]()Ladefoged, P. and Maddieson, I., The sounds of the world’s languages (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996). A survey of the sounds made by the languages of the world.

[]()Pullum, Geoffrey and Ladusaw, W. A., Phonetic symbol guide, 2nd edition (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1996). A comprehensive survey of the phonetic symbols used in linguistics texts.

[]()Reetz, Henning and Jongman, A., Phonetics: transcription, production, acoustics, and perception (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008). A clear and detailed guide to the study of speech and sound.

[]()Roach, Peter, English phonetics and phonology: A practical course, 3rd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). A clear account.

[]()Roca, I. and Johnson, W., A course in phonology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999). A clearly laid-out course, which moves from the basic sounds, to stress and syllables, on to more advanced ideas.

[]()Wells, J.C., Accents of English, vols. 1–3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, revised edn. 2008). A survey of the various types of English accent found both in England and around the world.

[]() Morphology

[]()Bauer, Laurie, A glossary of morphology (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004). A clear alphabetic guide.

[]()Spencer, Andrew and Zwicky, A.M. (eds.), The handbook of morphology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997). A fat tome with articles covering both traditional topics and newer areas.

[]() Words and word formation

[]()Adams, Valerie, Complex words in English (London: Pearson Education, 2001). A succinct account of English word formation.

[]()[]()Aitchison, Jean, Words in the mind: An introduction to the mental lexicon, 3rd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003). A user-friendly account of how people learn, store and retrieve words.

[]()Aitchison, Jean, A glossary of language and mind (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003). An alphabetic guide to basic terms in language and mind.

[]()Atkins, B.T. Sue and Rundell, M., The Oxford guide to practical lexicography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). How to write dictionaries.

[]()Ayto, John, Bloomsbury dictionary of word origins (London: Bloomsbury, 1990)

[]()Ayto, John, Encyclopaedia of surnames (London: A & C Black, 2007). Over 7,000 surnames with information about where they come from and what they mean.

[]()Ayto, John, From the horse’s mouth: Oxford dictionary of English idioms, 3rd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). Over 6,000 idioms in alphabetical order, each clearly explained.

[]()Ayto, John, Movers and shakers: A chronology of words that shaped our age (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). A slimmed-down version of Ayto (1999), pointing out important trends.

[]()Ayto, John, Oxford school dictionary of word origins (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). A slimmed-down and updated version of Ayto (1990).

[]()Ayto, John, The Oxford dictionary of rhyming slang (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). Old well-known rhymes, plus some surprising new ones, arranged under topics.

[]()Ayto, John, Twentieth century words (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). A decade-by-decade account of new words that entered English in the twentieth century.

[]()Ayto, John, Wobbly bits and other euphemisms (London: A & C Black, 2007). Over 3,000 euphemisms arranged under topics, such as crime, sex, warfare.

[]()Ayto, John and Simpson, John, Stone the crows: Oxford dictionary of modern slang, 2nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). An alphabetical list of slang terms from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

[]()[]()Crystal, David, txting: the gr8 db8 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). A clear-headed survey of the controversies surrounding text messaging.

[]()Ljung, Magnus, Making words in English (Stockholm: Studentlitteratur, 2003). A concise account of English word formation.

[]()Hitchings, Henry, The secret life of words: How English became English (London: John Murray, 2008). A whizz round the multiple, cosmopolitan sources of English words.

[]()Plag, Ingo, Word formation in English (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003). A clear and orderly textbook.

[]()Stockwell, Robert and Minkova, D., English words history and structure (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). An informative survey of English learned vocabulary.

[]()Taylor, John R., Linguistic categorization, 3rd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). Words, and how they are categorized.

[]()Wray, Alison, Formulaic language and the lexicon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). Explores the role of formulae (fixed or semi-fixed chunks) in language.

[]() Attitudes to language, including views on standard language

[]()Bailey, Richard W., Images of English: A cultural history of the language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). A history of ideas about the English language.

[]()Bex, T. and Watts, R.J. (eds.), Standard English: The widening debate (London: Routledge, 1999). Explores the standard language question from a variety of angles.

[]()Cameron, D., Verbal hygiene (London: Routledge, 1995). Popular attitudes towards language, especially the notion that it should be ‘cleaned up’.

[]()Crystal, David, The fight for English: How language pundits ate, shot and left (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). Discusses points about language which cause anxiety, such as apostrophes and borrowings.

[]()[]()Machan, Tim W., Language anxiety: Conflict and change in the history of English (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). An account of anxiety about English, covering both time and space.

[]()Milroy, J. and Milroy, L., Authority in language: Investigating language prescription and standardization, 2nd edition (London: Routledge, 1991). An overview of the ‘complaints tradition’.

[]()Mugglestone, L., Talking proper: The rise of accent as a social symbol (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995). A reliable and readable survey.

[]() Syntax (including English syntax, and Chomsky’s approach)

[]()Börjars, Kersti and Burridge, K., Introducing English grammar (London: Arnold, 2001). An introduction with clear explanations and amusing examples.

[]()Borsley, Robert D., Syntactic theory: A unified approach, 2nd edition (London: Edward Arnold, 1999). Shows how different schools of thought within linguistics have handled important areas of syntax.

[]()Chomsky, Noam, edited by Belletti A. and Rizzi, L., On nature and language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). Chomsky’s own views, including an outline of the Minimalist Program.

[]()Cook, Vivian J. and Newson, M., Chomsky’s universal grammar: An introduction, 2nd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996). An outline account of Chomsky’s work in the 1980s and 1990s.

[]()Maher, John and Groves, J., Chomsky for beginners (Cambridge: Icon Books, 1996). Easy reading, with lots of pictures.

[]()Culicover, Peter W. and Jackendoff, R., Simpler syntax (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Argues that syntax has become too convoluted, and proposes a more straightforward approach.

[]()[]()Lobeck, Anne, Discovering grammar: An introduction to English sentence structure (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). A clear, no-nonsense introduction, with good diagrams of sentence structure.

[]()Palmer, Frank, Grammatical roles and relations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994). An outline account of roles such as agent, patient, and relations such as subject, object.

[]()Quirk, Randolph, Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. and Svartvik, J., A comprehensive grammar of the English language (London: Longman, 1985). A mammoth reference book, usable without any knowledge of linguistics.

[]()Radford, A., Syntax: A minimalist introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). An abridged version of a longer, simultaneously published book by the same author on Chomsky’s Minimalist Program.

[]() Meaning: semantics

[]()Frawley, W., Linguistic semantics (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1992). Tries to relate semantics to the ‘real world’.

[]()Goddard, C., Semantic analysis: A practical introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). A wide-ranging introduction which includes cultural issues.

[]()Hurford, James R., Heasley B. and Smith, M.B., Semantics: A coursebook, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007). The basics of semantics introduced in a clear and coherent way.

[]()Saeed, John I., Semantics, 3rd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008). A down-to-earth textbook covering the main areas of semantics.

[]()Taylor, John R., Linguistic categorization, 3rd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). A clear account of prototype theory and polysemy.

[]()Ungerer, Friedrich and Schmid, H.-J., An introduction to cognitive linguistics: Learning about language (London: Pearson Longman, 2006). A book which bridges the gap between semantics and psycholinguistics.

[]() []() Language use: pragmatics, including conversational analysis

[]()Davis, Steven (ed.), Pragmatics: A reader (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991). A useful collection of readings, including some ‘classics’.

[]()Grundy, Peter, Doing pragmatics, 3rd edition (London: Hodder Arnold, 2008). A user-friendly overview.

[]()Horn, Laurence R. and Ward, G. (eds.), The handbook of pragmatics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004). A huge volume with a broad range of articles.

[]()Schiffrin, Deborah, Approaches to discourse (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993). Explains and compares different approaches to analysing discourse.

[]()Schiffrin, Deborah, Tannen, D. and Hamilton, H.E., The handbook of discourse analysis (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001). A wide-ranging tome with more than 40 papers.

[]()Tannen, Deborah, You’re wearing that? Understanding mothers and daughters in conversation (New York: Ballantine, 2006). A popularizing book, useful as an introduction to conversational analysis.

[]() Language and society: sociolinguistics

[]()Cameron, Deborah, The myth of Mars and Venus: Do men and women really speak different languages? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). A sane and readable view of a controversial topic.

[]()[]()Chambers, J. K. (Jack), Sociolinguistic theory (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995). A broad-ranging survey of language variation, including its biological significance.

[]()Chambers, J. K., Trudgill, P. and Schilling-Estes, N., The handbook of language variation and change (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002). A fat volume, with 29 papers on various aspects of variation.

[]()Cheshire, Jennifer and Trudgill, P. (eds.), The sociolinguistics reader, vol. 2: Gender and discourse (London: Arnold, 1998). A useful collection of papers; see also Trudgill and Cheshire (vol.1).

[]()Coates, Jennifer, Women, men and language, 3rd edition (London: Longman, 2003). A clear account of research on language and gender.

[]()Downes, William, Language and society, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). An overview which links sociolinguistics and pragmatics.

[]()Eckert, Penelope and Rickford, J.R. (eds.), Style and sociolinguistic variation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). A useful collection of papers on style-shifting.

[]()Holmes, Janet, An introduction to sociolinguistics, 3rd edition (London: Longman, 2008). A clear account, divided into multilingualism, user variation, and use variation.

[]()McWhorter, John H., Defining creole (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Definition and useful discussion of creole languages.

[]()Myers-Scotton, Carol, Contact linguistics: Bilingual encounters and grammatical outcomes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). What happens to the languages spoken by bilinguals.

[]()Romaine, Suzanne, Language in society: An introduction to sociolinguistics, 2nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Brief and sensible.

[]()Siegel, Jeff, The emergence of pidgin and creole languages (Oxford:

[]()Oxford University Press, 2008). A coherent, thorough survey.

[]()Smith, Geoff P., Growing up with Tok Pisin: Contact, creolization and change in New Guinea’s national language (London: Battlebridge, 2002). A careful account, with good examples and some statistics.

[]()Trudgill, Peter, Sociolinguistics, 4th edition (London: Penguin, 2000). Clear and brief account of language variation.

[]()Trudgill, P. and Cheshire, J., The sociolinguistics reader, vol. 1: Multilingualism and variation (London: Arnold, 1998). A useful collection of readings; see also Cheshire and Trudgill (vol. 2).

[]()Wardhaugh, R., An introduction to sociolinguistics, 3rd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005). A wide-ranging outline survey.

[]() []() Language and mind: psycholinguistics

[]()Aitchison, Jean, The articulate mammal: An introduction to psycholinguistics, 4th edition (London: Routledge, 2008). A readable introduction to the acquisition, comprehension and production of speech.

[]()Berko-Gleason, Jean (ed.), The development of language, 8th edition (New York: Allyn & Bacon, 2008). A useful survey anthology, fairly easy to read.

[]()Berko-Gleason, J. and Ratner, N.B. (eds.), Psycholinguistics, 2nd edition (New York: Harcourt-Brace, 1998). Another useful survey anthology.

[]()Beaumont, J. Graham, Introduction to neuropsychology, 2nd Edition (London: Guildford Press, 2008). A clear introduction.

[]()Chiat, S., Understanding children with language problems (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). A survey of things that can go wrong with children’s language.

[]()Fletcher, P. and Garman, M. (eds.), The handbook of child language (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994). Essays written by 25 specialists on various issues.

[]()Gaskell, Gareth M., The Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). Forty-nine articles on just about every psycholinguistic topic.

[]()Ingram, John C., Neurolinguistics: An introduction to spoken language processing and its disorders (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007). The title says it all.

[]()Lust, Barbara and Foley, C. (eds.), First language acquisition: The essential readings (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004). A treasure-trove of 30 articles, which include just about all the ‘classics’ available.

[]()Obler, L.K. and Gjerlow, K., Language and the brain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). A concise and accessible book on []()language in the brain both in normal people and brain-damaged patients.

[]()O’Grady, William, How children learn language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). A clear and useful brief account.

[]()Tomasello, Michael, Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003). A move towards a straightforward approach to acquiring language.

[]() Language and style: stylistics

[]()Bell, Allan, The language of news media (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991). A clear introduction from an ex-journalist who is now an academic.

[]()Conboy, Martin, The language of the news (London: Routledge, 2007). Explores the conventions of newspaper language.

[]()Cook, Guy, The discourse of advertising, 2nd edition (London: Routledge, 2001). The language of contemporary advertising, including its links to literary language.

[]()Fabb, Nigel, Language and literary structure: The linguistic analysis of form in verse and narrative (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). A clear introduction.

[]()Myers, Greg, Ad worlds: Brands, media, audiences (London: Arnold, 1999). An accessible introduction which looks both at the ads, and the audiences they are aiming at.

[]()Short, M., Exploring the language of poems, plays and prose (London: Longman, 1996). As its title suggests, it concentrates on prose, plays and verse.

[]()Toolan, Mick, Language in literature: An introduction to stylistics (London: Arnold, 1998). A range of topics are discussed.

[]()Wales, K., A dictionary of stylistics, 2nd edition (London: Longman, 2001). A useful dictionary of widely-used terms.

[]() Language change: historical linguistics

[]()Aitchison, Jean, Language change: Progress []()or decay?, 3rd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). A readable survey of basic issues in language change, including links with social variation.

[]()Barber, Charles, Beal, J. and Shaw, P. A., The English language: A historical introduction, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009). An easy-to-read survey.

[]()Beekes, Robert S. P., Comparative Indo-European linguistics: An introduction (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995). The title summarizes its content.

[]()Campbell, L., Historical linguistics (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998). A useful overview, with examples from a wide range of languages, including American-Indian ones.

[]()Crowley, T., An introduction to historical linguistics, 3rd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997). Good on linguistic reconstruction, with useful examples from Polynesian languages.

[]()Fox, A., Linguistic reconstruction: An introduction to theory and method Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995). A useful overview of the various methods.

[]() The world’s languages

[]()Croft, William, Typology and universals, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). An overview of typology which stresses the role of functional and historical explanations.

[]()Haspelmath, Martin, Dryer, M., David, G. and Comrie, Bernard, World atlas of language structures \[book and CD] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). A mammoth assembly of information.