Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics

Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics is designed as a comprehensive introductory text for first and second-year university students of language and linguistics. It provides a chapter on each of the more established areas in linguistics such as lexicology, morphology, syntax, phonetics and phonology, historical linguistics, and language typology and on some of the newer areas such as cross-cultural semantics, pragmatics, text linguistics and contrastive linguistics. In each of these areas language is explored as part of a cognitive system comprising perception, emotion, categorisation, abstraction processes, and reasoning. All these cognitive abilities may interact with language and be influenced by language. Thus the study of language in a sense becomes the study of the way we express and exchange ideas and thoughts. Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics is clearly presented and organized after having been tested in several courses in various countries. It contains contributions from 15 specialists from 9 countries. Some key features of the text are: overviews and summaries for each chapter; a great many illustrations, examples, figures and tables; defined technical terms printed in bold; full index; annotated further reading lists for each chapter; exercises at the end of each chapter; detailed solutions to exercises can be found here.

(This publication is sponsored by the European Socrates Bureau. Adapted editions for Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian and Spanish are in preparation.)