The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

preface by halliday

王宗炎序

preface by chomsky

沈家煊序

导读

preface to the first edition

preface to the second edition

i popular ideas about language

widely held linguistic beliefs and attitudes,

and the basic functions of language.

1 the prescriptive tradition

popular notions of linguistic authority and

correctness; purism and language change;

the role of linguistic description.

2 the equality of languages

myths about primitive languages and

language superiority.

3 the magic of language

linguistic superstitions and verbal taboos;

the mystical power of proper names.

.4 the functions of language

the many cultural, social, and personal

roles which language performs.

5 language and thought

the complex relationship between language

and thinking; the notion of language relativity.

ii language and identity

the many ways in which language expresses

a person's individuality or social identity.

6 physical identity

the relationship between language and age,

sex, physical type, and physical condition;

voiceprints; male vs female speech.

7 psychological identity

the relationship between language and

personality, intelligence, and other

psychological factors.

8 geographical identity

the regional background ora speaker;

accents, dialects, linguistic areas, and the

study of dialectology.

9 ethnic and national identity

language, ethnicity, and nationalism; the

problem of minority languages and dialects.

10 social identity

language and social stratification, class,

status, role, solidarity, and distance; the

problem of sexism.

11 contextual identity

situationally determined varieties of speech

and writing; restricted and secret language;

verbal play and art; word games.

12 stylistic identity and literature

the concept of style; authorship identity

and forensic linguistics; literary language in

poetry, drama, and prose.

iii the structure of language

the dimensions of language analysis that

underlie all forms of language, whether

spoken, written, or signed.

13 linguistic levels

the relationship between the main

components of language analysis; models of

linguistic structure.

14 typology and universals

analysing the structural similarities and

differences among the languages of the

world.

15 the statistical structure of language

the study of the statistical regularities

found in language; the frequency of sounds,

letters, and words.

16 grammar

syntax and morphology; the structure of

words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.

17 semantics

the study of meaning in language; the

semantic analysis of words and sentences.

18 dictionaries

the use and evaluation of dictionaries; the

past, present, and future of lexicography.

19 names

patterns and trends in the use of personal

names; place names and their history.

20 discourse and text

the study of stretches of spoken and written

language above the sentence; the nature of

conversation; analysing textual structure.

21 pragmatics

the factors that govern our choice of

language in social interaction; speech acts

and their analysis.

iv the medium of language:speaking and listening

the study of the auditory-vocal channel of

communication; the production,

transmission, and reception of speech.

22 the anatomy and physiology of

speech

the vocal tract and vocal organs; the nature

of articulation.

23 the acoustics of speech

the nature of sound waves and the way they

transmit speech; the sound spectrograph

and its use in speech sound analysis.

24 the instrumental analysis of speech

some of the techniques used in the analysis

of speech acoustics and physiology.

25 speech reception

the ear, and the process of hearing; speech

perception and its investigation.

26 speech interaction with machines

the principles and practice of automatic

speech recognition and speech synthesis.

27 the sounds of speech

phonetics; the description of vowels and

consonants; kinds of phonetic

transcription.

28 the linguistic use of sound

phonology; phonemes, distinctive features,

and other models; comparing the sound

systems of languages.

29 suprasegmentals

the prosody of speech; the structure of

intonation; tone languages; the relationship

between speech and music.

30 sound symbolism

the relationship between sounds and

meaning; the role of onomatopoeia.

v the medium of language:writing and reading

the study of the development and

functions of written language, in all its

forms.

31 written and spoken language

the relationship between speech and

writing; how sound is portrayed in written

language.

32 graphic expression

the physical substance of written language;

types of graphic expression; handwriting,

print, typing, and electronic forms.

33 graphology

the writing system of a language; the

history of writing; the alphabet; spelling,

punctuation, and other contrasts; systems of

shorthand.

34 the process of reading and writing

psychological accounts of the process of

reading, writing, and spelling; spelling

regularity and spelling reform.

vi the medium of language:signing and seeing

the development and use of deaf sign

languages.

35 sign language

popular fallacies about sign language; the

development and use of signs by the deaf.

36 sign language structure

the way signs are used to convey

grammatical contrasts; american sign

language.

37 types of sign language

the range of contrived sign languages; finger

spelling, cued speech, and other systems.

vii child language acquisition

the study of the way children learn to

understand and speak their mother tongue

—methods, theories, and findings; later

language learning in school.

38 investigating children's language

techniques for finding out about child

language; speech production and

comprehension; theories of language

acquisition.

39 the first year

the development of infant vocalization;

early speech perception and interaction.

40 phonological development

the acquisition of the sound system; the

learning of vowels, consonants, and

intonation.

41 grammatical development

the acquisition of grammar; growth in

sentence length and complexity.

42 semantic development

the acquisition of vocabulary; first words

and their content; distinguishing the

meanings of words.

43 pragmatic development

the acquisition of conversational skills; the

language of twins.

44 language development in school

the study of language in school; later oral

development; learning to read and write.

viii language,brain,and handicap

the neurological basis of language, and the

range of physical or psychological problems

that can give rise to disabilities in spoken,

written, or signed language.

45 language and the brain

brain structure and function; hemispheric

dominance and localization; slips of the

tongue and critical periods.

46 language handicap

incidence, causation, and classification;

deafness, aphasia, dyslexia, dysgraphia;

disorders of voice, articulation, and fluency;

language delay; alternative communication

systems and aids.

ix the languages of the world

the range of languages in past or present

use—numbers, speakers, sources;

identifying and explaining linguistic

change.

47 how many languages?

identifying, counting, and classifying the

languages of the world

48 how many speakers?

determining how many people speak a

language; the world's most widely used

languages and families.

49 the origins of language

myths and experiments about the origins of

language; wolf children; humans and

primates; the evidence of palaeontology.

50 families of languages

discovering the history of languages;

comparative philology; the language

families of the world.

51 the indo-european family

the history of indo-european languages,

where they are spoken, and how they are

classified.

52 other families

the distribution, family grouping, and use

of the world's languages (other than indo-

european).

53 language isolates

languages which cannot be related to any of

the major families.

54 language change

the identification of change in sounds,

grammar, and vocabulary; glottochronology;

explanations for language change.

55 pidgins and creoles

the origins, distribution, and present-day

use of the world's pidgins and creoles.

x language in the world

the problems of communication posed by

the diversity of the world's languages and

varieties, and the search for solutions.

56 the language barrier

the problems caused by foreign languages

in the field of international communication;

language and the business world.

57 translating and interpreting

the principles and practice of translating

and interpreting; the role of machine

translation.

58 artificial languages

the history of artificial languages, and the

present-day position; esperanto, basic

english, and other systems.

59 world languages

the international use of languages; official

languages; world english and its varieties.

60 multilingualism

causes and extent of bilingual attitudes and

practice; language maintenance and shift;

language switching.

61 language planning

government policies about language

selection and use; endangered languages;

bilingual educational programmes.

62 foreign language learning and

teaching

the role and status of foreign languages in

school and society; theories of language

learning, and methods of language teaching;

language materials and laboratories.

63 language for special purposes

the development of special varieties of

language in science, medicine, religion, the

law, the press, advertising, and broadcasting;

the related problems of intelligibility and

change.

xi language and communication

the relationship between language and

other systems of human and non-human

communication, and the scientific study of

language.

64 language and other

communication systems

language defined; chimpanzee communication;

semiotics; communication by non-linguistic

sound, face, gesture, and touch.

65 linguistics

the history of ideas in language study;

domains and personalities in 20th-century

linguistics; linguistic methods; natural

language processing.

appendices

i glossary.

ii special symbols and abbreviations used

in the encyclopedia.

iii table of the world's languages.

iv further reading.

v references.

vi index of languages, families, dialects,

and scripts.

vii index of authors and personalities.

viii index of topics.