The English Language: From Sound to Sense

Grounded in linguistic research and argumentation, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: FROM SOUND TO SENSE offers readers who have little or no analytic understanding of English a thorough treatment of the various components of the language. Its goal is to help readers become independent language analysts capable of critically evaluating claims about the language and the people who use it. Written in a clear style, it guides its readers on topics including basic assumptions about language and discourse, pronunciation, word-formation strategies, parts of speech, clause elements and patterns, how clauses can be combined into sentences, and how clauses and sentences can be modified to suit speakers' and writers' discourse purposes. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE avoids presenting the language as set of arbitrary facts by grounding its conclusions in the analytic methods that have characterized the best grammatical and linguistic practices for hundreds of years. Although its perspectives derive from modern-traditional and generative grammar, its goal is to provide its readers with a broad spectrum of basic knowledge about English. Its stance is rigorously descriptive, but the object of its description is the standard variety of the language, thus making it an invaluable resource compatible with a wide range of purposes, including educated engagement with the language issues that periodically convulse the media and educational institutions. Each chapter contains a glossary of terms, a list of readings, and numerous exercises (many using authentic texts). GERALD P. DELAHUNTY is Associate Professor of Linguistics and English and Assistant Chair of the Colorado State University Department of English, where he teaches courses on all aspects of linguistics and occasional courses on Irish literature. He has published on syntactic theory, English syntax, sociolinguistics, and Irish archaeology. JAMES J. GARVEY taught linguistics and literature courses in the Department of English at Colorado State University. He died tragically in 2006.