A Survey of Modern English

Fully revised and updated, the second edition of this authoritative guide to modern English is a comprehensive, scholarly and systematic review of modern English. In one volume, the book presents a description of both the linguistic structure of present-day English and its geographical, social, gender and ethnic variations. Covering new developments such as the impact of email on language, and corpus-based grammars, the second edition of this accessible text has been extensively re-written and brings the survey of modern English right up to date. Offering new examples and suggestions for further reading, the book is essential reading for all students of English language and linguistics.

List of illustrations

xi

Preface

xiii

Abbreviations

xv

Introduction

xvii

1 The English language: standards and variation

1

(20)

1.1 Standard English

1

(1)

1.2 Language attitudes

2

(2)

1.3 The emergence of Standard English

4

(3)

1.4 Standard and General English

7

(2)

1.5 Sociolinguistic dimensions of English

9

(3)

1.6 Words in use: the register approach

12

(7)

1.7 Further reading

19

(2)

PART 1 English as a linguistic system

21

(122)

2 Vocabulary

23

(25)

2.1 Words and meaning

23

(1)

2.2 Lexical relationships

24

(2)

2.3 Dictionaries

26

(2)

2.4 Growth and structure of the English vocabulary

28

(5)

2.5 New words

33

(2)

2.6 Euphemisms and politically correct language

35

(1)

2.7 Word, formation

35

(7)

2.8 Shifts of meaning

42

(1)

2.9 Meaning change

43

(2)

2.10 The register approach

45

(2)

2.11 Further reading

47

(1)

3 Words in combination

48

(18)

3.1 Fixed expressions as clichés

50

(1)

3.2 Collocations

51

(4)

3.3 Idioms

55

(3)

3.4 Binomials

58

(1)

3.5 Pragmatic idioms

59

(1)

3.6 Proverbs and commonplaces

60

(2)

3.7 Fixed expressions in texts

62

(2)

3.8 Further reading

64

(2)

4 The pronunciation and spelling of English

66

(31)

4.1 The phonology of English

66

(1)

4.2 Segmental sounds

67

(2)

4.3 The consonants

69

(9)

4.4 The vowels

78

(7)

4.5 Suprasegmentals

85

(5)

4.6 The orthography of English

90

(6)

4.7 Further reading

96

(1)

5 Grammar

97

(48)

5.1 Word classes

97

(9)

5.2 Functional phrases

106

(1)

5.3 Functional sentence elements

107

(3)

5.4 The verb phrase (VP)

110

(18)

5.5 The noun phrase (NP)

128

(4)

5.6 Nominalization

132

(1)

5.7 Catenation

133

(4)

5.8 The clause

137

(4)

5.9 Further reading

141

(2)

PART 2 Uses and users of English

143

(82)

6 Written texts and English for specific purposes (ESP)

145

(23)

6.1 Textuality

145

(2)

6.2 Cohesion and coherence

147

(5)

6.3 A typology of texts

152

(5)

6.4 ESP and the register model of language

157

(1)

6.5 Syntactic features of English for science and technology (EST)

158

(3)

6.6 Lexicon and word, formation in EST

161

(3)

6.7 The EST text

164

(2)

6.8 Further reading

166

(2)

7 Spoken discourse

168

(27)

7.1 General considerations

168

(2)

7.2 Meaning

170

(4)

7.3 Conversational interaction

174

(10)

7.4 Turns, schemas and topics

184

(4)

7.5 Discourse markers

188

(5)

7.6 Further reading

193

(2)

8 Modes of address, power, solidarity and politeness

8.1 The linguistic elements of address in English

195

(3)

8.2 Power, solidarity and politeness

198

(2)

8.3 Domains of modes of address

200

(7)

8.4 Situation of use

207

(1)

8.5 Further reading

208

(1)

9 Language and gender

209

(16)

9.1 Reference to males and females

210

(2)

9.2 Language use of males and females

212

(6)

9.3 Communicative strategies

218

(3)

9.4 Language acquisition and development

221

(1)

9.5 Non-verbal behaviour

222

(1)

9.6 Further reading

223

(2)

PART 3 National and regional varieties of English

225

(124)

10 English in the British Isles

227

(23)

10.1 England and Wales

227

(7)

10.2 Scotland

234

(5)

10.3 Ireland

239

(6)

10.4 Urban British English

245

(3)

10.5 Further reading

248

(2)

11 English in America

250

(22)

11.1 The languages of the United States and Canada

250

(1)

11.2 National and regional varieties of AmE

251

(6)

11.3 Social variation in AmE

257

(2)

11.4 Ethnic varieties of AmE

259

(6)

11.5 The languages of the Caribbean

265

(2)

11.6 The linguistic continuum

267

(1)

11.7 Linguistic characteristics of CaribE

268

(2)

11.8 Further reading

270

(2)

12 Standard British and American English in comparison

272

(24)

12.1 Pronunciation

272

(7)

12.2 Spelling and punctuation

279

(4)

12.3 Grammar and morphology

283

(6)

12.4 Lexis

289

(5)

12.5 Further reading

294

(2)

13 English in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

296

(18)

13.1 Australian English (AusE)

296

(7)

13.2 New Zealand English (NZE)

303

(4)

13.3 South African English (SAE)

307

(5)

13.4 Further reading

312

(2)

14 English as a second language (ESL)

314

(35)

14.1 English in Africa

316

(8)

14.2 English in Asia

324

(11)

14.3 Pidgin and Creole English

335

(12)

14.4 Further reading

347

(2)

Bibliography of dictionaries

349

(6)

General bibliography

355

(24)

Index

379

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A Survey of Modern English

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials