A large number of terms to do with language crop up in day-to-day speech - but what do they all actually mean? The aim of this book is to provide a guide to linguistic concepts and names. Terms are drawn from the various applied areas of language study, such as language teaching, speech pathology, stylistics, typography and lexicography, as well as from grammar, figures of speech and basic phonetics. With nearly 3000 main entries, this dictionary aims to answer all the questions people are likely to ask about language and its meaning. A selection of cartoons and illustrations reinforces the author's conviction that language study can be fun.
David Crystal is honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. He has written or edited over 100 books and published numerous articles for scholarly, professional, and general readerships, in fields ranging from forensic linguistics and ELT to the liturgy and Shakespeare. His many books include Words, Words, Words (OUP 2006) and The Fight for English (OUP 2006).
