Studying the English Language

Routledge English Language Introductions cover core areas of language study and are one-stop resources for students. Assuming no prior knowledge, books in the series offer an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses and commentaries.

Revised throughout, the third edition of Studying the English Language (previously Introducing English Language) covers the key disciplines and concepts of linguistics as well as core areas in language study, including acquisition, standardisation and the globalisation of English. The new edition offers:

- An updated and more accessible structure with separate threads on semantics, pragmatics, text and discourse, and new material on identity

- A new thread on ‘Meanings’, focusing purely on semantics, including both lexical semantics and new material on propositional semantics

- New explanations on relevance theory, text linguistics, corpus linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

- A more international outlook with the inclusion of bilingual views, a discussion of post-colonial power and a revised section on Global Englishes

- Coverage of new developments in areas such as politeness, discourse analysis, text-worlds, cognitive poetics and corpus stylistics

- Updated further reading recommendations, examples and exercises

- A re-imagined D section with a diverse range of resources, including passages of key texts and the authors’ own research, questions, prompts and guidance to engage with the texts, summaries of key works with discussion points and guidance for further research.

Written by two experienced teachers and authors, this accessible introduction to the study of English language is an essential resource for all students of English language and linguistics.