Brief Contents     Glossary  Inside Front Cover  Dialect Map of American English, Consonant Phonemes of American English, Vowel Phonemes of American English Inside Back Cover Brief Timeline for the History of the English Language Detailed Contents List of Symbols, Linguistic Conventions, and Common Abbreviations  What’s New to This Edition   Preface to Instructors    Letter to Students      Chapter 1     A Language like English  Chapter 2 Language and Authority  Chapter 3 English Phonology  Chapter 4 English Morphology  Chapter 5 English Syntax: The Grammar of Words  Chapter 6 English Syntax: Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences  Chapter 7 Semantics  Chapter 8 Spoken Discourse  Chapter 9 Stylistics  Chapter 10   Language Acquisition  Chapter 11   Language Variation  Chapter 12   American Dialects  Chapter 13   History of English: Old to Early Modern English  Chapter 14   History of English: Modern and Future English  Bibliography  Credits  Index  Detailed Table of Contents    Glossary  Inside Front Cover Consonant Phonemes of English, Vowel Phonemes of English, Phonetic Alphabet for American English Inside Back Cover Brief Timeline for the History of the English Language List of Symbols, Linguistic Conventions, and Common Abbreviations  xviii What’s New to This Edition    Preface to Instructors    Letter to Students     Chapter 1   A Language Like English  The Story of Aks  Language, Language Everywhere  The Power of Language  Name Calling  Judging by Ear  A Question to Discuss: What Makes Us Hear an Accent? The System of Language  Arbitrariness and Systematicity  A Scholar to Know: Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913)  Creativity  Grammar  Linguistics  Human Language versus Animal Communication  Birds and Bees  Chimps and Bonobos  Distinctive Characteristics of Human Language  The Process of Language Change  Language Genealogies  A Question to Discuss: Can Your Language Peeves Be Rethought?  Mechanics of Language Change  Progress or Decay?  Special Focus: Attitudes about Language Change  Summary  Suggested Reading  Exercises    Chapter 2 Language and Authority  Who Is in Control?  Language Academies  Language Mavens  A Question to Discuss: Does the SAT Know Good Grammar from Bad?  Defining Standard English Descriptive versus Prescriptive Grammar Rules  Case Study One: Multiple Negatives  Case Study Two: Ain’t  Case Study Three: Who and Whom