This is a groundbreaking book for teachers, administrators, and education students. Dale and Bonnie Johnson present a fresh, inspiring reminder of why studying language (from word origins to word structure) is such a vital first step in the development of students' vocabulary, literacy, writing skills, and overall ability to learn.

Foreword Preface Introduction 1 Our Language: Something Old, Something New American English How Our Language Has Changed Obsolete Words Old Words Still in Use Word Meanings That Have Returned Word Meanings That Have Changed Completely Words That Have Become "Respectable" "In-Between" Words New Words New Words for Newcomers A Brief Word-Walk Through History from the 1700s to the Twenty-First Century * Instructional Activity 1.1 2 Origins: Every Word and Expression Has a Story Etymology and Word Origins A Sampling of Word Origins * Instructional Activity 2.1 "Borrowed" Words * Instructional Activity 2.2 Origins of Common Sayings * Instructional Activity 2.3 3 Word Formations Word Combining Compound Words * Instructional Activity 3.1 Blended Words Contractions Reduplicatives *Instructional Activity 3.2 Word Conversions and Derivations * Instructional Activity 3.3 * Instructional Activity 3.4 Word Shortening Abbreviations * Instructional Activity 3.5 Clipped Words 4 Semantic Connections: How Words Are Organized in Our Minds Semantic Categories Meaning Relations The Mental Lexicon Semantic Mapping Semantic Feature Analysis * Instructional Activity 4.1 * Instructional Activity 4.2 * Instructional Activity 4.3 * Instructional Activity 4.4 * Instructional Activity 4.5 Word Categories 5 Ambiguity in Language * Instructional Activity 5.1 * Instructional Activity 5.2 * Instructional Activity 5.3 * Instructional Activity 5.4 * Instructional Activity 5.5 * Instructional Activity 5.6 6 Figurative Language "You're a Sage, Rosemary" Idioms * Instructional Activity 6.1 Similes and Metaphors Analyzing Similes * Instructional Activity 6.2 Is the Well-Known Simile True? * Instructional Activity 6.3 Interpreting Metaphors Creating Metaphors Personification * Instructional Activity 6.4 * Instructional Activity 6.5 Euphemisms * Instructional Activity 6.6 Hyperbole * Instructional Activity 6.7 Chiasmus Other Figures of Speech 7 Proverbs: Short Sentences Drawn from Long Experiences The Importance of Proverbs Characteristics of Proverbs Ages of Some Proverbs Proverbs That Rhyme Proverbs That Repeat Sounds or Words Proverbs That Have More Than One Meaning * Instructional Activity 7.1 Contradictory Proverbs Proverbs from Around the World * Instructional Activity 7.2 Native American Proverbs More American Proverbs Collections from the Fifty States Proverbs in Pretentious English * Instructional Activity 7.3 Are These Proverbs Always True? * Instructional Activity 7.4 8 Onomastics: The World of Names Eponyms * Instructional Activity 8.1 * Instructional Activity 8.2 Toponyms * Instructional Activity 8.3 Demonyms * Instructional Activity 8.4 City and Town Names * Instructional Activity 8.5 * Instructional Activity 8.6 * Instructional Activity 8.7 * Instructional Activity 8.8 9 Word Play: Riddles and Rhymes Nine Categories of Riddles in Three Families The Hink Pink Family The Hink Hink Family (Homographs) The Pink Pink Family (Homophones) * Instructional Activity 9.1 Hink Pinks Hink Hinks Pink Pinks Hinky Pinkies Hinky Hinkies Pinky Pinkies Hinkety Pinketies Hinkety Hinketies Pinkety Pinketies 10 A Melange of Words in Language and Life Catchphrases Slogans * Instructional Activity 10.1 Words Spoken Too Soon Words That Have Lasted Retronyms * Instructional Activity 10.2 Acknowledgments Bibliography Index About the Authors

"A powerful, enjoyable, informative, and important reading experience... I can, without reservation, recommend Words: The Foundation of Literacy to any reader and to all teachers. I congratulate the authors, Dale and Bonnie Johnson, on the creation of a work which, with widespread use, could improve listening, speaking, writing, and thinking in America." -The Reading Professor "Dale Johnson and Bonnie Johnson offer this book to teachers of primary and secondary students as a resource for them to encourage their students to go beyond 'studying for the test' and for themselves to go beyond 'teaching the test' ... They provide great enjoyment of words, striving to make learning both vocabulary and a bit of linguisitics fun." -Communication Research Trends "Dale and Bonnie Johnson have written an interesting book... Once I began reading it I read it all the way through. Tracing the history of English words and phrases along with providing sound advice for developing students' vocabulary, this interesting book is a winner. From fibble-fable to loose cannon to geek, see how words entered the language and how many have vanished from daily use. Whether read at the beach or for a university class you won't be able to put this book down." -Richard Allington, University of Tennessee "This book is an inventive, well-researched, and intriguing exploration into the complex nature of words. Drs. Dale and Bonnie Johnson offer teachers numerous informative and inspiring ways to engage their students in exploring and discovering words through playful anecdotes, engaging activities, and interesting facts. This book is full of surprises. It will spark the innate inquisitiveness of learners of all ages." -Dr. Kathleen Schlichting, University of North Carolina Wilmington "In Words: The Foundation of Literacy, noted educators and vocabulary researchers Dale and Bonnie Johnson provide teachers a wealth of novel, empirically based, and just plain fun activities and lessons for expanding students' vocabulary knowledge and love of words and language. Words is an indispensible tool that ought to be on the bookshelf-no, make that in the hands-of every literacy teacher and teacher educator." -James F. Baumann, Ph.D., Chancellor's Chair for Excellence of Literacy Education, University of Missouri Columbia