Synchronic English Linguistics (Textbooks in English Language and Linguistics

by Alexander Bergs

This book offers a concise introduction to synchronic English linguistics. Following an introduction to language and linguistics as such, it provides detailed descriptions of the different language phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, and meaning in language (comprising semantics and pragmatics). Furthermore, one chapter deals with constructional approaches to English grammar. The final chapter serves as an outlook on the application of linguistic theory in various domains of language use, including historical linguistics, dialectology, sociolinguistics, language acquisition and forensic linguistics. Every chapter contains specific exercises that help to rehearse the key concepts introduced in this book.

197 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2012

About the author

Alexander Bergs joined the Institute of English and American Studies at Osnabrück University, Germany, in 2006 when he became Full Professor and Chair of English Language and Linguistics. His research interests include, among others, language variation and change, constructional approaches to language, the role of context in language, the syntax/pragmatics interface and cognitive poetics. His works include several authored and edited books (Social Networks and Historical Sociolinguistics, Modern Scots, Contexts and Constructions, Constructions and Language Change), a short textbook on Synchronic English Linguistics, one on Understanding Language Change (with Kate Burridge) and the two-volume Handbook of English Historical Linguistics (ed. with Laurel Brinton; now available as 5 volume paperback) as well as more than seventy papers in high profile international journals and edited volumes.
Alexander Bergs has taught at the Universities of Düsseldorf, Bonn, Santiago de Compostela, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Catania, Vigo, Thessaloniki, Athens, and Dalian and has organized numerous international workshops and conferences.
Apart from several terms as Director of the Institute of English and American Studies, as Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics and Literatures, and as member of the University Senate, he is one of the founders and directors of the Research Cluster for Cognition and Poetics at the University of Osnabrück.