Introduction
       to English Linguistics
       A Companion to the Seminar
          (Revised and Abridged)
            László Varga
         Eötvös Loránd University
             Budapest
             2010
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            Preface
            The seminar called Introduction to English Linguistics is offered in English to
            first year students in weekly sessions. Since for most students this seminar is
            the only place where the topics of the course are discussed in English, teachers
            of this seminar often have to explain the material to their students before (or
            instead of!) doing exercises or discussing problems, and so a considerable part
            of precious seminar time is wasted on lecturing.
                The present book offers a solution. It contains ten units: each discusses
            an  important  topic  in  English  and  each  is  followed  by  exercises.  Thus  it
            provides ample seminar material for about 12 weeks. Some of the units may be
            curtailed or even omitted at the teacher’s discretion.
                The units should be assigned for home study before the actual seminar
            session  at  which  they  will  be  discussed.  Thus  the  students  will  have  an
            opportunity  to  get  acquainted  with  the  main  ideas  and  the  special  English
            vocabulary of each topic before coming to the seminar, and this frees their
            tutors from having to lecture during the seminar, enabling them to concentrate
            on discussion and practical problem-solving activities.
                I  hope  both  students  and  teachers  of  the  Introduction  to  English
            Linguistics seminar will find this book a useful companion to the course. If for
            any topic  further  reading  is  required,  I  recommend  the  relevant  chapters  of
            Fromkin, V. & R. Rodman (1998) An Introduction to Language. 6th ed. (Fort
            Worth, etc.: Harcourt Brace College Publishers), or Radford, A., M. Atkinson,
            D.  Britain,  H.  Clahsen  &  A.  Spencer  (1999)  Linguistics,  An  Introduction.
            (Cambridge: CUP).
            August 2010
                                             László Varga
                                      Eötvös Loránd University
                                                                                                                             Budapest
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            Acknowledgements
            The contents of this book have been derived from a number of sources. The
            sources include standard introductory textbooks, such as Aitchison, J. (1978)
            Linguistics. 3rd ed. (Teach Yourself Books. Hodder & Stoughton), Akmajian,
            A.,  R.  A.  Demers  &  R.  M.  Harnish  (1979)  Linguistics:  An  Introduction  to
            Language  and  Communication.  (Cambridge,  Mass.,  London,  England:  The
            MIT Press), Fromkin, V. & R. Rodman (1998) An Introduction to Language.
            6th ed. (Fort Worth, etc.: Harcourt Brace College Publishers), or Radford, A.,
            M.  Atkinson,  D.  Britain,  H.  Clahsen  &  A.  Spencer  (1999)  Linguistics,  An
            Introduction.  (Cambridge: CUP), but also textbooks of more specific kinds,
            such as Lyons, J. (1977) Semantics. Cambridge: CUP, or Cook, V. J. & M.
            Newson (1996) Chomsky’s Universal Grammar. 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell),
            and many more. I would like to express my indebtedness to the authors of all of
            them.
                My thanks are also due to my colleagues Ádám Nádasdy and Péter A.
            Lázár,  both  of  Eötvös  Loránd  University,  for  their  expert  opinions  on  the
            manuscript  of  this  book.  Needless  to  say,  I  alone  am  responsible  for  any
            weaknesses that may have remained.
                                                                                                              László Varga
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