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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO THE READER 1 A WORD OR TWO ABOUT WORDS WHAT DO WE MEAN BY 'VOCABULARY'? THE 'ENGLISH' IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT LEAST WE KNOW WHAT WORDS ARE ... DON'T WE? SPACED OUT EYES AND EARS IT JUST FEELS RIGHT I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN MORPHEMES TAKING WORDS TO PIECES GRAMMAR AND LEXIS WORDS STICK TOGETHER COMPOUNDS MULTI-WORD UNITS IDIOMS COLLOCATION RECIPES FOR NEW WORDS WORDS COME AND GO NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN HALF AND HALF KEEP IT SHORT LENDING AND BORROWING CORPORA: LETTING THE DATA SPEAK USING A CORPUS CORPUS EXAMPLE (1): HARD-WORKING WORDS CORPUS EXAMPLE (2): SPEAKING VERSUS WRITING SUMMING UP FURTHER READING 2 WHERE DO ENGLISH WORDS COME FROM? THE DIM AND DISTANT PAST THE BEGINNING OF ENGLISH ANGLO-SAXONS BEGINNING TO LOOK FAMILIAR: CHRONICLES AND MONSTERS MORE INCOMERS VIKINGS A BIG CHANGE: THE NORMANS ARRIVE PUTTING IT IN BLACK AND WHITE TELLING TALES PIERS PLOWMAN INTO THE MODERN ERA LANGUAGE ABOUT LANGUAGE AN EXPANDING VOCABULARY CIRCLING THE WORLD A SETTLED LANGUAGE SPELLING IT OUT NEW WORLDS, NEW CULTURES NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW ENGLISHES FURTHER READING 3 WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? FROM FORM TO MEANING WORDING THE WORLD MAKING SENSE OF THE LEXICON SAME OR DIFFERENT? SYNONYMY LOOKS THE SAME, SOUNDS THE SAME BUT ... SOMETHING DIFFERENT CLASSIFYING THE WORLD THE UPSIDE-DOWN TREE SCIENTIFICALLY SPEAKING FUZZY BORDERS AND STEREOTYPES AN ARM AND A LEG: PARTS AND WHOLES MAKING SENSE IN THE REAL WORLD TAKING MEANING TO PIECES PLUSES AND MINUSES TO EVERYTHING WORDS, THE MIND AND THE WORLD PRAGMATICS: WHAT DO YOU MEAN? FURTHER READING 4 BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH: FIGURATIVE MEANING JUST IMAGINE ATOMS OR MOLECULES? BITE-SIZED CHUNKS ROOM FOR MANOUEVRE AS CLEAR AS MUD: IDIOMS DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN? IN A NUTSHELL IDIOM-PRONE LOOK AT IT THIS WAY METAPHORS PROVERBS AND METAPHORS TROPES GALORE HERE COMES THE ARMY: METONYMY NO EXAGGERATION: HYPERBOLE A NOT UNINTERESTING TROPE: UNDERSTATEMENT EUPHEMISMS SUMMARY FURTHER READING 5 BEAR THIS IN MIND: THE MENTAL LEXICON A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT HOW DID IT ALL GET THERE? ACQUIRING VOCABULARY DESIGNING A HUMAN ONE WORD AT A TIME TELEGRAMS FROM A CHILD MORE THAN ONE WAY OF SAYING THINGS SPELL IT OUT WHERE ARE ALL THOSE WORDS? MIND AND BRAIN: THE MENTAL LEXICON HOW DOES IT WORK? FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY JACK ROBINSON WHAT COMES INTO YOUR HEAD? JUST A SLIP OF THE TONGUE? IN TWO MINDS AGAIN CONCLUSION FURTHER READING 6 VOCABULARY IN ACTION WORDS OUT THERE LANGUAGE SNAPSHOTS HARD WORDS NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN LETTING THE MACHINE DECIDE: CORPORA QUIZZING THE DATA EXCHANGING A FEW WORDS LET'S NOT GO INTO DETAIL SO, CONSEQUENTLY ... WINDOWS ON CULTURE WORDS ON THE MOVE NAUGHTY BUT NICE A NOTICEABLE UPTICK SHOWING YOUR AGE MAPPING ENGLISH VOCABULARY VARIETIES DIFFERENT VOICES: DIALECTS AND SOCIOLECTS SPECIAL VOCABULARIES WORDS AND THE IMAGINATION FLOUTING CONVENTIONS OLD WORDS, NEW MEANINGS FOOD FOR THOUGHT HAVING A LAUGH EDUCATION AND LEARNING GROWING UP WITH WORDS SECOND LANGUAGE VOCABULARY THE END OF THE BEGINNING FURTHER READING GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS REFERENCES INDEX

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