Ideal for those who are starting a degree in English language or linguistics, this textbook covers all the basic knowledge and tools of analysis students need for studying language. It introduces methods of English language description and enables readers to learn about the smallest units of language (sounds) and work through the subsequent levels (morphology and syntax) until the sentence is reached. The book also contains a chapter on basic lexical semantics. The final chapter in the boo...

In this important book, Lesley Jeffries introduces a phenomenon which has not been given the attention it deserves - the contextual construction of oppositional meaning. These are opposites not recognisable as such out of context but that are clearly set up this way in the text concerned. The significance of oppositional meaning is well-known but the main emphasis has always been on the conventional opposite: the opposite recognised by lexical semantics.Starting from socio-cultural...

Building on Raymond Williams' iconic "Keywords" released in 1975, Jeffries and Walker show how some pivotal words significantly increased in use and evolved in meaning during the years of the 'New Labour' project. Focussing on print news media, this book establishes a set of socio-political keywords for the 'Blair Years', and demonstrates how their evolving meanings are indicative of the ideological landscape in Britain at that time, and the extent to which the cultural hegemony of the New...