Linguistics for Students of Literature

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This book targets upper-division undergraduates and beginning graduate students in English, as well as education students in language arts and linguistics students interested in practical applications of linguistics in literature. Each chapter begins with a linguistic analysis of the English language, followed by its application to specific literary texts. This approach contrasts with most works that start with literary texts and then apply linguistic concepts. The authors emphasize that a solid grounding in linguistics is essential before these concepts can be effectively applied to fields like literature, pedagogy, or speech therapy. They cover a wide range of topics in linguistics rather than delving deeply into a few, believing that beginners benefit from a general survey before choosing a specific area for further study. While not all aspects of contemporary linguistics are included, the book offers a selection of central topics, some of which are particularly relevant to literary criticism. The approach is rooted in "generative" linguistics, broadly defined as the study of how language users create and comprehend new sentences.