The Logic of Language A Semiotic Study of Speech

This book serves as a basis for the exploration of language in a more systematic way. By surveying the several major divisions of language (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, tropology) and explicating the way in which sound and meaning cohere in them, this text lays bare––for students, scholars and advanced readers alike––the lineaments of an understanding of what makes language the sign system par excellence, in the service of its most important function as the instrument of cognition and of communication.  This book is intended as a companion volume to Shapiro’s The Speaking Self: Language Lore and English Usage.  The two volumes taken in tandem will provide a solid grounding in the observational science of linguistics, linking theory with practice in a way that will expand one’s understanding of language as a global phenomenon.         

List of Tables and Figures

Introduction

PART ONE: THEORETICAL PROLEGOMENA

Chapter 1. Peirce’s Theory of Signs

Chapter 2. a Peircean theory of grammar

PART TWO: LANGUAGE AS SEMIOTIC

Chapter 3. phonology

Chapter 4. morphophonemics and morphology

Chapter 5. semantics

Chapter 6. syntax

Chapter 7: tropology and stylistics

Chapter 8. language change

Appendices

References

Index