35.1663, Review: English Vocabulary Elements: Leben, Kessler, Denning (2023)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-35-1663. Thu Jun 06 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.1663, Review: English Vocabulary Elements: Leben, Kessler, Denning (2023)

Moderator: Francis Tyers (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Justin Fuller
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Steven Franks, Daniel Swanson, Erin Steitz
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Justin Fuller <justin at linguistlist.org>

LINGUIST List is hosted by Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences.
================================================================


Date: 06-Jun-2024
From: Rebecca Madlener [vicky.madlener at gmail.com]
Subject: Historical Linguistics, Morphology, Syntax: Leben, Kessler, Denning (2023)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/34.1569

AUTHOR: William R. Leben
AUTHOR: Brett Kessler
AUTHOR: Keith Denning
TITLE: English Vocabulary Elements
SUBTITLE: A Course in the Structure of English Words (3rd ed)
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
YEAR: 2023

REVIEWER: Rebecca Madlener

SUMMARY

This is the 3rd edition of “English Vocabulary Elements. A Course in
the Structure of English Words”, by William R. Leben, Brett Kessler,
and Keith Denning. This textbook is “designed for college-level
courses about English words and word structures” (p. vii) and focuses
on increasing students’ vocabulary by teaching them to analyze complex
English words. No previous linguistic knowledge is assumed. In
addition to general revisions to improve the clarity of existing
chapters, the 3rd edition also includes a companion website that
provides resources for instructors and students. Instructors can
access a complete answer key and supplementary exercises. For students
there are sets of flashcards to support their learning of the targeted
vocabulary elements.

The preface introduces the intended target audience, as well as
providing tips for using the book, learning vocabulary and using a
dictionary, and offers a list of important abbreviations and symbols,
including IPA symbols and sample words to illustrate the respective
sounds. The book is divided into eleven chapters discussing various
topics in the study of English word elements. Each chapter finishes
with exercises to test the students’ understanding of the chapter’s
content and most chapters contain a list of word elements to be
studied and exercises to practice these elements. The appendix
contains word lists arranged by word elements and by glosses. At the
end of the book, there is also a glossary defining important
linguistic terminology, suggestions for further reading, and an index.

The book begins with short discussions of historical aspects of
English vocabulary. Chapter 1 takes a look at how the political
importance of the language changed over time and how this affected the
vocabulary of English, including short discussions contrasting
inherited and borrowed terms to illustrate the effect borrowing has
had on the English language. Chapter 2 provides a short overview of
the history of the English language, from Proto-Indo-European to
Modern English.

The book then moves on to linguistic approaches that inform the study
of English vocabulary. Chapter 3 introduces the linguistic field of
morphology. The chapter provides short overviews of areas of
morphology that are relevant to analyzing word elements for the
purpose of gaining a better understanding of English vocabulary. This
includes overviews of the functions of morphological elements, common
types of word formation, and a brief discussion of the difference
between morphology and etymology.

Building on this understanding of morphology, Chapter 4 explores
allomorphy. This includes explanations of important terms (i.e. morph,
morpheme, and allomorph), and a discussion of sources of allomorphy.
Chapter 5 introduces the field of phonetics and explains the
production of English sounds. Chapter 6 discusses the phonetic rules
and principles that lead to regular allomorphy and thus combines the
knowledge gained from Chapters 4 and 5. The focus is on phonetic
principles that cause allomorphy in Latin and Greek vocabulary
elements.

Chapter 7 takes a look at historical changes in meaning. It begins by
introducing the linguistic concepts of polysemy and homonymy and then
moves on to brief discussions of reasons for and types of historical
semantic change. This is the only chapter that does not contain a list
of word elements and exercises to practice these elements. Continuing
on the topic of variation, Chapter 8 takes a look at usage and
variation from a synchronic perspective. Examples discussed include
dialectal variation, as well as variation in register. The chapter
then takes a look at language standardization. Chapter 9 turns its
attention to Latin and Greek elements in English by providing an
overview of affixes from both languages and their use in English word
formation.

The final two chapters return to historical approaches to English
vocabulary. Chapter 10 provides an overview of the prehistory of
English and the Indo-European language family and gives a brief
introduction to the comparative method. Chapter 11 discusses later
changes in the language, focussing on Latin word elements that entered
the language either directly from Latin or later on in the history of
the language via French.

EVALUATION

Overall, the 3rd edition of “English Vocabulary Elements” is a
readable introduction to the study of English vocabulary. All
linguistic concepts are explained and illustrated with examples,
allowing students without any previous linguistic knowledge to follow
the book. The clearly stated aim of the book – the expansion of the
students’ understanding of English vocabulary – is pursued throughout
the book and the companion website adds further resources for the
pursuit of this aim. The focus is on learning English vocabulary
elements that originated from Latin or Greek. Each chapter consists of
a clear and concise discussion of the topic at hand and finishes with
a brief summary that highlights the key points to be taken away from
the chapter. The tips on studying vocabulary and using dictionaries
presented in the preface introduce students to the skills needed to
achieve the desired expansion of their knowledge and understanding of
the English vocabulary.

The exercises that accompany each chapter are a good way for students
to test their grasp of the vocabulary elements presented in the
respective word element lists, as well as their understanding of the
linguistic concepts introduced in the chapter. However, it is not
entirely obvious what benefit there is in presenting the exercises in
two separate categories (“element study” and “exercises”). While the
book aims “to acquaint native and nonnative English speakers with
aspects of English vocabulary” (p. vii), the chapter on phonetics, as
well as some of the exercises, rely on a very good grasp of the
English language. Non-native speakers that do not possess near native
proficiency in the language might thus find parts of the book too
difficult.

The concise explanation of all linguistic concepts is well suited for
students without any previous knowledge of linguistics. However, these
very brief discussions of topics sometimes present an overly
simplistic picture. For instance, the authors treat originally Latin
words that were borrowed into English via French as Latin borrowings,
skipping over historical developments of these terms that might be
interesting and relevant for other linguists (pp. 30-31). They
consider ablaut “another source of allomorphy with no inherent meaning
of its own” (p. 102), thus reducing it down to random vowel
alterations. While these simplifications do not impede the achievement
of the book’s aim, it would be beneficial to students to mention the
fact that these things do matter to other linguists.

In addition to enhancing students’ grasp of English vocabulary
elements, the authors “will judge the text successful if the
groundwork laid here motivates readers to explore further and provides
enough skills to undertake such explorations” (p. x). The book
certainly provides the skills for further exploration of the English
vocabulary, and the “further reading and research tools” section at
the end of the book provides a starting point for additional studies
of word elements. The further reading on linguistic topics is somewhat
limited though, listing only a maximum of three sources for each topic
and only three chapters feature “related reading” or “further reading”
of their own. An expansion of the suggested further readings might
encourage students to delve deeper into the linguistic aspects of the
book.

All in all, the book provides a good introduction for the study of
English vocabulary elements. It focusses on word elements derived from
Latin or Greek and provides students with a good foundation for
enhancing their understanding of the English vocabulary.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Rebecca Madlener is a first year PhD student in Celtic Studies at
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig / the University of the Highlands and Islands and
holds a BSc in General Linguistics from Salzburg University, as well
as an MA in General Linguistics from Uppsala University. Her research
interests mainly encompass corpus linguistic approaches to historical
semantics and landscape semantics. Her work focuses on historical and
modern Celtic languages.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please consider donating to the Linguist List https://give.myiu.org/iu-bloomington/I320011968.html


LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

De Gruyter Mouton https://cloud.newsletter.degruyter.com/mouton

Equinox Publishing Ltd http://www.equinoxpub.com/

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG http://www.narr.de/

Wiley http://www.wiley.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-35-1663
----------------------------------------------------------