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BA2 ENGLISH LINGUISTICS HELPDESK

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I. Plag (et al.) : Introduction to English Linguistics. Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter, 2009. (click on the picture of the cover to find out more about the book)   QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BOOK ?  DIFFICULTIES UNDERSTANDING ?   1.  Send an e-mail message (in impeccable English, of course) to Prof. van Noppen (click here), clearly stating your problem, incl. page reference in the book. Sign your name. 2.  Depending on the kind of question, Prof. van Noppen will a) answer on this web page (so everyone can benefit from your question and his answer), b) refer you to an earlier answer, c) answer by e-mail, or d) ask you for a phone number so he can give you an appointment to talk things over. 3.  Consult this page regularly to check whether there are any answers that you may be interested in.

001.

The book has been re-edited in 2009. Is the 2007 edition no longer valid ?

If you have bought a second-hand 2007 edition, don't worry. Borrow a friend's 2009 edition and read its introduction, and you will find that the differences are minimal -- they mostly focus on differences between GB and US pronunciation.

JPvN.: There is a spelling mistake on p. 26 in the 2007 edition.   Exercise b says "Procede in the same way". The verb is not "procede" but "proceed".

The funny thing is that usually people get it wrong the other way -- they write "preceeding" by analogy with "proceeding". Since "proceeding" comes from "proceed" it has two Es, and since "precede" has only one E after the C, the resulting present participle / gerund / adjective is "preceding".

002.

BA2 Students to Ms. Bilterijs : Can we have guidance sessions for Introduction to English Linguistics as we had for The English Language ?

In 2011-12 there will be one hour of collective reading and studying of the book per week with A. Louckx

003.

BA2 Students : How are we to study for the exam ?

JPvN.:  Aha, so that's what you're worried about, eh ?   Well, first of all remember my general advice : study to acquire knowledge, not just for the exam. This is particularly true in the case of this reading assignment. It is intended as a real contribution to your intellectual background and edification.  Read and understand the chapters, one at a time, and test yourself by seeing whether you can do the exercises at the end of each unit. My questions at the oral exam may be of a fairly general nature ( e.g. what is the difference between phonetics and phonology ; what is a morpheme ; what is the difference between morphology and syntax ; what is the difference between sentence meaning and pragmatic meaning ; what is a speech act, etc. ) or relatively precise and detailed ( e.g. describe the consonant [f] in articulatory terms ;  illustrate the restrictions on the productivity of some affixes ; explain the triangle of meaning ;  discuss the example(s) on page xxx; etc. )

004.

BA2 Students : We can't find Van Ek & Robat's Students' Grammar in the library. Where can we find a more precise description of NFCCs ?

JPvN.: Click here for printable .PDF copies of the relevant passages from Van Ek & Robat :   NFCC

005.

BA2 Student :  There are sometimes examples that concern other languages than English (German, Hindu, Mandarin Chinese...). Are those examples relevant, or should we focus only on the English part of the book?

JPvN.: Of course they are relevant, or otherwise the authors would not have included them. The main point is to give you insight in linguistics as well as in English. But I was not planning to ask you any questions about Mandarin Chinese at the exam, if that's what you're afraid of.