Main Topics

These topics act as headings for many of the important areas of study for these materials. You may revisit these topics, sometimes several times, because a full understanding of each topic is only possible with the insight gained from all the areas of study. Each time you revisit a topic you will be bringing to it more understanding of linguistics than you had previously.

This topic list also may act as a checklist for you in your studies and revision.

You could also view an expanded topic list in alphabetical order.
You could also view a site map showing all materials in topic order.

1 Origins of language

2 Signs & Symbols and their relationship to sounds, spelling

3 Child's Acquisition of Language

4 Language Change and History, including etymology

5 Word Structure

6 Sentence Structure

7 The Notion of Correctness

8 The Sounds of Language

9 Transcriptions

10 Spoken & Written Modes

11 Discourse Analysis including unscripted conversation, scripted interview, prompted speech, ...

12 Dialects and Non Standard Varieties including studies of language and social class

13 Register and Appropriateness

14 Tenor and Domain

15 Identifying an unknown text , Specific Domains

16 Literature & Figurative Language

17 TV and Radio

18 Newspapers

19 Advertising, Propaganda

20 Rhetoric

21 Plain English & Gobbledygook

22 Editing and writing in style

23 Sexism and Genderlect, Political Correctness, Racism, Prejudice

24 Research

25 General Issues for discussion

See more detail in the Site Map, including Support for parents.