CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO THE READER 1 A WORD OR TWO ABOUT WORDS WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ''VOCABULARY''? THE ''ENGLISH'' IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT LEAST WE KNOW WHAT WORDS ARE . DON''T WE? SPACED OUT EYES AND EARS IT JUST FEELS RIGHT I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN MORPHEMES TAKING WORDS TO PIECES GRAMMAR AND LEXIS WORDS STICK TOGETHER COMPOUNDS MULTI-WORD UNITS IDIOMS COLLOCATION RECIPES FOR NEW WORDS WORDS COME AND GO NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN HALF AND HALF KEEP IT SHORT LENDING AND BORROWING CORPORA: LETTING THE DATA SPEAK USING A CORPUS CORPUS EXAMPLE (1): HARD-WORKING WORDS CORPUS EXAMPLE (2): SPEAKING VERSUS WRITING SUMMING UP FURTHER READING 2 WHERE DO ENGLISH WORDS COME FROM? THE DIM AND DISTANT PAST THE BEGINNING OF ENGLISH ANGLO-SAXONS BEGINNING TO LOOK FAMILIAR: CHRONICLES AND MONSTERS MORE INCOMERS VIKINGS A BIG CHANGE: THE NORMANS ARRIVE PUTTING IT IN BLACK AND WHITE TELLING TALES PIERS PLOWMAN INTO THE MODERN ERA LANGUAGE ABOUT LANGUAGE AN EXPANDING VOCABULARY CIRCLING THE WORLD A SETTLED LANGUAGE SPELLING IT OUT NEW WORLDS, NEW CULTURES NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW ENGLISHES FURTHER READING 3 WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? FROM FORM TO MEANING WORDING THE WORLD MAKING SENSE OF THE LEXICON SAME OR DIFFERENT? SYNONYMY LOOKS THE SAME, SOUNDS THE SAME BUT . SOMETHING DIFFERENT CLASSIFYING THE WORLD THE UPSIDE-DOWN TREE SCIENTIFICALLY SPEAKING FUZZY BORDERS AND STEREOTYPES AN ARM AND A LEG: PARTS AND WHOLES MAKING SENSE IN THE REAL WORLD TAKING MEANING TO PIECES PLUSES AND MINUSES TO EVERYTHING WORDS, THE MIND AND THE WORLD PRAGMATICS: WHAT DO YOU MEAN? FURTHER READING 4 BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH: FIGURATIVE MEANING JUST IMAGINE ATOMS OR MOLECULES? BITE-SIZED CHUNKS ROOM FOR MANOUEVRE AS CLEAR AS MUD: IDIOMS DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN? IN A NUTSHELL IDIOM-PRONE LOOK AT IT THIS WAY METAPHORS PROVERBS AND METAPHORS TROPES GALORE HERE COMES THE ARMY: METONYMY NO EXAGGERATION: HYPERBOLE A NOT UNINTERESTING TROPE: UNDERSTATEMENT EUPHEMISMS SUMMARY FURTHER READING 5 BEAR THIS IN MIND: THE MENTAL LEXICON A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT HOW DID IT ALL GET THERE? ACQUIRING VOCABULARY DESIGNING A HUMAN ONE WORD AT A TIME TELEGRAMS FROM A CHILD MORE THAN ONE WAY OF SAYING THINGS SPELL IT OUT WHERE ARE ALL THOSE WORDS? MIND AND BRAIN: THE MENTAL LEXICON HOW DOES IT WORK? FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY JACK ROBINSON WHAT COMES INTO YOUR HEAD? JUST A SLIP OF THE TONGUE? IN TWO MINDS AGAIN CONCLUSION FURTHER READING 6 VOCABULARY IN ACTION WORDS OUT THERE LANGUAGE SNAPSHOTS HARD WORDS NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN LETTING THE MACHINE DECIDE: CORPORA QUIZZING THE DATA EXCHANGING A FEW WORDS LET''S NOT GO INTO DETAIL SO, CONSEQUENTLY . WINDOWS ON CULTURE WORDS ON THE MOVE NAUGHTY BUT NICE A NOTICEABLE UPTICK SHOWING YOUR AGE MAPPING ENGLISH VOCABULARY VARIETIES DIFFERENT VOICES: DIALECTS AND SOCIOLECTS SPECIAL VOCABULARIES WORDS AND THE IMAGINATION FLOUTING CONVENTIONS OLD WORDS, NEW MEANINGS FOOD FOR THOUGHT HAVING A LAUGH EDUCATION AND LEARNING GROWING UP WITH WORDS SECOND LANGUAGE VOCABULARY THE END OF THE BEGINNING FURTHER READING GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS REFERENCES INDEX.