Reed College Library: Linguistics

There are many handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias that provide basic information on Linguistics. If you wish to explore a linguistics topic, these reference sources provide definitions and introductory information about the subject. Other resources are also available in the Reference Room.

Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
Ref P29 .B875 1996
Concise scholarly articles on historical, comparative and typological linguistics as well as on applied subdisciplines. Covers core areas such as phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Includes bibliographical references, illustrations and diagrams.

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
Ref P29 .C64 1997
The goal of this work, organized in 11 parts covering 65 thematic areas, is to demonstrate the great diversity of the world's languages and to convey the value of linguistic research. Copiously illustrated.

A Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics
Ref P29 .C65 2003
Contains definitions of terms used in linguistics and language study.

An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Language and Languages
Ref P29 .C68 1992
Consists of brief entries on a wide range of practical rather than theoretical linguistics topics. Areas covered include typography, language teaching, and speech pathology.

The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
Ref P29 .E48 1994
International in character, this is a comprehensive, multi-volume work that covers not only the core areas of linguistics, but also more peripheral areas. An important aspect of the work is its interdisciplinary nature covering subjects such as anthropology, psychology and philosophy as they touch upon language. Articles range in length from a few sentences to long essays.

International Encyclopedia of Linguistics
Ref P29 .I58 2003
A comprehensive multi-volume work covering all aspects of linguistics. It is particularly strong in current concepts. The last volume includes an outline of included articles by broad subject and a list of language related articles by language family.

Encyclopedia of Semiotics
Ref P99 .E64 1998
Contains three hundred articles covering a wide range of twentieth-century topics such as the study of signs, communication, and culture. The work also delves into non-Western philosophical and linguistic traditions.

Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics
Ref P99 .E65 1986
Includes entries that cover the historical background of semiotics and its present usage of terms, brief biographies of preeminent scholars in semiotics, and essays on the impact of semiotics on the arts and sciences.

Handbook of Semiotics
Ref P99 .N6513 1990
A systematic treatment of semiotics that begins with its history and proceeds to a discussion of the work of modern scholars in the field. Includes an extensive bibliography.

An Encyclopaedia of Language
Ref P106 .A46 1989
A collection of scholarly essays on how language affects thought and experience, how language is learned and taught, and how we study it. The essays are divided into three parts: "The Inner Nature of Language", "The Larger Province of Language", and "Special Aspects of Language".

Linguistics: A Guide to the Reference Literature
Ref P121 .D45 2000
A guide to the reference literature of linguistics published from 1957 to 1998. Primarily Western in focus, this book covers bibliographic and reference sources rather than scholarship in the field.

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages
Ref P140 .C36 2004
Essentially a collection of linguistic descriptions of "all known ancient languages", this is a convenient starting place for research on the grammars of ancient languages.

The Dictionary of Historical and Comparative Linguistics
Ref P143 .T727 2000
The first dictionary to define the terms used by the first branch of linguistics to obtain a scholarly footing. Most of the terms it defines are not listed in existing general or specialized dictionaries of linguistics.

Classification and Index of the World's Languages
Ref P203 .V6
A detailed arrangement of the genetic interrelationships and classification of the world's languages.

A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology
Ref P216 .T73 1996
A concise dictionary of terms that, in addition, provides an explanation of the important theoretical approaches to phonology.

Concise Encyclopedia of Grammatical Categories
Ref P240.5 .C66 1999
A collection of articles on the grammatical categories that have been useful for the analysis and description of the structure of languages.

Compendium of the World's Languages
Ref P371 .C36 2000
The goal of this two-volume work is to include all of the world's literary languages, along with some others that lack a literary tradition but are of sufficient interest for inclusion, and explain how they actually work.

Locating Books

To locate books, look in the library catalog. If you know the author or editor, search Author, last name first. To search by Title, you must know the first few words of the title, but you do not have to know the complete title. If you are looking for books on a particular topic, try a Keyword search first. Type some keywords and see if you locate any appropriate book titles. To look for additional titles click on the subject headings assigned to them to find additional books on you topic.

If you fail to find books on your topic in the Reed catalog, try searching in the Summit catalog. The Summit catalog contains the books owned by over 25 academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. Click on "Search in Summit" and the system will automatically perform your search in the Summit catalog. If you find a title you want you can request it by clicking the "Request this item" link and following the prompts. You will receive an email when the book arrives at Reed, usually 2 to 3 working days after you request it.

WorldCat
An online catalog, containing over 50 million records for items owned by Reed and libraries worldwide. Use WorldCat to find books, journal and newspaper titles, sound recordings, musical scores, films and manuscripts. WorldCat cannot be used to find individual journal articles.

Finding Journal Articles and Critical Essays

Indexes (sometimes called databases) allow you to search the contents of periodicals to identify articles on your topic. Some indexes are inter-disciplinary, and some focus on a particular subject area. Some contain fulltext or links to fulltext from other sources. Many include citations for books, dissertations, and conference papers as well as journal articles.

After you find a citation for an article, you will need to check the Print & Electronic Journal page to see if Reed subscribes to the journal and if we have the particular issue.

If the article you are looking for is not available at Reed, you can request it from Interlibrary loan (periodicals cannot be borrowed from Summit).

Academic Search Premier (1975 - present)
A multi-disciplinary database containing fulltext for more than 4,600 scholarly publications. In addition to the fulltext, the database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 8,000 journals.

Social Sciences Citation Index (1956 - present)
Multi-disciplinary index covering the journal literature of the social sciences. (Available through Web of Science.)

JSTOR
Contains digitized images of the complete archives of selected core scholarly journals starting with the first issues, many of which date from the 1800's. The searching capability allows for searching across disciplines.

MLA (1921 - present)
Index of literary, linguistic and folklore scholarship. MLA covers all languages and all literatures except classical Greek and Latin.

Periodicals Index Online (1665 - varies by title)
Formerly PCI - Periodicals Contents Index. An index to millions of articles in more than 4,600 scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. International in scope, PCI covers journals going back over 300 years.

Linguistics Abstracts Online
Online access to more than 30,000 abstracts from nearly 400 linguistics journals published since 1985.

Library

Research Guide for Linguistics

Contact: Jack Levine , Acquisitions Librarian

Getting Started

Locating Books

Finding Journal Articles and Critical Essays

Style Manual