Linguistics and Language Play

Roger Berry

2025년 4월 · Springer Nature

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This book constitutes a comprehensive study of the field of language play from a linguistic viewpoint, demonstrating how linguistics can throw light on this important, but often under-rated, aspect of language use. It is both theoretical and descriptive in nature. In terms of the former, it proposes a ‘ludic’ function of language: that language is there to be played with, and that this is a universal feature of human activity. It rejects the traditional notion that language play is purely for ‘fun’ or entertainment and stresses the serious nature of certain ludic activities, such as cryptography. It discusses the notion of linguistic creativity, considering this to be inadequate in accounting for all aspects of language play. It assesses the value of popular terms such as ‘pun’ and introduces new terms/concepts such as ‘serendipity’ and ‘internym’ to account for important phenomena.

From a descriptive viewpoint, the major portion of the book is devoted to an examination of the various linguistic levels/systems involved in language play (syntax, phonology, morphology, lexis, semantics, discourse and graphology), followed by an extensive study, based on original research, of their application in various fields of linguistic endeavour, for example, advertising, joke-telling, newspaper headlines, secret language, social interaction, etc. A consideration of the human element—in terms of the varying relationships involved—is a constant feature.

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Dr. Berry has almost forty years’ experience as Teacher and Lecturer in English Language Studies and Applied Linguistics, most recently at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, where he was Professor and Head of English for several years, teaching, among others, a course in Language Play. He is the author of seven books on English, the most recent being ‘Doing English Grammar’ (CUP, 2021). He was also Editorial Consultant for the 3rd and 4th editions of the Collins Cobuild English Grammar (2010 and 2017).