While the work of Gustave Guillaume (1883-1960) has had an important influence on French linguistics, his theory is not well known in the English-speaking world. Lessons on the English Verb provides a comprehensive treatment of the English verbal system within a Guillaumean theoretical framework - an approach unprecedented in its systemic scope. Guillaume's theory of psychomechanics views language as systematic and semiotic, with the use of verb forms governed by the meaning we want to express, which is embedded in the unconscious resources of one's native tongue rather than in rules. Through...

While ordinary speakers - and some linguists - assume we have a mental dictionary stocked with words ready for use, Walter Hirtle shows that this view leads to contradictions. Focusing on the English noun with its modifiers and determiners, he argues that a word's meaning is formed from formative elements each time we use it.