Crystal, D. (1998) Language Play, Penguin

Crystal, D. (2002) The English Language, Penguin

Crystal, D. (2003) (2nd edn) The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language, Cambridge University Press (read a couple of entries a day from this book, in any order you like, until you have read a significant portion of the book, if not all of it, to get a sense of the breadth of English Language study).

* Culpeper, J. Katamba, F., Kerswill, P., Wodak, R. and T. McEnery (2009) English Language: Description, Variation and Context, Palgrave Macmillan (this book, which has 39 chapters on different aspects of English Language study is written by members of the department and so will help to give you a sense of what we are like as well as what the linguistic study of the English language is like).

* Graddol, D., Leith, D., Swann, J. Rhys, M. and Gillen, J. (2006) Changing English, Routledge

* Hughes, A., P. Trudgill and D. Watt (2005) English Accents and Dialects, Arnold (CD can be purchased)

Crystal, D. (1997) The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language, Cambridge University Press (read a couple of entries a day from this book, in any order you like, until you have read a significant portion of the book, if not all of it, to get a sense of the breadth of the study of Linguistics)

Culpeper, J. Katamba, F., Kerswill, P., Wodak, R. and T. McEnery (2009) English Language: Description, Variation and Context, Palgrave Macmillan (this book, which has 39 chapters on different aspects of English Language study is written by members of the department and so will help to give you a sense of what we are like as well as what the linguistic study of the English language is like).

Aitchison, J. (2000) Language Change: Progress or Decay, Cambridge University Press.

Aitchison, J (2000) The Seeds of Speech, Cambridge University Press.

Aitchison, J. (2002) Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon, Cambridge University Press.

Aitchison, J. (2007) The Articulate Mammal: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics, Cambridge University Press.

Ashby, P. (2005), Speech Sounds, London: Routledge

Crystal, D. (1990) Linguistics, Penguin

Fabb, N. (2005) Sentence Structure, Routledge

Graddol, D., Cheshire, J., and Swann, J. (1994) Describing Language, Open University Press

Nettle, D. and Romaine, S. (2000) Vanishing Voices: The Extinction of the World's Languages, Oxford University Press.

Pinker, S. (1999) Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language, Phoenix.

Pinker, S. (2003) The Language Instinct, Penguin

Pinker, S. (2008) The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, Penguin.

You may also find the web links below helpful:

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/ec/facts.htm

http://www.llas.ac.uk/linguistics.aspx

Crystal, D. (1997) The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language, Cambridge University Press (read a couple of entries a day from this book, in any order you like, until you have read a significant portion of the book, if not all of it, to get a sense of the breadth of the study of Linguistics, including Sociolinguistics)

* Culpeper, J. Katamba, F., Kerswill, P., Wodak, R. and T. McEnery (2009) English Language: Description, Variation and Context, Palgrave Macmillan (this book, which has 39 chapters on different aspects of English Language study is written by members of the department and so will help to give you a sense of what we are like as well as what the linguistic (including sociolinguistic) study of the English language is like).

* Holmes, J. (2008) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Longman

Romaine, S. (2000) Language in Society, Oxford University Press (second edition)

Stockwell, P. (2007) Sociolinguistics: A Resource Book for Students, Routledge

Trudgill, P (2000) Sociolinguistics: An Introduction, Penguin

Carter, R. et al. (2001) Working with Texts (2nd edition), Routledge

McRae, J. (1998) The Language of Poetry, Routledge

Sanger, K. (1998) The Language of Fiction, Routledge

Sanger, K. (2000) The Language of Drama, Routledge

* Short, M. (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose, Longman

* Short, M. (2003) Language and Style web-based course http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/stylistics/index.htm (this web-based course, which is freely available worldwide is used as part of the term 2 Language and Style course, so it will give you a good sense of the course as well as helping you with your A-level English Language/Literature work)

Simpson, P. (1996) Language Through Literature, Routledge

Carter, R. et al. (2001) Working with Texts (2nd edition), Routledge

McRae, J. (1998) The Language of Poetry, Routledge

Nash, W. (1998) Language and Creative Illusion, Longman

Nash, W. and Stacey, D. E. (1997) Creating Texts: An Introduction to the Study of Composition, Longman Sanger, K. (1998) The Language of Fiction, Routledge

Sanger, K. (2000) The Language of Drama, Routledge

* Short, M. (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose, Longman

* Short, M. (2003) Language and Style web-based course http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/stylistics/index.htm (this web-based course, which is freely available worldwide is used as part of the term 2 Language and Style course [compulsory for students taking English Language and Creative Writing], so it will give you a good sense of the course as well as helping you with your A-level English Language/Literature work)

Simpson, P. (1996) Language Through Literature, Routledge

Curran, J. and Gurevitch, M. (eds.) (2000) Mass Media and Society, Arnold

Goddard, A. (2002) The Language of Advertising (2nd edition), Routledge

Marshall, J. and Werndley, A. (2002) The Language of Television, Routledge

McLoughlin, L. (2000) The Language of Magazines, Routledge

Myers, G. (1994) Words in Ads, Arnold

Myers, G. (1999) Ad Worlds, Arnold

Newbold, C., Boyd-Barrett, O. and van den Bulck, H. (eds.) (2002) The Media Book, Oxford University Press

Reah, D. (2002) The Language of Newspapers (2nd edition), Routledge