Aims to reorient the study of language by taking into serious consideration the perspective on linguistic matters taken by lay speakers themselves, as a response to the now inescapable conclusion that traditional linguistic theory, with its focus on revealing 'the facts of language in general', cannot handle the necessary indeterminacy of what is said and understood.

Hayley G. Davis

Chapter 1 Orientation: The Word of Linguistic Theory; Chapter 2 Methodology: The Word of the Layperson; Chapter 3 What do Lay Speakers Say About Words?; Chapter 4 Words and Linguistic Meaning; Chapter 5 Parts of Speech and Grammar; Chapter 6 Folk Characteristics of Words; Chapter 7 Reorientation: the Integration of Speech and Writing;