Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction (Learning About Language)

Contemporary Linguistics has long provided a comprehensive introduction to the discipline, balancing engaging aspects of language study with sound coverage of the core areas of linguistics. Now in its second UK edition, it has been fully revised and updated to reflect the latest trends in scholarship, and includes an entirely new chapter expounding cognitive grammar.

An initiation into the intricacies of scientific linguistic analysis, Contemporary Linguistics covers not only how language is structured, but also how it functions both socially and culturally, and how it is acquired and processed by speakers.

Interdisciplinary areas such as psycholinguistics, language acquisition and the growing field of computational linguistics are explored as well as the fundamentals of phonetics and phonology, syntax and semantics. Up-to-date scholarship, a direct approach and a lucid writing style makes it appealing to instructors and students alike, and a resource that many students continue to use beyond the classroom.

Originally co-edited by William O'Grady and John Archibald, with contributions from other leading scholars, and published in Canada, this major textbook has been fully adapted and updated by Francis Katamba for use in Britain and the rest of the world outside North America.

"Contemporary Linguisticsis a reader- and instructor-friendly book. It is well paced and clearly written, and each chapter ends with a concise summary of the material, up-to-date recommendations for further reading and an extensive set of exercises. The individual chapters are nicely linked, allowing the reader to integrate information that is presented in different contexts and parts of the book.An excellent primary textbook for beginning linguistics undergraduates; it will also be a useful reference work for more advanced students... Accessible and informative, with tried and tested sequencing of material."- Reviewed in Times Higher Education