Language: The Basics

Language: The Basics provides a concise, plain language introduction to the study of language. The new edition of this classic text by R. L. Trask has been revised and completely rewritten to bring it up to date.

Written in an engaging and entertaining style, this book features:

• new chapters on language and AI and word formation processes;
• new discussions on racio‑linguistics and anthropology, gender and sexuality, language and migration, heritage languages, multilingual speakers and language and the brain;
• new examples from a range of languages to showcase the diversity that languages bring;
• analyses of various language genres from spoken language, to written and digital language, including social media; and
• handy annotated guides to further reading.

Providing an accessible overview of a fascinating subject which assumes no prior knowledge, this is an essential book for all students and anyone who’s ever been accused of splitting an infinitive.

Online support materials, including exercises and ideas for miniresearch projects, are available at www.routledge.com/9781041029229.

Andreea S. Calude is Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. She is the author of Questions About Language (Routledge, 2019, edited with Laurie Bauer), Mysteries of English Grammar (Routledge, 2020, written with Laurie Bauer), and The Linguistics of Social Media (Routledge, 2023). Her work has been funded by several Royal Society Marsden Fund grants, and she is a TEDEd educator (Does Grammar Matter?, seen by more than 2.5 million viewers) as well as a TEDx speaker (Our Changing Digital Language, recorded in November 2025).