Looking at Languages: A Workbook in Elementary Linguistics

This workbook gives you the chance to use the linguistic principles you�ve been learning to analyze language data. Here you�ll find exercises for practice in 30 natural languages, including popular ones, such as Chinese and Spanish, and threatened or nearly extinct ones, such as Lakota and Wichita, as well as constructed languages like Klingon (from the world of Star Trek) and Na�vi (spoken on Pandora in the movie Avatar). You can hear much of the foreign-language data pronounced by native speakers in audio files on the book�s website.

Paul R. Frommer (BA, mathematics, University of Rochester; MA and PhD, linguistics, USC) lived and taught in Malaysia and Iran. The former director of USC�s Center for Management Communication, where he taught Advanced Writing for Business and Cross-cultural Business Communication for Non-native Speakers, he created the Na�vi language for James Cameron�s film �Avatar� and is currently working with a worldwide community of enthusiasts to expand the language. He also developed Barsoomian, the Martian language for the Disney film �John Carter.�

Edward Finegan (MA and PhD, Ohio University) specializes in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, forensic linguistics, and the history and structure of the English language. He served as chair of the Department of Linguistics at USC and currently serves as director of USC's Center for Excellence in Teaching. President of the International Association of Forensic Linguists, Finegan is editor of DICTIONARIES: THE JOURNAL OF THE DICTIONARY SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA and has been Liberal Arts Fellow in Law and Linguistics, Harvard University; Visiting Professor at University of Zurich; and Visiting Scholar at University of Helsinki. He also served as Director of American Language Institute/National Iranian Radio and Television [1975-1976 in peaceful times]. He is the recipient of many teaching awards and honors.