This book is intended for anyone with a serious interest in language, but particularly for students taking introductory courses in language and linguistics. It is not a catalogue of facts and theories but a book about ideas and issues. Rather than summarize the range of research being conducted in linguistics today, it explores a number of the fundamental key questions which concern linguists, they are treated in way that is as accessible as possible. The book includes a glossary of technical terms and a chapter outlining the way language is described in generative grammar.

Ronald Wardhaugh is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Toronto.