Language: Its Structure and Use

by Edward Finegan

This best-selling introductory linguistics textbooks treats language as both a system (structure) and a social tool (use) - an approach that serves students in many disciplines, especially linguistics, English, speech communication, and education. Features such as “What Do You Think?” and “Try It Yourself” prompt students to consider language in daily life and to begin thinking about language analysis, while new “Language at the Bar” features show them the real-world applications of linguistic analysis to criminal and civil legal cases. The wide range of exercises includes “Especially for Educators and Future Teachers” sections ideal for future educators, as well as “Practice Exercises,” “Based on English,” and end-of-chapter review sections. Based on sound scholarship and framed in a clear, friendly presentation, ITS STRUCTURE AND USE, Seventh Edition, helps students understand the uniquely human trait of language.Important Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Genres: Linguistics, Language, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference, Academic, Education

608 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[L Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aside from the editing mistakes, this book rocks my world. Sentence trees? Bilabial stops? Makes me shudder with pleasure. I will be naming my firstborn Finegan. And my secondborn.

[Muhammad Abdo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite occasional misinterpretations, people in most situations manage to understand utterances essentially as they were intended. The reason is that, without cause to expect otherwise, interlocutors normally trust that they and their conversational partners are honoring the same interpretive conventions. Hearers assume simply that speakers have honored the conventions of interpretation in constructing their utterances. Speakers, on the other hand, must make a twofold assumption: not only that hearers will themselves be guided by the conventions, but also that hearers will trust speakers to have honored those conventions in constructing their utterances. There is an unspoken pact that people will cooperate in communicating with each other, and speakers rely on this cooperation to make conversation efficient.

[Derya Kulavuz-Onal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book for my graduate level linguistics class. Students said that it was easy-to-read and I especially liked the pragmatics and discourse sections of this book. I think there is not a completely satisfactory linguistics book, and all of them at some point need to be supplemented with outside materials. This one for example does not have any section on psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics. As the title suggests, the book has two main sections (in addition to some historical discussions of English, which I did not use in my class): structure and use. I found these sections satisfactory.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful introduction to linguistics. Each chapter has a useful review summary and additional practice exercises. This textbook was assigned for one of my summer linguistics classes. It gives a helpful introduction to the key areas of linguistics: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The last chapter discusses second language acquisition (SLA), and how infants and adults learn languages with some pedagogical principles for teaching foreign languages (L2).

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapters featuring abstract concepts were a bit of a drag, but there was always a way the material could be applied to everyday life.

[Don Goforth · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to language and how they work.

[Bria]

Aha! Finally I've achieved my dream - to know enough about a foreign language to spot an error about it in a linguistics textbook!

[Danielle Cozzola · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first textbook I've ever read that was intended to have some humorous parts, and they were actually humorous! 5/5 for the content too, of course!

[Xinyan Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

not bad

[Laura Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

lit textbook

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my textbook for my graduate level linguistics course. It's fantastic. I learned so much from the text because the material is really well presented within chapters and chapters are broken up in a way that makes the study of linguistics easier to digest. I enjoyed doing the exercises at the end of the chapter because they weren't just read-and-regurjitate kinds of problems -- you really had to think. It's definitely not a book for slackers and its' not "Linguistics for Dummies" but if you read it I promise you will learn a LOT.

[King Haddock · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as textbooks, not the worst I've picked up. The reading was easy and understandable, the content useful and informative, if basic (but then, we're talking about an introductory level textbook).

[Marnie S. Angulo Delgado, B.A., CMI]

This resource forms part of my Interpreter/Translator library. A study of general English linguistics.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just need it in my life forever.

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting look into linguistics and evolution of language.

[Demo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Educational linguistics textbook

[Suzanne Hess · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was more helpful and informative than the instructor.

[Amanda Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been in some sort of formal education for the past 26 years. This is the first textbook I have read cover to cover. As far as textbooks go, it was not too bad.