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Linguistics, seventh edition: An Introduction to Language and Communication
The latest edition of a popular introductory linguistics text, now including a section on computational linguistics, new non-English examples, quizzes for each chapter, and additional special topics. This popular introductory linguistics text is unique for its integration of themes. Rather than treat morphology, phonetics, phonology, syntax, and semantics as completely separate fields, the book shows how they interact. The authors provide a sound introduction to linguistic methodology, focusing on a set of linguistic concepts that are among the most fundamental within the field. By studying the topics in detail, students can get a feeling for how work in different areas of linguistics is done. As in the last edition, part I covers the structural and interpretive parts of language—morphology, phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, variation, and change. Part II covers use and context of language and includes chapters on pragmatics, psychology of language, language acquisition, and language and the brain. This seventh edition has been extensively revised and updated; new material includes a chapter on computational linguistics (available in digital form and updated regularly to reflect the latest research in a rapidly developing field), more non-English examples, and a wide range of exercises, quizzes, and special topics. The seventh edition of Linguistics includes access to a new, web-based eCourse and enhanced eTextbook. The content from the former print supplement A Linguistics Workbook is now available in this online eCourse as interactive exercises. The eCourse is available via the Rent eTextbook link at and may be used on its own for self-study or integrated with instructor-led learning management systems. The eCourse is a comprehensive, web-based eLearning solution. There is nothing to download or install; it is accessible through any modern web browser and most mobile devices. It features a singular new tool for building syntax trees, an IPA keyboard, a combination of auto-graded and essay questions, and classroom management tools. The enhanced eTextbook includes videos and flashcards and allows bookmarking, note-taking, highlighting, and annotation sharing. Access to the eCourse is free with the purchase of a new textbook or e-book. New print copies of this book include a card affixed to the inside back cover with a unique access code for the eTextbook. If you purchased an e-book, you may obtain a unique access code by emailing digitalproducts-cs@mit.edu or calling 617-253-2889 or 800-207-8354 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada). If you have a used copy of this book, you may purchase a digitally delivered access code separately via the Rent eTextbook link at
608 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 18, 2025
Absolutely useless and pointless waffle. Makes me realize why the Usuliyyīn were taken more seriously than linguists. Read Yunus Ali’s work on Linguistic Pragmatics instead.
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September 6, 2010also not for fun.
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February 7, 2016MORPHOLOGY
October 4, 2021
I am a linguist and this is the textbook I read for introductory linguistics back in the day; it played a big role in getting me interested in linguistics and giving me a solid foundation in it. I will always appreciate that.
That being said, I'm not sure this book holds up well anymore. I recently re-read the Pragmatics chapter while I've been preparing to teach a new class. It is quite dated -- not just for a 2021, but even for 2001 when it was written -- and gives little more than a brief gloss-over of the most important stuff in pragmatics (speech acts, illocution, Gricean reasoning) while spending tens of pages on stuff that doesn't seem relevant to any contemporary pragmatics work.
The first chapter, about what linguistics is and about stuff like descriptivism and prescriptivism, is still good, and I still often assign it in my classes (this is also, incidentally, the stuff about linguistics that hasn't changed in like a century). But for other content, I think there are better textbooks out there now.
That being said, I'm not sure this book holds up well anymore. I recently re-read the Pragmatics chapter while I've been preparing to teach a new class. It is quite dated -- not just for a 2021, but even for 2001 when it was written -- and gives little more than a brief gloss-over of the most important stuff in pragmatics (speech acts, illocution, Gricean reasoning) while spending tens of pages on stuff that doesn't seem relevant to any contemporary pragmatics work.
The first chapter, about what linguistics is and about stuff like descriptivism and prescriptivism, is still good, and I still often assign it in my classes (this is also, incidentally, the stuff about linguistics that hasn't changed in like a century). But for other content, I think there are better textbooks out there now.
July 4, 2019
My review assumes that this is meant to be a first textbook for men and women studying linguistics.
Parts of the book are clear and they do a good job of exposing students to the science of linguistics. Other parts read more like a technical paper with many of the flaws of typical technical papers.
I believe the book is missing many items necessary to be a useful textbook. Linguistics introduces an enormous amount of terms tht the student must learn. The book includes a glossary, but it is not complete. Many symbols are introduced to represent specific consonant and vowel sounds in various settings. A table of these with examples would have been very useful.
The authors are fond of acronyms; they are an impediment to learning. The authors are generous with their references to other work, but clutter the text by inserting them in the form of "author(s) year of publication" in the text. an number would have been adequate.
Parts of the book are clear and they do a good job of exposing students to the science of linguistics. Other parts read more like a technical paper with many of the flaws of typical technical papers.
I believe the book is missing many items necessary to be a useful textbook. Linguistics introduces an enormous amount of terms tht the student must learn. The book includes a glossary, but it is not complete. Many symbols are introduced to represent specific consonant and vowel sounds in various settings. A table of these with examples would have been very useful.
The authors are fond of acronyms; they are an impediment to learning. The authors are generous with their references to other work, but clutter the text by inserting them in the form of "author(s) year of publication" in the text. an number would have been adequate.
June 9, 2019
Lots of good information for an introduction to linguistics course.
However, I’m perplexed by:
Odd examples (e.g., children’s syntax with distinctly adult ones)
Lack of discussion of social media’s effects on language
The overall omission of gender and language
The overly academic tone sometimes could be tempered when, say, discussing how academic language isn’t the only language.
Overall, though, the authors take great care to point out that language is always changing and that we should all take care when assuming standard English is always the gold standard. I and my students appreciated this as well as the wealth of information, which is also very well organized.
However, I’m perplexed by:
Odd examples (e.g., children’s syntax with distinctly adult ones)
Lack of discussion of social media’s effects on language
The overall omission of gender and language
The overly academic tone sometimes could be tempered when, say, discussing how academic language isn’t the only language.
Overall, though, the authors take great care to point out that language is always changing and that we should all take care when assuming standard English is always the gold standard. I and my students appreciated this as well as the wealth of information, which is also very well organized.
February 27, 2021
I have the sixth edition.
This is a very satisfactory introductory textbook for first year undergraduates. Really, you cannot go wrong with this book. My complaints are few, and I will only go over the complaints, rather than the positives, because otherwise I will simply say this book is very good and its treatment of topics astute as an introductory text. There are some factual errors, unsubstantiated and generally dubious claims (that the authors were doubltessly aware of being dubious, I can only assume), and frown-inducing insinuations scattered throughout the text, but I think if I were to think poorly of every introductory textbook to do such things, I'd be left with no introductory textbooks.
So, first. Chapter one does a less than satisfactory job of giving a well-principled motivation for the field, an overview of its scope and contents, its goals, and what might be considered its principle subfields.
Second, the header layouts. This is but a typesetting nitpick, but the way the headers are printed really is not very intuitive; traditional numbered sections would have been much easier to navigate.
Third, definitions are often unclear and are difficult to find upon navigating the text. There is, indeed, a glossary at the back, however, I feel this is more cumbersome than simply arranging for the definitions in-text to be easier to find and refer to. As I am familiar with the terms I didn't find this very bothersome, but I think a beginning student would have less patience.
Fourth, the rhetorical tone. This is but a matter of style, but I find the academic tone employed has a habit of making a reader loose track of where they are (for a fresh undergraduate, I fear it might scare them off!) - and the use of rhetorics does more to hamper the course of arguments than to make them explicit.
So, while the book is indeed very good, it is not the most accessible to someone new to the field, I think. This is indeed a very big caveat for an introductory text, and were these issues to be rectified in a subsequent edition - which indeed would require some reasonable amount of rewriting, though I've surely seen bigger transformations between editions - I'd say it's the perfect introduction. (Well, I will concede I would have liked some deeper history of the field.)
This is a very satisfactory introductory textbook for first year undergraduates. Really, you cannot go wrong with this book. My complaints are few, and I will only go over the complaints, rather than the positives, because otherwise I will simply say this book is very good and its treatment of topics astute as an introductory text. There are some factual errors, unsubstantiated and generally dubious claims (that the authors were doubltessly aware of being dubious, I can only assume), and frown-inducing insinuations scattered throughout the text, but I think if I were to think poorly of every introductory textbook to do such things, I'd be left with no introductory textbooks.
So, first. Chapter one does a less than satisfactory job of giving a well-principled motivation for the field, an overview of its scope and contents, its goals, and what might be considered its principle subfields.
Second, the header layouts. This is but a typesetting nitpick, but the way the headers are printed really is not very intuitive; traditional numbered sections would have been much easier to navigate.
Third, definitions are often unclear and are difficult to find upon navigating the text. There is, indeed, a glossary at the back, however, I feel this is more cumbersome than simply arranging for the definitions in-text to be easier to find and refer to. As I am familiar with the terms I didn't find this very bothersome, but I think a beginning student would have less patience.
Fourth, the rhetorical tone. This is but a matter of style, but I find the academic tone employed has a habit of making a reader loose track of where they are (for a fresh undergraduate, I fear it might scare them off!) - and the use of rhetorics does more to hamper the course of arguments than to make them explicit.
So, while the book is indeed very good, it is not the most accessible to someone new to the field, I think. This is indeed a very big caveat for an introductory text, and were these issues to be rectified in a subsequent edition - which indeed would require some reasonable amount of rewriting, though I've surely seen bigger transformations between editions - I'd say it's the perfect introduction. (Well, I will concede I would have liked some deeper history of the field.)
January 21, 2024
(This is a review of the 1979 hardcover edition).
This is a somewhat outdated book, but the authors do an excellent job of breaking up the material for students, of bringing relevant questions and samples to the front, and of leaving the reader with hopeful "jumping off" points, places to go next.
The basics are certainly covered - phonology, syntax, semantics, and the basics of pragmatics. A considerable time is spent on animal communication and comparative analysis, to give the reader some benchmarks with which to judge human linguistic ability.
Overall, I was quite pleased, though I am definitely in search of some more up to date material on pragmatics. Acquisition, while not a primary focus, was touched on. It is certainly another area I am intrigued by. The material on physical results linked to assigning roles to areas of the brain for various linguistic processes was interesting also (not new to me, but I thought laid out fairly well). Not the best source, as any number of more recent texts on both cognitive function and artificial intelligence offer more material.
This is a somewhat outdated book, but the authors do an excellent job of breaking up the material for students, of bringing relevant questions and samples to the front, and of leaving the reader with hopeful "jumping off" points, places to go next.
The basics are certainly covered - phonology, syntax, semantics, and the basics of pragmatics. A considerable time is spent on animal communication and comparative analysis, to give the reader some benchmarks with which to judge human linguistic ability.
Overall, I was quite pleased, though I am definitely in search of some more up to date material on pragmatics. Acquisition, while not a primary focus, was touched on. It is certainly another area I am intrigued by. The material on physical results linked to assigning roles to areas of the brain for various linguistic processes was interesting also (not new to me, but I thought laid out fairly well). Not the best source, as any number of more recent texts on both cognitive function and artificial intelligence offer more material.
August 8, 2015
This is now the fourth introduction to linguistics textbook I've tried and frankly it's the most disappointing of all four - but I've already ordered it for the class so it's too late to change it. It's long, dry and hard, and also out of date in parts. I will have to supplement it with readings that I hope will go down a bit easier. There are moments here and there that shine through, and I did like the last chapter, on language and the brain, which was written by a different author. But there must certainly be something better out there - just wish I could find it.
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January 12, 2018The textbook for the introductory linguistics class I took as a college freshman. I'm a third-year linguistics major now and this is still a really good resource when I need a quick refresher, or when I need to help younger students.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews