The Design of Language: An Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics

by Terry Crowley

The Design of Language: An Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics provides a comprehensive introduction to all areas of general descriptive linguistics. The chapters include topics likely to be found in most undergraduate courses on the subject, with some areas extended to more specialised study.

Topics covered are:
- Linguistic Levels
- Grammatical Categories
- Morphosyntax
- Sounds and Phonemes
- Morphemes
- Syntax
- More Abstract Phonology
- Morphophonemics
- More Abstract Syntax

Because the book is also an introduction to the typology of language, the authors draw extensively on their experience of Austronesian, Australian, Papuan and other languages in the Pacific region. This sample represents about one-fifth of the world's languages and a significant slice of typological diversity. Examples are also drawn from other groupings and those of well-known European languages.

Written in an easily digested, conversational style, the text is very accessible, and there is ample discussion and exemplification. Students are given a solid grounding in the principles involved in analysing linguistic data, while lists of supplementary reading in each chapter facilitate more detailed study. The Design of Language is written for general linguistics courses at first, second and third year undergraduate level.

Genres: Linguistics

471 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1995

About the author

Terry Crowley (1953-2005) was a linguist specializing in Oceanic languages, as well as Bislama, the English-lexified Creole recognized as a national language in Vanuatu. From 1991 till his death, he was a professor at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Previously, he was with the Pacific Languages Unit of the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu (1983–90) and with the Department of Language and Literature at the University of Papua New Guinea (1979–83).