An Introduction to Language and Linguistics
Edited by: R.W. Fasold & J. Connor-Linton
Cambridge University Press
2006
ISBN: 0-521-61235-7
540 pp

Reviewed by: Stacey Prentice Burge

An Introduction to Language and Linguistics edited by Ralph W. Fasold and Jeff Connor-Linton is a college-level textbook that aims to introduce students to the field of linguistics. Starting with phonetics, and ending with computational linguistics, the chapters encompass what a syllabus for an introductory course to linguistics might entail. Not only could the text be offered as an introductory college linguistics text, but it could also be used in conjunction with other fields related to linguistics.

The text is written for students with no prior knowledge of the field. It includes logical explanations, numerous examples referencing various languages, and many charts and figures to clearly exemplify the concepts being identified. One of the books’ key advantages is that a highly acclaimed scholar writes each chapter on their field of expertise. Using specific examples to portray complex concepts, each author offers a clear explanation of their particular linguistic field for the initial linguistics learner. In addition to this, each chapter includes a chapter preview with key terms, section goals, bold-faced key terms, practical field examples, a chapter summary, and end of chapter assessment exercises. These components combined make it an excellent complementary text for any college-level introductory linguistics course.

The first three chapters explore the foundation of languages and how the distinct sounds of languages are developed into meaningful constructions. Beginning with The Sounds of Language, Elizabeth Zsiga introduces phonetics and phonology and the more technical terms and concepts associated with these areas of linguistics. Students learn IPA transcription, as well as how to differentiate between phonemes and allomorphs and different types of alternations. The chapter concludes with a section on phonological theory. Building on this, Donna Lardier’s chapter on morphology, Words and Their Parts, begins with a discussion regarding the constituents of a word, and then follows with a study on morphology and morphological operations. Students learn how to identify morphemes, and the purposes of morphology. The third chapter, The Structure of Sentences, by David Lightfoot and Ralph Fasold investigates the field of syntax and the construction of sentences. Lightfoot and Fasold use various tree diagrams to analyze how the smaller units are formed and combined to construct meaningful sentences. The authors include examples of variation in sentence structure between different languages, and conclude their chapter with a discussion regarding the differences between formal and functional analyses.

The fourth chapter by Paul Portner focuses on Meaning and incorporates the fields of semantics and pragmatics. Portner introduces the essential concepts of his field by outlining the various aspects of semantics and the specific components one needs to address in identifying literal meaning. In his section on pragmatics, Portner provides both an analysis of meaning and context and one on meaning and intention to communicate as well. He concludes his chapter addressing the philosophical issues that arise when discussing the nature of meaning.

Deborah Schiffrin introduces her field, Discourse, with a discussion on discourse as a functional approach to linguistics. She then uses various transcriptions to provide an analysis of spoken discourse and compares this to written discourse. In addition to this, Schiffrin also outlines the functions of language, and then concludes her chapter with a section on the planes of discourse.

Kendall A. King writes the sixth chapter on Child Language Acquisition. In this chapter, King presents three ways of collecting data to study child language acquisition, and subsequently analyzes the data to present the various milestones in child language development. After this, King presents crosslinguistic and cross-cultural aspects of child language acquisition and briefly touches on language acquisition for bilingual children. King concludes the chapter by presenting four various theories of child language acquisition, and exploring the advantages and disadvantages of each.

The seventh chapter by Michael T. Ullman, Language and the Brain, addresses the biology of language, the field of psycholinguistics, and the biocognitive bases of languages. The chapter includes an overview of the biology of the brain, and then addresses key questions regarding the biology of language. Ullman also includes an analysis of methods used to study the biology of the brain. He concludes the chapter with an overview and analysis of the evidence for the biology of language, offering insight into the relationship between particular brain structures and the corresponding language functions.

The eighth chapter by Shaligram Shukla and Jeff Connor-Linton is about Language Change. After providing a brief overview of language change, the authors use specific examples from world languages to investigate the causes of change, the kinds of change, and the mechanisms of language change. A brief discussion on language families and linguistic reconstruction ensues the concluding section, which discusses the importance of historical linguistics.

Natalie Schilling-Estes authors chapter nine on Dialect Variation. By differentiating between languages and dialects, Schilling-Estes describes the nature of dialects. After analyzing the regular pattern of dialect standards, she then introduces the different levels and different types of dialect variation. She concludes the chapter with a discussion on the fate of dialect variation.

Deborah Tannen is the author of the tenth chapter on Language and Culture. Tannen begins this chapter discussing the culturally influenced aspects of language. This chapter examines framing in context to language, as well as cross-cultural miscommunication, and politeness and interaction. Providing an in-depth analysis of high involvement and high considerateness styles, Tannen analyzes the importance in understanding variation between overlap, back-channel cues, turn taking, question asking, indirectness, and mutual stereotyping among conversational styles.

In the eleventh chapter, Ralph Fasold provides an in-depth look at The Politics of Language. He begins with identity, politics, and language; and then analyzes language standardization and the politics behind languages and dialects. He includes in this chapter an analysis of the movement to make English the official language of the United States and the political implications behind this.

Jeff Connor-Linton is the author of the twelfth chapter titled Writing, which analyzes the history and various aspects of writing systems. By analyzing specific limitations in writing, Connor-Linton makes the distinction between spoken and written discourse, and subsequently provides an overview of the various types of world writing systems. Connor-Linton examines the development of writing and concludes his chapter with a section on the consequences of literacy and the ways in which writing is a tool that offers social and economic rewards.

Alison Mackey presents and examines the various theories of Second Language

Acquisition. In her chapter, Mackey analyzes the differences between acquiring a first language and a second. In the second section of her chapter, Mackey outlines how L2 language development is affected by L1, age, gender, working memory, motivation, and the context of the second language learning. Additionally, Mackay analyzes the processes involved in SLA and concludes her chapter with an analysis of SLA instruction.

Inderjeet Mani writes the final up-to-date chapter on Computational Linguistics. In this chapter, Mani specifically looks at morphological, syntactic, and semantic processing. He also reviews natural language generation and explores whether a computer can actually generate texts. He presents probabilistic theories and discusses some related technologies like information extraction, speech recognition, speech synthesis, and machine translations. He concludes his chapter presenting some major challenges that we face in the field of computational linguistics today.