This lively and wide-ranging textbook provides an invaluable guide to the very nature of language. By covering all major aspects of linguistics - with chapters on semantics (the study of meaning), phonology (the sound systems of languages) and morphology (the structure of words), as well as syntax and social variation - it gives a thorough grounding in the fundamental concepts of language and a practical analysis of its use.
Concise summaries of the areas covered, a variety of texts and topic-related exercises, as well as a helpful glossary, provide further aids to study and revision.