Teach Yourself Linguistics,   ISBN:9780071429825

Customer Rating: 

This book is very well written in a way that is easy to grasp. For me at least, this is a book I can sit down and just read. It is very thorough, and provides a lot of information on how linguistics works, what it is, and explains the technical terms providing exampels mostly in english, but also uses some latin and compares English with German some at one point. It goes through some of the major theories and schools of thought and also different applications for linguistics. For example, it talks about psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics, which are fields of psychology and sociology concerning language. It also talks about the anthropological, literary, and other applications and fields of linguistic science. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in language.

Customer Rating: 

Only 250 small pages, yet it gives you a very good overview of linguistics, and is written in an easy to digest style, with lots of diagrammatic illustrations to boost your understanding. It could also be used as a quick look up reference book.

In Part 5 of the book, you will find simple but quality explanations on Universal Grammer, Deep Structure, Transformations, etc. And it gives an excellent overview of how one theory has led to another, such as, how Noam Chomsky has come all the way to the Minimalist approach today, its very instructive, without being swamped in details!

Highly recommended and cost less than $12.00!

Customer Rating: 

I'm about halfway through this book and have really enjoyed it so far. It gives a good overview of what linguistics is all about and describes the different branches of the science pretty well. It does this without digging into a bunch of jargon and unnecessary complication that one might get in a more specific text.

I especially like the description of the various "lenses" that linguists view language through. I'm very interested in linguistics (at least certain branches of it) and this book has given me a good idea of where my interests fit into the broader field. It also gives some good historic facts, goes through the development of linguistics, and talks about how all of the various subfields fit together into a comprehensive science.

If you are at all interested in languages and/or you're into learning (or analyzing) them, you should read this book to get a broader appreciation of the science that studies languages not only from the "micro" level (as language learners do), but from a broad scientific level. As a language learner myself, I found this to be an interesting general overview with more than enough specifics to satisfy my curiosity about linguistics.

Customer Rating: 

Aitchison has written a superb book that is both highly informative and easily read. I would highly recommend this for those who are new to the field of linguistics or who are studying it in a second language.

This book is laid out in relation to a pattern of moving from the inner core of linguistics (phonetics and phonology) outwards through syntax, semantics, and pragmatics to the various fields of linguistics research. Chapters on sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and the idea of a universal grammar are included but with simple titles such as "Language and Society." The strength of this book lies in its uncomplicated explanations of these fields.

Each chapter includes questions for review that are useful in teaching yourself or for assigning to a class. The end of the book includes a selection of further readings arranged by category which many will find useful.