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Language » Linguistics

The best books on linguistics, recommended by david adger.

Language Unlimited: The Science Behind Our Most Creative Power by David Adger

Which linguistics books give a good sense of what the field is about? David Adger , Professor of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London and the current president of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain, recommends some of his own favourite books on the science of language, including a sci-fi novel.

Interview by Sophie Roell , Editor

The Resilience of Language by Susan Goldin-Meadow

Language and Experience: Evidence from the Blind Child by Barbara Landau & Lila Gleitman

The Language of Thought by Jerry Fodor

On Nature and Language by Noam Chomsky

Embassytown by China Miéville

1 The Resilience of Language by Susan Goldin-Meadow

2 language and experience: evidence from the blind child by barbara landau & lila gleitman, 3 the language of thought by jerry fodor, 4 on nature and language by noam chomsky, 5 embassytown by china miéville.

I ’m slightly nervous talking to you about linguistics , as I feel I’m stepping into a bit of a minefield. As a subject, it’s often very technical and people seem to have very strong opinions. Before we get to the books, I wondered if you could provide a bit of context about linguistics as a field and how best to approach it if, like me, you’re a layperson who’s interested but also a bit frightened?

People tend to be very interested in questions of what’s okay to say and what’s not okay to say. For example, ‘Don’t end sentences with prepositions!’ Or: ‘What do you mean you’re abbreviating words in your texts?’ People don’t like language to change; they don’t like it to be different from what they expect it to be. Whereas linguists are interested in describing what’s going on and explaining it. So we get really excited when we see language changing or rules being broken. Linguists just have a very different attitude towards language than many people who are not professionally involved in thinking about it.

Why is linguistics technical and difficult to get into? I think that’s connected to what I just said. People think they know how language works, so the moment you get a bit technical about it, people turn off. People feel that they can use language fine and they know how it works. So why have all these funny mathematical symbols or complicated statistics?

“The big thing I wanted to get across—which is at the heart of linguistics, but we don’t really talk about very much—is the astounding, creative use we can make of language”

But what modern linguistics has shown us is that language can be studied through the normal methods of science. You form hypotheses. You test them. You do experiments. You observe stuff. That means it’s technical, because science is technical.

And that’s actually quite a challenge. I found Language Unlimited the hardest thing I’ve ever written, because it’s really difficult to take this abstract stuff and turn it into something that is accessible. Our arguments in linguistics get very—not convoluted—but they are involved. They involve lots of steps. You’re saying, ‘Okay remember this and now remember that and now we’re establishing this and then you put those two things together and combine it with the first thing and then you get x.’ And most people, by that point, are like, ‘I’m bored.’ That’s another reason why people find linguistics intimidating sometimes, because it has that abstractness to it. Abstractness also leads to technical terminology, which is impenetrable jargon to people who don’t know it.

In your book, Language Unlimited , you write about when you were asked to invent a language for an ITV Beowulf series and how Parseltongue was developed for the Harry Potter movies. Also, you analyze an effort to write Moby Dick  entirely in emojis, and whether emojis can be a universal language. What was the aim of the book? Was it to introduce people to linguistics for the first time?

That’s what I had in mind when I started writing it. But then I realized that the big thing I wanted to get across—which is at the heart of linguistics, but we don’t really talk about very much—is the astounding, creative use we can make of language. I started the book with an invitation to type a whole sentence into Google in inverted commas and see if anyone else had written exactly the same thing. No one has come back to me yet saying someone had written the same sentence. Virtually everything we say is novel. We just have this incredible capacity to use language creatively.

Animals don’t do this. Machines, like the kind of AIs we build, don’t do this. But we do it, as part of what we are about. How do we do it? What is it about us that allows us to have this amazing creative use of language?

Is the field divided into for and against Noam Chomsky ?

It’s way more complex than that. That’s what seeps out into the wider world, because Chomsky is a well-known figure for his politics. And he has been a controversial figure within linguistics. But a lot of things he was controversial about in the 1950s and 1960s, everyone agrees with now.

People in psychology , for example, used to think that if you had one word, the frequency with which that word is followed by other words will tell what the next one is going to be. That will then tell you what the next one is going to be and so on. No one really thinks that language works like that now. In terms of those kinds of models of how humans think and process language, Chomsky basically won that battle.

There were other polarizing moments in the field. It’s also just that Chomsky is such a huge intellectual figure that people get really annoyed if he is dismissive about something.

“Modern linguistics has shown us…that language can be studied through the normal methods of science ”

But the way I see the field now, it’s much less like that. It’s much less polarized. Younger generations of researchers have grown up with less of this bitter infighting. They’re more excited about bringing things together from different perspectives and trying to have a more holistic view.

I have strong opinions, but my interactions with people, even on Twitter, are pretty respectful in both directions, I think. People listen to each other, even when they disagree. It feels to me that the field is in a much better place from that perspective than it used to be.

But there are parts of your book that people really disagree with?

Yes, absolutely. There are two perspectives on language, both interesting. One is that language is this specifically human thing that gives us this creative power and is really quite distinct from other species. The other is a more evolutionary perspective which says, there isn’t something really distinct, it’s just that we’re really clever and our general intelligence is the thing that allows us to use language. If apes were as intelligent as us, they would have language.

My view is that it’s just a different thing. Apes are really good at some things and we’re really good at other things. We’re really good at language and apes are not. That’s because they don’t have this particular mental capacity that we have. There’s no species superiority there—it’s just that we’re different.

That is a big argument. What it then comes down to is: what aspects of our general intelligence can be used to learn language? I make a bunch of arguments in the book that there aren’t aspects of a general intelligence we can use to learn language. Language is too sub-specialized.

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Let’s look at some of the books you’ve chosen to get a further sense of what studying linguistics is all about. The first is The Resilience of Language by Susan Goldin-Meadow, who runs a lab in the psychology department at the University of Chicago. The book’s subtitle is “what gesture creation in deaf children can tell us about how all children learn language.” Tell me about the book and why you’ve chosen it.

I’ve been a fan of Susan Goldin-Meadow’s work for a long, long time. She has been working with profoundly deaf kids for about 40 years now. What she’s interested in figuring out is the kind of language you get when there is nothing in the way of linguistic input early on. All these children can see is their hearing parents’ gestures and they obviously have this deep need to communicate that all humans have.

What kind of language do they end up with? Are the properties of those language like the properties of language in general? And if so, could those properties have been learned from the parents’ gestures?

Over and over again, she’s shown, pretty convincingly, that there are properties in the kids’ signings that are very language-like, but which are not in the parents’ gestures. Where does that come from? If it’s not ‘out there,’ what the kids are experiencing, where does it come from? Goldin-Meadow’s idea is that it comes from the mind of the children.

This, of course, is an idea that fits very well with the general Chomskyan perspective that I take, which is that there’s something about us, that’s common to all humans, which is this capacity to combine meaningful elements and create larger meanings out of them in a very systematic way.

In The Resilience of Language she takes 20 or 30 years of her experimental work and shows her journey in exploring that. The book is beautifully written and it does have some complex linguistics in it, but it’s a really interesting question it’s asking. You have to nuance what it comes out with in the end—we have to be careful, because you don’t want to draw too strong conclusions—but it’s a fascinating book.

Can you give an example of something a deaf child will do which you wouldn’t expect them to do unless it’s coming from inside their mind?

In English, and many other languages, if we use a word like ‘that’ or ‘this,’ we combine it with a noun. So you say ‘this cup’ or ‘that banana’ or ‘those books’ and they create what linguists call a ‘constituent’—a little unit of language built out of two smaller units. Each of those small units has its own meaning and the larger unit then puts those meanings together to give you something new.

So if you look at the gestures of the hearing parents of profoundly deaf children, they certainly use pointing to do something like the word ‘this’ or ‘that’ in English. So they’ll go, ‘This is white’ or ‘That’s tasty’ and point at stuff. And they might make symbols for things: they might make a love heart for ‘I love you’. But what they don’t do, according to Goldin-Meadow’s data, is put them together. If you’re gesturing and pointing at that cup, it’s weird to say that you have two separate units: ‘that’ as well as ‘cup,’ because you’re just pointing at that one thing. The hearing parents don’t do that in their gesturing. They might make a cup gesture, and they might point, but they don’t combine them.

But the children Susan Goldin-Meadow was studying do put the two together, just like you would in English. They do the ‘that’ signal and the cup signal. So you get these two things, which are not found together in the gestures of the parents, but are found together in other languages. The kids put those two things with their independent meanings together into a single unit.

Where are they learning to do that from? They can’t be learning it from what they’re seeing, because that’s not what their parents or caregivers are doing. So why are they doing it? That’s one really fascinating example, and her book is full of them.

So presumably these are very young kids who haven’t read the phrase ‘this cup’ or ‘that banana’ somewhere?

Let’s move on to the next book you’ve chosen, which is Language and Experience: Evidence from the Blind Child by Barbara Landau and Leila Gleitman. Why is this on your list of linguistics books?

This is another book about the acquisition of language by young kids who have some kind of sensory input issue. My own work tends to be on adult speakers of different spoken languages, so you’re probably wondering why I’ve chosen these two books about children. It’s because they both address really deep, almost philosophical, questions. Where does knowledge of language come from when you can’t hear it? That’s the question Susan Goldin-Meadow is asking in her book.

Landau and Gleitman’s book, Language and Experience , I read first when I was a student, a long, long time ago. I’d read some philosophy , and learned that at one point John Locke raised a question in a letter to another philosopher: ‘What kinds of meanings of words, connected to sight, would a blind person have?’ They were interested in how much you know from experience, because Locke had this notion that everything in your mind comes through experience. I don’t know if this book goes against Locke or not, but it raises the fascinating question: how do kids learn which words connect with which meanings?

What Landau and Gleitman did was they looked at blind kids’ knowledge of the meanings of words connected to sight. Since they don’t have sight, how much knowledge of the meanings of words connected to that sense—words like ‘see’ or ‘look’ or colour words—do they have? It’s raising the same interesting question: how do we have knowledge of language? Where does it come from?

“I have strong opinions, but my interactions with people, even on Twitter, are pretty respectful in both directions, I think”

And what they showed in that book is very different from Susan Goldin-Meadow’s book in some ways, but very similar in others. What they showed is that blind kids have an understanding of aspects of word meanings to do with sight that they don’t seem to have any obvious evidence for, in terms of their experience.

They argue in the book that it’s the language that surrounds those kids that gives them some inkling, some understanding, of what those kinds of words like ‘see’ or ‘look’ or colour words, end up meaning. But they also say it can’t just be the language that does this. There must be more than that. There needs to be some kind of predisposition to go in certain directions and not others.

For example, they talk about one child acquiring the meaning of the word ‘to look’—and understanding what it means not just for her, but also for other people. She ends up figuring out that ‘to look at something’ means that the thing can be at a distance, but it needs to be in the line of sight of the person who’s looking. There can’t be a barrier in between. She understands all that ‘to look’ means.

Since she isn’t observing any of this, where does she get that information from? And why is it that precise information that she gets? They argue she picks some of it up from language—from what she hears being used around her in a very particular way. Grammar is key to that. This is an argument that the grammar of language is a way of ascertaining knowledge of its meaning, which is really fascinating.

The other thing the authors argue is that this child needs some kind of internal predisposition to make those generalizations about the word ‘look’ as opposed to other ones. What the child does is she learns what ‘look’ means for sighted people, but when someone asks her to look at something, she will look at it with her hands. If you said to her, ‘Look at this cup,’ she would take a cup and feel it all over, to get a sense of what it is. She’s transferred the visual modality into a tactile modality, but the gaining of information through this particular sense still has the same kind of meaning.

I remember reading the book when I was much younger, and it was a weird revelation. It seems obvious to me now, but when we learn meanings, we learn them not just from the word plus its environment, but from the word and all the other words around it and how we use them in sentences. They all feed back into each other in a really complex way, and that partly gives us the meanings of words. That’s not obvious, but this book really shows you that that had to be the case, that actually part of our knowledge of meaning, even in situations where we have no evidence of the thing sensually or experientially, has to come from the grammar of the language itself.

What does the book say about colours?

These kids don’t see colours, and when they’re really young they use colours randomly. They’ll say, this is a green card, this is a red card and this is a blue card, even though they have no idea and they get it wrong. But they know that colour words are adjectives, that they modify nouns and they end up knowing things about them which are really interesting.

So in the book they did an experiment where they gave kids objects. They tell them that the objects have certain colours and those colours always correlate with some other aspect of the objects. So, for example, all the big objects might be red and all the rough ones might be blue and all the small ones might be green. Then they see whether the kids naturally get the meaning of ‘red,’ ‘blue’ and ‘green’ to be ‘large’, ‘rough’ and ‘small’ and they don’t. They totally know that colour is independent of those other aspects of the object.

That’s really intriguing, isn’t it? So they don’t know colours, but they know things can be coloured, and the fact that colour is different from other properties—even though they don’t have any evidence of that. They have evidence that all the big things are red, but then they know that red and size are different things. They end up having quite a rich knowledge of the meaning of colour words.

Now we’re changing gear and looking at a philosophy book . This is The Language of Thought by Jerry Fodor. It starts with a quote from Brecht, “The man who laughs is the one who has not yet heard the terrible news”, and there are also lots of references to Wittgenstein . Tell me about why it’s on your list of linguistics books.

The Language of Thought is a really famous book in the philosophy of mind and it’s really important for linguistics as well. Fodor was a brilliant writer. He died a couple years ago. He writes really difficult stuff, but it’s actually funny. (Though this is not his funniest book, by any means—I think he was just getting started.)

This book does many things, but the reason I chose it is that it’s the first articulation of an idea he then took further and further in his career: that you can be very creative not only with language, but also with thought. That’s been very interesting for my own research.

Language is very systematic. If I say to you the sentence, ‘Anson bit Lilly’, you know what that means. And if I say ‘Lilly bit Anson’, you know what that means. The bits you’ve got come together to create certain meanings in a systematic way. If A did something to B, then it could be the case that B did something to A. There’s a system to it.

What Fodor does in that book is argue that thought is productive. It’s got this creative capacity. You can think all sorts of crazy thoughts you’ve never had before and it’s highly systematic. So thought must work like language works.

At the time it was written, Chomsky had recently been saying, ‘The way that language works is that you’ve got basic bits of language and then you’ve got a general set of rules that combine them to create larger bits of language in a systematic way. That’s what gives us this free capacity to build sentences in a way where we understand the meaning of new sentences that people say to us and we can create new sentences as we need them.’

“Apes are really good at some things and we’re really good at other things. We’re really good at language and apes are not”

That was Chomsky’s idea for language and what Fodor said is, ‘Thought has the same properties’. That means that basically our minds are working along the same lines as Chomsky said language works. At the heart of human psychology is what Chomsky calls—and Fodor calls as well—something like a computational machine. It takes things and puts them together and creates new things out of it. That’s what gives us this ability to be systematic and productive.

For Fodor and Chomsky, all this emerges from the work done on the theory of computation by mathematicians like Turing in the 1930s. Even though he was working on other stuff, Turing had one of the best ideas in psychology, which is that you can treat aspects of the human mind like a computer. We can explain that systematicness and productivity of thought by appealing to what Turing did when he figured out how to make computers work. I’ve overly simplified this, but that’s the basic idea.

There are lots of other things in the book that philosophers will be struck by more than I will, but as a linguist that’s what struck me: the notion that this approach to computation is fundamental not just to language but to our general psychology as well.

Has this book being overturned?

No and yes. This is an area where there is quite a lot of controversy, similar to what there might be in linguistics. You can make a computer look like what you think a brain looks like, with computational neurons in it. And they all just connect to each other and then what you do is you feed information into this collection of neurons and you tell them what you want out of it. And they just shoogle—‘shoogle’ is a Scottish word meaning to shake around—until they match the input with what you want the output to be. That idea underpins most AIs these days.

So if you have Siri or Alexa—which can do these incredible things—the way you get speech synthesis to work is that they have these artificial neurons and you play them ‘the dog jumped over the fox’ and they then shoogle their neurons around until they get aligned to give you the right results. Again, it’s more complex than that, but that’s the basic idea.

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That’s very different from the computational view that Fodor was pushing in this book. That view says that you get to the dog jumped over the fox by saying ‘the’ and ‘dog’ and ‘jump’ and ‘over’ and ‘the’ and ‘fox’ and you’ve got ‘the’ twice and it’s combined with dog once and fox once. It’s the systematic building up of meaning through rules.

So those are two different ways that people think about the mind. There’s Fodor’s way, which is called the computational theory of mind, and then there is this other way, which is the neural network theory of mind. That’s still a big fight.

Am I getting the sense that to study linguistics you also have you have to be quite science-y and philosophical?

It’s one brand of linguistics; it’s definitely my brand. But there are masses of other really interesting areas in linguistics, which are not like that. Over the last 10-15 years, I’ve been working quite a lot with sociolinguists who are interested in how language is used socially, how language changes, how your identity is expressed by the kind of language you choose to use. You collect all the data and you do statistics on the data, but it’s a very different kind of science . That’s also philosophical in that you’re thinking about issues of identity, of class and gender and sexuality, but it’s different from the questions of cognition and meaning that I’ve been talking about.

These are two quite distinct areas of linguistics and you can do either of them. Not that many people do both. That actually goes back to one of your earlier questions, about whether there is a bit of a fight going on in linguistics. Certainly these two areas of linguistics pulled apart in the 1970s, and didn’t talk to each other through the 80s and 90s. But they have now started to talk to each other again, over the last 20 years.

So now we’re at book number 4 on your list, which is by Noam Chomsky . I get the sense from the titles of his books that he’s not a great one for writing highly accessible, popular linguistics books. You’ve chosen a book which is based on a set of lectures he gave in 1999 in Siena and it’s called On Nature and Language .

I needed to have a Chomsky. I chose it because I looked at which books were in the Five Books archive , and wanted to choose something different and maybe a bit more readable. This is the best I could do. Chomsky’s linguistics work is technical, and where it’s not technical, it’s highly philosophical.

There are three other books by Chomsky I could have chosen. Syntactic Structures (1957) was the first book of his I read and it was totally the thing that made me go, ‘Oh, this is cool. I want to do this.’ In my second year of university I read Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965) and thought, ‘My God this is fascinating.’ Then there’s Knowledge of Language (1986) which I read as a graduate student and made me go, ‘Oh! This is how it all works.’

I chose On Nature and Language because it’s more modern. It’s quite speculative and a bit rhetorical, it must be said. I like it because it does two things. It poses, very clearly, a general question. Chomsky focuses on the cognitive-psychological side of linguistics and has always said that language has a biological part to it, that’s it part of our being as humans and other animals don’t have it.

If you focus on that, what is it? If it’s really like a piece of biology, should we study it like the liver or the heart? Or is it more like a computer, like Fodor is saying, in which case we should study it as we do the natural laws of physical things?

“ On Language and Nature asks the question, ‘What is it that makes language like language and lightning like lightning and ferns like ferns?’ ”

One of the things I argued in my book, Language Unlimited , is that language works through a principle of self-similarity. If you have a fern leaf, it’s built up out of smaller fern leaves and each of those is built out of yet smaller fern leaves and each of those has got a tiny, tiny little fern leaf in it. Or if you think about the way that lightning forks when it comes from the sky: It forks in this very binary way, it comes down and goes into 2 goes into 2 goes into 2 and you end up with the classic forked lightning pattern. Many, many other things are also organized through this principle of self-similarity: X is similar to part of X.

Chomsky’s point is that language works like that as well. As I said earlier, you take two things and put them together—you have ‘that’ and ‘cup’ and you put it together and get a new thing ‘that cup.’ When I say, ‘I broke that cup’ I’ve taken ‘that cup’ and put it together with ‘broke’ to make a bigger thing, ‘broke that cup.’ That’s the same notion, that the larger thing has got a similar shape to the things inside it. All languages we know of, all human languages that we’ve ever studied, are organized around this principle of hierarchical structure.

On Language and Nature asks the question, ‘What is it that makes language like language and lightning like lightning and ferns like ferns?’ He doesn’t put it as simply as that, but one of the lectures in the book is basically asking that question. How can you understand language as a purely natural, physical type of object? Does it have the same principles governing it as ferns and lightning and the turning of galaxies and the horns of narwhals and nautilus shells, this self-similarity principle?

This book is from the late 1990s. There was still a technical problem in it. It looked to Chomsky at the time as if this idea of a hierarchical structure of sentences required two separate mechanisms to build up, two separate things. Later on, Chomsky came up with another idea. It’s in a technical paper and I think it’s his best idea for a long time, which is that you can actually combine these two different sources of the hierarchy in human language into one, if you understand it from a particular perspective.

So it’s interesting to look at this book as a snapshot of where we were. 20 years later, we’re in an improved place. We have a deeper understanding of how that set of questions can be answered and that’s a really neat thing. Everyone’s always saying, ‘Chomsky said this, he’s wrong.’ That’s fine. But he always poses totally fascinating questions. Now, we can look back and say, ‘It didn’t work out this way, but actually we’ve now got a good answer or a better answer to that question.’

So finally on your list of linguistics books we have a work of fiction. This is Embassytown by China Miéville. He’s won a number of prizes for his books, including the Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction on three separate occasions, which is unheard of. So is this a highly readable novel about linguistics?

There are a weirdly large number of novels about linguistics and they’re almost all sci-fi. Most of them are about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis , which is the idea that the language you speak controls the way you think. You might think of Newspeak in Orwell ’s Nineteen Eighty-Four as being like that. There’s also a linguist called Suzette Haden Elgin who wrote a fascinating novel where she developed a language which was meant to remove all sexism. And one of my favourite authors ever, Ursula Le Guin, developed a language for a colony of anarchists she put on a moon, which didn’t have any way of expressing possession. I’m a big fan of this kind of speculative novel. It’s another way of philosophizing. I tend to read everything that looks like it might be that sort of book.

I really enjoyed Embassytown because it wasn’t about Sapir-Whorf, but about the relationship between language and reality. While I was reading it, I tweeted, ‘It’s Chomsky versus Quine in outer space.’ Quine is a famous philosopher who said that the meaning of the word cup is a cup, an actual thing in the world. Chomsky’s view is, ‘No, no, no, the meaning of the word ‘cup’ is a concept in your mind. We all just live in our minds and communicate with each other by trying to get our minds into some kind of synch through language.’

Embassytown is about who is right. Is it Quine—and most philosophers—who say that words connect directly to things? That seems commonsensical. Or is it Chomsky and others, who argue that we build these models of the world in our minds, and that when we speak or when we act we connect those mental models to the world? And [spoiler alert] Chomsky wins.

“There are a weirdly large number of novels about linguistics and they’re almost all sci-fi. ”

Miéville has got a brilliant imagination, and in the book he develops these aliens who have two mouths. They have two speaking organs and you’d think that’s like a forked tongue but, ironically, they can’t lie because their language must connect directly to the actual reality.

They want to lie, though. They find lying totally fascinating, but they can’t. Even if they want to use a simile, they have to get someone to act it out. So they get humans to act out weird stuff for them. The heroine of the novel ends up having to eat some food in the dark in a restaurant. Then they can say, ‘Ah this is like the girl who eats food in the dark’ and that means whatever it means for the aliens, some weird simile, but they have to make it real in order to use it.

Then of course what happens is that the humans mess it all up. They end up introducing, into the ecosystem of these aliens, the capacity to lie. They get these telepathic twins who will speak with the two voices, but who can lie because they’re human. The aliens get addicted to that and it’s going to totally destroy the alien society and kill all the humans. Then the heroine basically solves it by more or less teaching the aliens to lie. Which is kind of an awful comment about how we humans randomly wander around blundering into things and making a mess of what was a perfectly good ecosystem.

But at the same time, it’s fascinating because of the whole issue of how does language really work? Could you have a language like these aliens? It’s a really well written book. A lot of Miéville’s work is very elegantly thoughtful.

So this is a good fifth book because it’s one of the many fiction books I’ve read throughout my life that tell us something really interesting or ask us really interesting questions about language. If people haven’t read Embassytown and they want to read something about linguistics, it’s fascinating. There’s also the film Arrival , which is sci-fi and very language-based. I always show it to my first years. It was great for linguistics because people saw it and thought it was amazing. This book is similar. If you like science fiction and you’re interested in languages, this is a great book to read.

What do you normally suggest to students as a good introductory text on linguistics?

I will absolutely be suggesting my own book ! The original reason I wrote it is because I felt there wasn’t a book that did that. I wrote it with my nephew in mind, who was 17 at the time. It’s aimed at people who have no linguistics or even a university degree but are interested in the topic.

Another book to recommend is Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct (1994) , but it’s a bit out of date now. Things have changed quite a lot since then.

There are lots of other fascinating books on language out there. For example, there’s Gretchen McCulloch’s book on internet linguistics, Because Internet . It’s totally brilliant and you learn a lot about sociolinguistics. It’s interesting for people who spend their lives on the internet. I definitely recommend that to people as a good introduction to the socio side—while my book is probably a good introduction to the more cognitive side of linguistics.

The other books that are around at the moment tend to be focused on this notion that linguists are descriptive about language rather than prescriptive. Lane Greene’s book, Talk on the Wild Side , is like that. That’s a pretty good book as well.

November 11, 2019

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David Adger

David Adger is Professor of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London and currently President of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain (the LAGB). His book, Language Unlimited , "tries to explain the kind of linguistics I do in a popular science type format."

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Article Contents

Introduction, book reviews: some notes on the context, changes in technology, changes in labour relations, what makes a ‘good’ review.

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Book Reviews and Forum Contributions in Applied Linguistics—Continuity and Change

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Alison Sealey, Book Reviews and Forum Contributions in Applied Linguistics—Continuity and Change, Applied Linguistics , Volume 36, Issue 4, September 2015, Pages 478–487, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amv036

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This short article reflects on issues in applied linguistics from the perspective of the editor of the Book Reviews and Forum sections of the journal.

This Special Issue comes just over a year after I became editor of the Book Reviews and Forum sections of the journal, and in this contribution I set out some of the issues that concern me in this role, inviting readers to reflect on and contribute to dialogue about them. The first, longer part focuses on book reviews and the second on the Forum section of the journal, but in each case some of the observations are relevant to both.

The brief review in this section is not specific to applied linguistics, but the issues that have been identified by research into the genre of book reviews are very relevant to our field.

A study of the production and reception of book reviews in the humanities and social sciences just under 20 years ago by Lindholm-Romantschuk (1998) noted several features of the genre. She observed that—in contrast to the pre-eminence in the natural sciences of journal articles—monographs were perceived as an important means of disseminating scholarship in these disciplines, because they allow for in-depth treatment of a subject ( Shrivastava 1994 : 10). Nevertheless, she draws on a series of studies that suggest several reasons why book reviews as a component of the academic journal tended not to enjoy a very high status. These include their brevity (limited space to develop an argument), subjectivity (no standardized procedures for evaluating the works reviewed), derivative nature (not a form of original scholarship), and lack of academic contextualization (limited number of citations to the associated research literature). In an essay on the book review as perhaps ‘an academic Cinderella’, East (2011) attributes the persistent ‘image problem’ of the genre to similar perceptions, demonstrating that this is nothing new: he quotes Hoge and West’s ( 1979 : 35) dismissive description of reviews as ‘frequently brief, impressionistic, formulaic, bland, badly written, or, most distressing of all, nothing more than sales pitches or gratuitous hatchet jobs, ever so thinly disguised’.

By contrast, Snizek and Fuhrman ( 1979 : 108) observe that ‘the book review offers a forum from which to be heard and to remain professionally active’, citing Berger, who suggested in 1963 that sociology journals should be read mainly for their reviews. Stowe (1991) imagines the book reviews editor of academic journals ‘as a kind of matchmaker, joining the hard work of one person to the considered judgment of another and creating the chance for something new, a meeting between author and reviewer in which everyone—author, reviewer, and [journal] reader—learns something new and meaningful’ (p. 591). Lindholm-Romantschuk ( 1998 : 38) identifies a range of ways in which book reviews have attracted approval, including their ability to ‘exert considerable influence on a discipline, primarily by generating intellectual dialogue’, noting in addition that ‘it is quite possible that book reviews are more widely read than the monographs themselves’ (ibid.: 37). Thus there is an abiding tension between the potential influence of reviews, on one hand, and their often lowly status, on the other; as Di Leo ( 2009 : 167) summarizes it, ‘[t]he book review … holds a difficult position as one of the most powerful and, at the same time, one of the least respected types of contemporary scholarly writing’.

While some aspects of the appreciation and criticisms of book reviews remain consistent across the decades, many aspects of academic work and the context in which it is done continue to change, leading me to pose the question, what is the role of book reviews in our discipline—and specifically in this journal—in the second decade of the 21st century?

Until relatively recently, the audience for academic journals had only two main sources of information about newly published books in their specialist field: publishers' catalogues and reviews by peers in journals. As the Internet has developed in response to the demands of its users, readers have become less and less dependent on these mediators as the source of information about books to whose physical form they may not yet have access. Unconstrained by the costs and practicalities of printing catalogues with a finite number of pages, publishers can now offer much more extensive information about their titles, including endorsements, previews, and tasters, while scanned copies of extensive extracts may be available (whether authorized or not) at various sites online. In addition, online links to information about books are often accompanied by readers’ views about them. Furthermore, the Internet has changed our perceptions of time: as soon as text—including copy about the contents of a new book—is produced, it can be accessed instantly and readers can make judgements based on the online information about the likely relevance and value to them of the book in question. One implication of this changed state of affairs is that reviews published in journals need to offer something additional to what is readily available from other sources. As Book Reviews editor for Applied Linguistics , I assume that its readers are skilled users of these resources, so what do they hope to see when they turn to that section of the journal?

As noted above, book reviews have long been vulnerable to their ‘Cinderella’ connotations, but the current context of academic work, at least in many countries, is likely to exacerbate the problem. It is impossible to disregard, at this point, the reshaping of academic work under the influence of neoliberal ideology. A growing literature (e.g. Strathern 1997 ; Levidow 2002 ; Shore and Wright 2003 ; Block et al. 2012 ; Lorenz 2012 ) provides extensive evidence of the way academics’ lives and work are becoming ever more monetized, commodified, narrowly accountable, and individualized. For the enterprise of reviewing books in scholarly journals, the implications span the need for authors to demonstrate to their employers that their books have been favourably reviewed, and for scholars—especially those at the beginning of their careers—to demonstrate their visibility as contributors to journals. The ‘audit culture’ has insidious effects: under the guise of transparency and accountability, all aspects of academic work are subjected to measurements, so that what can—apparently—be readily measured acquires status, often distorting the intrinsic values associated with academic research and writing. The logic of the market squeezes out what Collini ( 2012 : no page, online) calls ‘second-order enquiries’. That is, because profit-making organizations have no time for labour that explores ‘the boundaries of the topic, or the character of the vocabulary being employed, or the status of the knowledge produced’, these ‘non-productive’ aspects of work are marginalized in the university too—and the book review or short discussion article for the Forum may well fall into this category. ‘When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure’, observes Strathern ( 1997 : 308), but targets now dominate academics’ decisions about how to spend their time. When they start to feel that the financial targets set for them put them in ‘a similar position to market traders in the City, who are judged solely on the amount of money they raise’ [Leech, quoted in Jump (2014) ], the implications are clear for the status of book reviews, given that these ‘… do not generate research money for universities and do not make universities competitive enough to get external research grants’ ( Obeng-Odoom 2014 : 79).

The audited subject is recast as a depersonalized unit of economic resource whose productivity and performance must constantly be measured and enhanced. To be effective, audit technologies must somehow re-fashion the way people perceive themselves in relation to their work, to one another and to themselves. [See also Ball (2012) .]

… despite their length and distinct purpose … reviews are nevertheless rhetorically and interactionally complex and represent a carefully crafted social accomplishment. In most fields then, a good review needs not only to offer a critical and insightful perspective, drawing on considerable knowledge of the field, but at the same time respond to the complex demands of this delicate interactional situation, displaying an awareness of the appropriate expression of praise and criticism. ( Hyland 2004 : 43–4)

Offering guidance to potential reviewers for the journal can also be a ‘delicate interactional situation’. As well as informing those who offer or agree to undertake this unpaid (except for the copy of the book they keep) and unglamorous service about practical issues such as layout, word length, and deadlines, I advise them to aim to include answers to questions such as the following: But equally important, if not more so, is the injunction to supply something of ‘added value’ in the review, by way of informed critical commentary. This is something that is probably achieved most readily by ‘old hands’ who have an extensive overview not only of the contemporary literature but also of the history of what has been written on the topic. Does this mean, then, that only senior scholars should contribute book reviews to a journal such as this one? Quite understandably, it is more experienced academics who tend to have the confidence to construct their book reviews with the most extensive connections to broader themes and issues, and to depart from the quite formulaic structure—‘informative but dull’ ( Hartley 2005 : 904)—that may result from simply providing answers to the questions I have listed above. These potentially repetitive patterns are broken up with alternative contributions such as review essays, which take a larger section of the book review space to discourse on not only a single book but outwards to its broader context and implications; Alastair Pennycook’s discussion of David Block’s recent book on Social Class in Applied Linguistics is a case in point. Similarly, there is scope for essays, slightly longer than the standard review, which encompass several books on a related theme or sub-topic within applied linguistics. And a book review section could potentially include brief articles of the ‘re-reading’ genre, reminding readers of foundational texts that have been proven over time to have earned their place on the shelf, in contrast to the necessarily less definitive judgements arrived at in the period just after publication. Some may feel, however, in the competitive, increasingly marketized context of our work, that only the newest products should be showcased in the limited space of the book review section of the journal.

What are the main themes and issues covered by this book?

What approach do(es) the author(s) take to their material?

Where does this book sit in relation to other books in its field and sub-field? What new contribution does it make—or perhaps fail to make?

Who is the audience for this book and is it written in a way that suggests it is appropriate for that audience?

Is there anything distinctive about the way the book is produced that it would be helpful for readers to know (e.g. layout, design, images, tables, usefulness of index)?

However, while readers, especially those with a longer history in the area, may prefer lively—not to say entertaining—reviews written by those who are best-informed about an area and can situate the book in its most wide-ranging context, it is the scholars in this position who are often the most reluctant to write in this genre. In the short time I have occupied the editorship of this section of the journal, I have received numerous requests to accept reviews from early-career academics, while offers to write reviews from those who are arguably best-placed to do so are very rare indeed! I suggest that this may well be related to the shifting ethos of the academy, from values associated with contributing to the enterprise of scholarship to the competition associated with building an individual career. Of course, this is not to imply that academics were all until recently paragons of disinterested altruism, who would not dream of spiking a rival’s book with a hostile review. Presumably it is that very practice that has led, in these more tightly regulated and litigious times, to guidance such as this: ‘“Professional ethics require that you do not review a book when an overriding sense of personal obligation, competition or enmity exists.” ( Law and Politics Book Review )’, cited in Hartley ( 2006 : 1198).

I’m a doctoral student in the program of Applied Linguistics/TESOL/TEFL, at X University. I’m reading a book titled XXX by XX for one of my courses. I would like to submit a book review for Applied Linguistics. I wonder if the journal accepts any book reviews for upcoming issues. Thank you. I am a PhD student in the department of XXX at X University. I am planning to do a book review on the following source under the supervision of XX. [Book details] I read through the process and I was told that I need to contact you. My question is : Do you think this is possible for me to do a book review on aforementioned source? If no, Do you have a list of books as suggested ones for review? Thanks for your time.

textual ideologies —clusters of views held about the nature of language, the writer, his/her location, the status s/he is granted as a user of English (native, non-native, L1, L2 speaker etc.), particularly as enacted by gatekeepers such as reviewers and editors who play a significant part in trajectories towards publication. ( Lillis and Curry 2010 : 23)

volunteers who would like to write a 500-word book note for Language in Society. A book note is a summary of a book's content. Graduate students are welcome to write book notes, with a faculty member's supervision. (Extract from an email from the Editorial Assistant, Language in Society 25 February 2015)

… to offer a new interactive dimension to the journal. Pieces are welcome in the form of short responses to previous articles; notices about research in progress; items about the publication process itself; and pieces about research themes and research policies in applied linguistics, whether in the journal, our sponsoring associations (AAAL, BAAL and AILA), or the wider community. ( Bygate et al. 2001 : i)

Nevertheless, provided contributions do not stray into such potentially costly areas (in several senses), there should be scope for courteous disagreement, constructive criticism, and productive debate. In a previous post, I used to teach a final year undergraduate module on ‘The Politics of English’. Towards the end of the course, I introduced students to some of the debates among applied linguists collected by Barbara Seidlhofer (2003) . They usually found it surprising, refreshing, and reassuring that such controversies occur, and that academics may fail to agree about issues that the students had hitherto accepted as established orthodoxies. We would examine the groups of articles, using some of the prompts provided by Seidlhofer, to consider the kinds of evidence adduced in support of competing claims, the implicit and explicit assumptions, stances and evaluative positions adopted by the protagonists, and the discursive and rhetorical devices deployed in their argumentation. This was a prelude to an assignment in which students were required to explore a contemporary issue about ‘the politics of English’, including, for example, some of the issues that Tarone (this issue) identifies as longstanding public concerns, like campaigns calling for spelling reform, ideas about the ‘invasions’ of one variety by another, and so on, as well as more recent topics such as language proficiency tests attached to applications for citizenship. The students had to identify and analyse contrasting positions from a range of sources (news editorials, online forums and comments boards, etc.). In the era of much more extensive opportunities for people to have their say via blogs, virtual communities, Twitter, and so on, the conventional journal may seem a rather old-fashioned medium for academics to participate in equivalent debates, but I hope readers do nevertheless find the Forum section of Applied Linguistics a useful space for such interaction, and perhaps for discussion of the issues raised above and elsewhere in this Special Issue.

In this short article, I have reflected on the changing context in which any journal provides a site for reviews of books associated with a particular academic discipline, suggesting that developments in both technology and the political economy of academic labour require us to rethink the role of this genre of writing. Applied linguists have a demonstrated and potential role to play in both analysing this genre and proposing ways of developing it, and the mentoring by senior colleagues of less experienced reviewers is one route by which it may be sustained and modified in the future. As for the extent and boundaries of books to be considered appropriate for review, I have sketched out some of the ways in which changes in the state of the field pose challenges for this editor, and I welcome readers’ views on these. My experience of editing the Forum, in the form it has developed since its inception in 2001, suggests that applied linguists continue to engage with contemporary debates with commitment and vigour. It is evident from other contributions in this Special Issue that, despite areas of consensus about the state of the field, applied linguistics continues to generate enough controversy to keep me busy for a few more issues yet.

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Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd Edition - 2nd Edition

(13 reviews)

Catherine Anderson, Hamilton, Ontario

Bronwyn Bjorkman, Kingston, Ontario

Derek Denis, Mississauga, Ontario

Copyright Year: 2022

ISBN 13: 9781927565506

Publisher: eCampusOntario

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Ivy Hauser, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Arlington on 3/15/24

Very comprehensive introduction to linguistics textbook. The 4/5 is because I think some parts are too comprehensive (at least for the one-semester course where I teach intro ling). I've been using it for several courses now, including the first... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Very comprehensive introduction to linguistics textbook. The 4/5 is because I think some parts are too comprehensive (at least for the one-semester course where I teach intro ling). I've been using it for several courses now, including the first edition. As a phonologist, I appreciate the revisions in the second edition on the phonetics and phonology sections. They removed some of the more technical/theoretical elements that I typically reserve for upper-level courses (e.g. distinctive features). The only exception is the syntax chapter, which is much more comprehensive than needed for an introductory textbook in my opinion. That chapter feels more like a textbook for an undergraduate syntax class, not a chapter for the two weeks I can spend on syntax in my intro course. I don't cover 90% of it and typically give the students additional resources on the basics that I wish were covered in more detail (phrase structure rules/trees, etc.).

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The technical content is accurate and up to date with current developments in the field.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book is highly relevant for introductory linguistics courses in more theory oriented program (as opposed to applied/TESOL introduction to linguistics). Some of the examples are specific to the Canadian context, but my American students can easily understand them. The approaches taken are standard and unlikely to become outdated quickly.

Clarity rating: 5

Prose is clear and easy to understand for intro students. I receive multiple comments each semester about how the students appreciate the videos and clear prose.

Consistency rating: 5

We haven't found any inconsistencies in terminology or formalism (which is a commendable feat for a linguistics resource!). Some of the formalism used switched between edition 1 and 2, so just a heads up to anyone switching from one edition to another. Occasionally my students will find links to the first edition and read that instead.

Modularity rating: 5

Modularity is excellent. We link the exact assigned sections from the Canvas page and students never have trouble finding the reading or figuring out what is assigned. Very easy to navigate.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

It follows the standard order of topics for intro linguistics. Many chapters seem to follow a data-first approach and only introduce formalism and analytical tools at the end of the chapter. I like this and try to do the same in my own teaching but in some chapters the formalism and analysis parts came very late and I had to assign readings in a different order than presented in the text to ensure students had the analytical skills needed for homeworks.

Interface rating: 5

Interface is good and easy to navigate.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

We haven't found any major grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book does an great job using examples from different languages and social groups. This has been expanded in the second edition with much more sign language content and sections devoted to cultural impacts of language science.

Thank you Essentials of Linguistics creators for this resource! It has worked well in my courses and provided those ~100 students with a no-cost textbook.

Reviewed by Senyung Lee, Assistant Professor, Northeastern Illinois University on 4/24/23

The book covers the major branches of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics. The book does not include a chapter on pragmatics, which is one branch of linguistics. In this regard, the book does not fully cover all 6... read more

The book covers the major branches of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics. The book does not include a chapter on pragmatics, which is one branch of linguistics. In this regard, the book does not fully cover all 6 branches of linguistics. For an undergraduate level, introductory linguistics course, the book’s coverage seems enough. However, this book is probably not appropriate for graduate-level introductory linguistics courses, in terms of comprehensiveness.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content seems accurate. It should be noted that this book covers Canadian English, and the author makes it very clear about it, so there is no confusion. In Chapter 8: Forming Sentences, which covers syntax, the content is greatly simplified to the extent that it is easily accessible to undergraduate students. Even though the content generally seems error-free, given the depth and breadth of knowledge in each branch of linguistics, it does seem a bit too simplified. Nevertheless, it seems appropriate for undergraduate students who have never studied linguistics before.

The content seems up-to-date. This is a second edition of the book, which was published in 2022. Thus, it doesn’t seem that the text will become obsolete within any short period of time. In addition, each branch of linguistics that was covered in this book is a fairly well-established area, and even if it needs updates in the near future, I don’t think the updates will have any significant departures from the current contents.

Clarity seems to be one of the strengths of this textbook. The language used in this textbook is very clear and accessible. There is no jargon, and whenever the author introduces a new topic, she gives further explanation using simple language. This makes linguistics, a field of study that can be quite comprehensive and intimidating to undergraduate students, easily accessible.

The text is consistent in terms of language and terminology in linguistics. Students will not be confused with any of the terms being used across chapters and framework of the contents.

Modularity is another strength of this textbook. The book is highly modularized. Each chapter consists of short, small sections, so students will not be overwhelmed. Also, each page has enough margins, and the texts are not too small, which makes reading easier and pleasant. That is, the text is not condensed or dense to the extent that it overwhelms students.

The organization of the topics is another strength. The book starts with an introduction chapter, then introduces sounds (phonetics and phonology), words (morphology), sentence structures (syntax), then meaning (semantics). This organization seems logical and reasonable because it starts from the smallest language unit of analysis and moves to larger units of analysis. This is how I have been teaching the introductory-level linguistics course as well.

I think the interface is the biggest strength of this textbook. First of all, there are three different formats available: eBook, PDF, and online. Having three options seems great because students can choose whatever format that works best for their learning styles. No matter the format, it’s very easy to navigate from one chapter to another, and from one section to another. There’s no distortion of any images or charts in the text.

The text is free from grammatical errors or unclear language. The author herself is a linguist, and the language is clear, accurate, and professional.

The text does not have any insensitive or offensive contents. The author makes it very clear from the beginning of the book (and throughout the book) that the book uses examples of Canadian English, and the fact that there are differences among different varieties of English. Examples are neutral and appropriate, and I don’t see any potential issues of any particular group of readers being offended by insensitiveness.

I think this textbook is a good choice for an undergraduate, introductory linguistics course, especially for students who are not majoring in linguistics.

One thing that I’d like to comment on is about exercises. There are exercise questions at the end of each chapter, but there are only a few of them. It’s still great that there are exercise questions and answers available at the end of the book for students’ self-study. However, linguistics can be quite technical, and needs a lot of practice. I wish there were more exercise questions so that students could check their comprehension as they read along each section of the chapter.

In addition, I wish there was a chapter on “pragmatics” at the end of the book. Pragmatics is also an important branch of linguistics that should not be overlooked. I understand that covering all the contents in the book can be quite a lot as it is, but I think it’s important to let readers know that linguistics also covers a study of the “use” of language in context.

Reviewed by John Hellermann, Professor, Portland State University on 9/1/22

Essentials of Linguistics is a fine online textbook to introduce the basics of linguistics to any university-level student without prior knowledge of linguistics and I thank the author for making it available at no cost to students. The coverage... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Essentials of Linguistics is a fine online textbook to introduce the basics of linguistics to any university-level student without prior knowledge of linguistics and I thank the author for making it available at no cost to students.

The coverage of the five key areas (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics) is all pretty complete for an introductory textbook. The section on Gricean Maxims and indexicality are better than many other introductory textbooks, (except for the one odd comment about what counts as personal deixis). The bias against language use (like many other introductory textbooks) is seen here with no mention of speech act theory or interaction. Introductory textbooks often attempt to have a chapter on all areas of linguistics and those texts can serve as reference books for students. But what can actually be learned in one class of all that material is questionable. We have 10-week terms and find that in that amount of time we can only use about one third of the material in many introductory textbooks. Rather than treating topics like psycholinguistics or language acquisition in separate chapters, EOL has those topics interspersed throughout the textbook in relevant places. That said, I like the fact that there is a separate chapter on indigenous languages of North America. The text provides an effective index. There could be more exercises at the end of each chapter but I have plenty of supplementary problems and that is likely what the author intended.

Although in an introductory textbook, we cannot expect a range of theoretical perspectives to be even outlined but the theoretical grounding should be made explicit because students want to know. This text is grounded in an individualist, brain-centered approach to linguistics. The author does not state that theoretical bias explicitly but that is common practice in linguistics.

The content is accurate. The question of bias is tricky. It is grounded in a particular theoretical perspective of language and is consistent. I sometimes refer to that as a bias but I do not mean that in a pejorative sense.

The content is up-to-date but not overly trendy and this will not be dated in the near future.

The language is very accessible for someone without prior knowledge of linguistics. Technical jargon is necessary and it is explained.

The text is consistent in the claims made about how language works.

In general, the textbook has a flat structure (which is helpful for many students) breaking out key concepts into several chapters. For example, in a topic like ‘phonetics’, we have one chapter with sound production mechanisms and articulation and a second on IPA, suprasegmentals, and articulatory processes. To cover the five main topics (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics) is done in 10 chapters, rather than five.

The organization is logical.

Interface rating: 4

It was easy to navigate through the text both online and in pdf format with clear chapter names, headings, and subheadings. The only reason I give this section 4 rather than 5 is that I believe the online text could have used animation more to illustrate concepts, for example articulation, movement in syntax etc

I saw no infelicities regarding register, spelling conventions, etc

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way that I could see. There are few visual images of people but of those, people of color are represented. Names used have come from a range of ethnicities/histories.

I thank the author again. Unfortunately, regarding my wish for more animation in the online version, I cannot offer any help.

Reviewed by Ariana Bancu, Assistant Professor, Northeastern Illinois University on 5/7/20

The areas and ideas presented in each chapter are covered appropriately and accurately. The text is comprehensive and accessible to students without prior knowledge of linguistics. Main theoretical areas of linguistics, i.e. phonetics, phonology,... read more

The areas and ideas presented in each chapter are covered appropriately and accurately. The text is comprehensive and accessible to students without prior knowledge of linguistics. Main theoretical areas of linguistics, i.e. phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, are covered in-depth, while some areas that are arguably essential to linguistics such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, language contact, etc., are only touched upon, but there are no chapters dedicated to them.

The content is accurate and error-free. The content is slightly biased towards Canadian English and Canadian linguistic diversity, but the author uses examples from various languages as well.

The content is up-to-date and relies on widely accepted theoretical approaches in linguistics that are unlikely to change anytime soon.

The book is very clear and accessible. Technical terminology and new concepts are well explained and supported with examples.

The terminology and frameworks presented in the book are consistent throughout the text.

Each chapter is divided into subchapters, which, in turn, are accompanied by a video lecture that is a narration of the text in the subchapter. Thus, students are able to obtain information either by reading the text or by watching the video lecture. Each subchapter has a short quiz so that students can check their knowledge of the covered material.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book is well organized; the different topics are covered in a cohesive manner. The last chapter on indigenous languages in Canada covers very important topics related to linguistic diversity and language policies that are relevant to students outside of Canada as well. The last chapter adds to the more theoretical topics that have already been covered by discussing the link between language and society, but the transition into this chapter seems a bit abrupt.

The text is free of interface issues, videos, images, and charts presented in the text appear to be clear and work well in the online format. Links to video lectures are provided in the PDF version and images and charts are clear.

The text is free of grammatical errors.

It is somewhat obvious through various examples in the text that the book is meant for Canadian students. However, the text draws on examples from a variety of widely known and lesser-known languages from different continents and it highlights the fact that all languages are equivalent from a linguistic point of view.

This is a great textbook for linguistics classes that are oriented towards linguistic analysis meant for students without any prior knowledge in linguistics. It is a good introductory text to linguistics, but it doesn't cover some of the topics (e.g. origins of language, human language vs. animal communication, language and society, language and identity, language and cognition) that students tend to enjoy more than linguistic analysis in an introductory class.

Reviewed by Tatiana Nekrasova-Beker, Assistant Professor , Colorado State University on 11/18/19

The textbook offers a general overview of the major topics in linguistics, including phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The textbook also includes a chapter on indigenous languages in Canada, which could be an interesting... read more

The textbook offers a general overview of the major topics in linguistics, including phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The textbook also includes a chapter on indigenous languages in Canada, which could be an interesting addition to the typical content covered in introductory level linguistics courses offered at institutions in Canada. I am a bit surprised the textbook does not address the topics of pragmatics or language variation, which, in my opinion, would have offered a more comprehensive treatment of topics in linguistics.

Pages 131-132 of a printed version (section 4.1) include a note about an error in the video. Otherwise, I did not notice any factual errors in this text.

The online version of the textbook includes video components in which the author is delivering mini-lectures with clear explanations and interesting examples. Considering the potential target audience for this textbook, the manner of content delivery is very relevant and will be appealing to students with various learning styles.

Clarity rating: 4

The content of some of the chapters might be confusing if students are working with a pdf version of the textbook, as the script does not include any visuals and it is hard to understand what the lecturer is referring to without any visual support (e.g., in chapter 10 when the author discussed the elements of word meaning). Also, there are very few references to empirical studies that are included directly in the text. In some sections, the findings are discussed but the research is referred to as “one study” or “researchers” without a clear indication of when those studies were conducted and by whom (e.g., p. 334 — a study in Montreal, also research discussed in section 10.3). This would make it difficult to track down the original work, in addition to not providing proper credits to the researchers.

Most chapters are developed following the same format: an overview of unit objectives, a lecture component for each chapter section (a video with a script in the online version) followed by a quiz, a set of activities to apply concepts to real-world scenarios, and a brief summary of the unit at the end. Because the content is presented in a very consistent manner, it would be easy to assign chapters for independent student work.

Each chapter is organized as a stand-alone unit. While the content is presented following a typical sequence (i.e., general introduction to the study of language - speech sounds - word forms, etc.), some chapters can also be assigned separately (e.g., as an additional resource to supplement instruction).

In the pdf version of the textbook, each section of each chapter is numbered (in addition to the traditional numbering, such as, Chapter 2, section 2.1, etc.). This double-numbering (for example, a section in chapter 2 is numbered as “8. 2.2 Articulation”) is a bit confusing. Each chapter is organized following the same format. It would be helpful if the chapters included a glossary and a list of key words covered in the chapter as well as a list of additional readings and/or useful resources to explore further. I am not sure how the reference section was composed, because some of the research work mentioned in the chapters is not cited in the references (e.g., research on how babies distinguish sounds in chapter 5).

Back Matter: includes two sections (Testing Keys and Keys) that present identical content… I am not sure if this is done intentionally. Once you select a chapter to view (online), the content panel disappears, so it is not very easy to go between sections of the book (and within a single chapter too), as a reader would need to scroll back to the content and then open that menu again to select a different section. I appreciated that a student is able to read the transcript of the recorded text (in case if the internet connection is not available). Also, a link to the answer sections makes it easy to check the answers as one is listening to the video and going through the questions. At some point when I was viewing the videos from the textbook site, one of the videos for chapter 1 went mute (and I had good internet connection). I had to go to the youtube channel to continue watching the video. In the pdf version, some tables are cut off (e.g., p.161, ex. 3; p.205; p.257).

The text is free of grammatical errors. The language is clear and accessible.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The last chapter on indigenous languages in Canada offers interesting cultural information, but this content might not be relevant to pedagogical contexts outside of Canada (as several previous reviewers have noted already). A logical addition to this text would be a chapter on cross-linguistic pragmatics or language variation to make it more appealing to a wider audience.

Reviewed by Jane Hardy, Associate Professor, Wabash College on 8/18/19

The text provides a comprehensive introduction to phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. However, it does not adequately cover sociolinguistics or historical linguistics, which are usually included in introductory linguistics... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text provides a comprehensive introduction to phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. However, it does not adequately cover sociolinguistics or historical linguistics, which are usually included in introductory linguistics courses. "Accent" is discussed in Chapter 2, but other features of language variation are not included. I did not see an index or glossary, both of which would be welcome additions.

The linguistic content is accurate and I did not perceive any bias.

The content is up-to-date and should remain relevant for some time. There are a few examples that will eventually become outdated (such as hockey players or the prime minister), but these are minor and can easily be updated.

The text is very clearly written and will be highly accessible to undergraduate students. The author builds gradually on new concepts, and new terminology is explained with examples.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is consistent in the organization of chapters and use of terminology. However, I agree with an earlier reviewer that the section on indigenous languages, while interesting and relevant, feels somewhat disconnected since it does not incorporate many of the formal features of linguistics covered in the earlier sections.

The textbook is divided into relatively short, self-contained sections, each with its own comprehension checks. It would be easy for an instructor to assign sections in a different order.

Topics are presented in the standard order, starting with phonetics and phonology, and then moving to morphology and syntax. As noted above on modularity, an instructor could easily assign chapters in a different order if desired.

For the most part, it is easy to navigate among the text, videos, questions, and answer keys. The only exceptions are a few places in the text where the reader is directed to materials from How Language Works: The Cognitive Science of Linguistics. At these points, the reader is directed to a table of contents and has to search for the corresponding sections.

I detected a few minor typos, but otherwise the writing is grammatical.

The text is culturally sensitive. The section on indigenous languages in Canada provides a much needed viewpoint on linguistic diversity, minority languages, and government oppression of indigenous peoples and language rights.

This is a clear and highly accessible introductory text for undergraduate students. The presentation of basic concepts in phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax are clearly presented and easy to follow. The modularity of the chapters and the inclusion of video lectures that are fully transcribed make the text flexible and appropriate for use in different instructional formats. Comprehension exercises are interspersed throughout the text, although I would probably want to supplement these with additional practice. One drawback of the book is that it does not include chapters on sociolinguistics or historical linguistics. For those of us who teach in the United States, the focus on Canadian English and indigenous languages of Canada might make the book less appealing to our U.S students. Overall, however, this is an outstanding introductory text that could easily suit the needs of students outside of Canada with some occasional explanation and supplemental materials.

Reviewed by Walter Sistrunk, Assistant Professor, LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC ) on 5/14/19, updated 7/2/19

The textbook covers the major areas of linguistics which are essential to understanding other subareas of the field such as historical linguistics and sociolinguistics. However, the aforementioned are not covered in this textbook. Despite... read more

The textbook covers the major areas of linguistics which are essential to understanding other subareas of the field such as historical linguistics and sociolinguistics. However, the aforementioned are not covered in this textbook. Despite omission, author successfully intersperses aspects of psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, language acquisition, and second language acquisitions in the chapters that cover phonology, morphology and syntax. Also, the author directly deals social issues such as language contact, linguistic discrimination, language preservation, revitalization, documentation, and alludes to issues involving race and social justice which is a developing area of raciolinguistics.

The content of this textbook is very accessible to first year students who are interested in linguistics or who have to take a Science or liberal arts elective. The textbook provides information that is accurate and consistent with current theory.

The textbook presents current research on indigenous languages of North America, which is an underserved areas of study, uses modern theories of linguistics, and provides illustration that are relevant and up to date.

The language of this textbook is accessible to first year students and the style in which the author writes is conducive to the colloquial speech used in the modern day classroom.

The textbook is easy to navigate and features hypertext links through out. The chapters are evenly divided into palpable sections with activities to complete at the end of each.

The textbook is easy to navigate, it features hypertext links through out. Chapters as evenly divided into palable sections with activities to complete at the end of each.

The topics in the textbook proceed in the order commonly taken up in linguistics, which follows the order in which language is acquired beginning with phonetic, phonology, morphology, syntax, and ends with semantics.

The textbook does not contain any insensitive or offensive use of language. It provides a much needed treatment of indigenous languages in the Canadian North American region.

To my knowledge, there are no grammatical errors present in the textbook.

The textbook does not contain in insentive or offensive use of language. It provides a much need treatment of indigenous languages in the Canadian North American regions.

This is a great introductory textbook for Linguistics.

Reviewed by Sandra Leonard, Assistant Professor, Kuztown University on 5/4/19, updated 11/9/20

Very useful introduction to the main subcategories of linguistics. Some additional units on sociolinguistics, pragmatics, writing systems, and sign language would be useful. read more

Very useful introduction to the main subcategories of linguistics. Some additional units on sociolinguistics, pragmatics, writing systems, and sign language would be useful.

The book seems to be accurate as far as I can discern.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Very relevant. Some references are geared towards this current moment with exercises referencing current geopolitics and famous people.

Very easy to read and understand with a clear organizational structure. All terms are fully introduced.

Excellent consistency.

Excellent use of short sections, breaking up subjects and checking knowledge with frequent exercises.

Fantastic organization, all topics clearly presented.

No problems with interface that I can detect. I appreciate the fact that most charts are machine-readable for students with disabilities.

No grammatical "errors" that I can detect.

Very inclusive, though focused on Canadian English.

This is a well-presented introduction to linguistics that is very accessible for introductory students. The text is extremely well-organized, making use of multiple modes of presentation that compliment one another. I particularly appreciate the accessibility of this text with fully-transcribed video lectures, charts that are able to be text-selected and machine-read. Each section is complimented by a few exercises with a link to answers so students can check their understanding as they read. The one possible problem that I can see (at least in my case, since I am American) is that the book focuses on Canadian English. Fortunately, there are plenty of American resources for linguistics, so I will still be using this textbook with just a few resources to compliment it. This is a fantastic find!

Reviewed by Gonzalo Campos-Dintrans, Assistant Professor, University of Mary Washington on 4/30/19

The explanations are very clear and adequate as an introductory source. The comprehension exercises help the reader and can also help the instructor check for students' comprehension. The video segments facilitate understanding as well. read more

The explanations are very clear and adequate as an introductory source. The comprehension exercises help the reader and can also help the instructor check for students' comprehension. The video segments facilitate understanding as well.

The content is clear throughout. The book has a cognitive approach to language and it focuses on generative linguistics. For linguists who work on other approaches to language, some sections will still prove very useful, especially the section on native languages.

It provides the essentials of generative linguistics. The section of phonology will stay updated for a long time, the contents of syntax might be outdated but only because generative syntax theory is dynamic.

It is very clear and scaffolded

It is an introductory book to generative linguistics with a strong emphasis on phonology and phonetics. However, the last section of the book is on indigenous languages in Canada, which adds value to the book but it in a way that feels a bit disconnected from the rest, since it does not include many of the formal aspects previously seen and it is mostly the transcript of an interview. Nonetheless, there are exercises that make the student/reader put into practice what they have previously learned.

Each section is written and organized in such a way that it is possible to assign only certain sections, that is, specific chapters. The only odd thing is that each chapter is also called a "Part", e.g., "Part X. Chapter 10: Word Meaning", instead of simply "Chapter 10". In future editions, it might be useful to add commonly used names in linguistics to each chapter, e.g., "syntax" for chapter 8.

The book follows the conventional sequence: sounds, words, phrases, sentences.

The link to the videos work well once the book is downloaded from the pdf. The preset volume level is low for some videos The message "A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text" is a little odd. Overall, I had no issues reading it from my computer. The table on p. 205 seems chopped.

It is well written, I saw no grammatical errors.

The text is not culturally insensitive as far as I could see

This is a very useful introductory book to generative linguistics. However, the first part is inclusive of many linguistics approaches to language, especially tackling common misconceptions about what linguists do. The section on phonetics and phonology are well developed, but much more so than other sections of the book. The last section, on indigenous languages, can also be used for approaches other than generative. The explanations on parts of speech are very clear and intuitive, and can be used for L2 teaching or basic grammar courses. The fact that it is an electronic book allows for some nice features: jumping between sections, searching for terms, and links to short videos. All videos come with a script so the reader can choose to watch or read them. The comprehension exercises and the accessibility of the answers make it user friendly. It is a very good supplementary textbook. In describing verb agreement (p.192), where both Spanish and French are mentioned, only the French forms are used to illustrate agreement, but this is a bit odd because orally, Spanish has more differences than French, and can indeed, drop subject pronouns.

Reviewed by Leslie Cochrane, Senior Lecturer of English and Linguistics, College of William & Mary on 4/26/19

As the author's summary and other reviews have stated, this textbook covers several subfields of linguistics but not all. Sociolinguistics is mentioned by name precisely once. Some attention is paid to variation, but the discussion is mostly under... read more

As the author's summary and other reviews have stated, this textbook covers several subfields of linguistics but not all. Sociolinguistics is mentioned by name precisely once. Some attention is paid to variation, but the discussion is mostly under the term "accent" and within the English language, rather than highlighting that all languages have varieties that differ in morphology, syntax, and lexicon as well as in "accent". While not every topic can be covered in depth, a linguistics textbook that doesn't include this major subfield wouldn't work by itself for my introductory course. There is also nothing about signed languages. The section on indigenous languages and language revitalisation (focusing on Mohawk) is a valuable unit, though more specific than the rest of the text.

The content is accurate and written from a disciplinary perspective.

The content is up-to-date and should remain relevant.

The book is clearly and engagingly written. The conversational tone is a major strength in an introductory textbook.

The chapters are well-structured and important terms are consistently bolded.

The chapters are a good length to be assigned as class readings. Some explanations are ordered differently than how I would assign them. For example, in the syntax chapter, tree diagrams are explained before the concept of constituents is introduced. However, it would be relatively straightforward to tailor readings by assigning specific sections of chapters.

The chapter order makes sense. A glossary and/or index would be helpful.

The interface seemed clear and easy to use. I was able to watch the embedded videos.

As the author's summary states, the book is aimed at anglophone Canadian students. It could be assigned to students in the United States without any changes beyond mentioning this fact and bringing local examples up in class.

On the whole, this is a valuable resource for an introductory linguistics course that could be supplemented with readings on sociolinguistics and signed languages.

Reviewed by Monika Ekiert, Associate Professor, LaGuardia CC, City University of New York on 1/10/19

The textbook's strength lies in the comprehensive review of the following areas of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The textbook does not sufficiently address other areas typically covered in introductory... read more

The textbook's strength lies in the comprehensive review of the following areas of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The textbook does not sufficiently address other areas typically covered in introductory courses in linguistics, but, as the title suggests, the aim was to cover the essentials.

Linguistic content is accurate in the textbook.

The textbook content is relevant in 2019 and will not age any time soon. The main topic deals with the foundations of linguistics as a science and will stand the test of time. The Canadian references are both the strength and the weakness of this text: they contextualize the usage within Canadian English but also limit the usability of the textbook outside of Canada/North America.

This is a very clearly written text with enough examples to introduce, situate, and contextualize linguistic terminology. It is written with a lay audience in mind and can be used successfully in introductory courses in linguistics.

The chapters and the units are very consistently organized with video and practice supplements guiding the reader.

Modularity rating: 4

The text is easily adaptable thanks to the modular organization. The chapter lengths are very appropriate for college students in introductory courses. The units within chapters allow some reordering. For example, I would have liked the chapters on language acquisition to be more condensed, but with some reordering personal preferences of the instructors can be easily accommodated.

The content in the textbook is ordered in a canonical and predictable ways for any instructor of linguistics. Textbook modularity allows for easy reordering and supplementation.

The text worked well for me both online and as a PDF. One needs a reliable Internet access to use the YouTube videos which contain important complementary additions to the printed text.

Text presentation is free of language errors.

As mentioned earlier, the Canadian references are both the strength and the weakness of this text: they contextualize the usage within Canadian English but also limit the usability of the textbook outside of Canada/North America.

The textbook can serve as the main text in an introductory course in linguistics, but, depending on the syllabus, some supplemental materials may be needed for the topics that may not be considered as interesting by generative linguists, such as social use of language (discourse analysis, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and language literacy). It is very effective in explaining the topics that it does address. The text is aimed at the Canadian learner with a focus on Canadian English. Some adaptation is needed to use it in the United States, for example. Overall, this is an excellent introductory text in linguistics and first of its kind on the Open Textbook Network.

Reviewed by Nick Dobson, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Augustana College on 11/13/18

The text doesn't aim to be comprehensive, omitting, for example, historical linguistics, pragmatics, and conversation structures. As far as I can tell, there is no index and no glossary. read more

The text doesn't aim to be comprehensive, omitting, for example, historical linguistics, pragmatics, and conversation structures. As far as I can tell, there is no index and no glossary.

The few errors I observed were already noted in the text.

The text is current. I can imagine updates that would supplement the material by expanding the topics discussed, but I don't think material will go out of date.

The text is very approachable for a general audience, & I can imagine it working well even with students in their 1st or 2nd years.

The chapters are all structured in similar ways, and chapters look forward to new material & backward to learned material effectively.

The chapter lengths are reasonable for college students, and material in each chapter can easily be covered in 1 or 2 class periods. The materials follow a logical sequence that would still allow some reordering.

The text follows a logical order, starting with phonetics and working toward ever larger units of meaning.

The text worked well for me both online and as a PDF. The only significant issue I can foresee would involve using the PDF without access to the internet. The YouTube videos contain some explanatory material not present in the transcriptions of the videos, so lack of access to the internet would reduce the effectiveness of the explanations.

I didn't notice any grammatical errors.

The text explicitly addresses indigenous languages of Canada and how other non-Western languages can be approached by Western observers.

The text doesn't set out to be comprehensive. It is very effective in explaining the topics that it does address. My biggest concern for classroom use as a main text is that it doesn't include many problem sets for students to work through.

Reviewed by Rosa Maria Castaneda, Associate Professor , Fort Hays State University on 10/27/18

The text provides videos and audio scripts to illustrate aspects relevant to the topic in discussion. read more

The text provides videos and audio scripts to illustrate aspects relevant to the topic in discussion.

To the best of my knowledge, the information presented in the text is accurate. Indigenous languages cover only those from Canada.

It is unlikely that the text will become obsolete since the main topic deals with the foundations of linguistics as a science.

The text is written with clarity and provides many examples too illustrates the main ideas.

The text is consistent in its presentation of the topic, followed by an audio and audio script, practice exercises and answers.

The text is divided between thirteen chapters, each of the chapters contains subchapters of smaller easier to read and follow sections.

Very well organized and didactic in my opinion.

The interface of the book does not display features that may distract the reader. Images and charts are clear and well presented.

No noticeable grammatical errors.

The section of indigenous languages covers indigenous languages of Canada only.

The text is an excellent resource for an introductory course in linguistics at the beginner or intermediate level. Every chapter in the text contains clear and didactic videos with video scripts, illustrations, IPA charts, that better illustrate the topics under examination. The text is aimed at the Canadian learner with a focus on Canadian English, however, the material can be used for any type of linguistics learner. In addition, this resource can be useful as a standalone or as a supplemental teaching material.

Table of Contents

• About the Authors
• Acknowledgements
• A Note to Instructors
• Chapter 1: Human Language and Language Science
• Chapter 2: Language, Power, and Privilege 
• Chapter 3: Phonetics
• Chapter 4: Phonology
• Chapter 5: Morphology
• Chapter 6: Syntax
• Chapter 7: Semantics
• Chapter 8: Pragmatics
• Chapter 9: Reclaiming Indigenous Languages
• Chapter 10: Language Variation and Change
• Chapter 11: Child Language Acquisition
• Chapter 12: Adult Language Learning
• [In progress] Chapter 13: Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics
• Appendix 1: PSRs and Flat Tree Structures
• Check Yourself Questions

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This Second Edition of Essentials of Linguistics is considerably revised and expanded, including several new chapters, diverse language examples from signed and spoken languages, enhanced accessibility features, and an orientation towards equity and justice. While the primary audience is Canadian students of Introduction to Linguistics, it is also suitable for learners elsewhere, in online, hybrid, or in-person courses.

About the Contributors

Catherine Anderson (she/her) is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Department of Linguistics & Languages and the Director of the Gender & Social Justice program at McMaster University. She earned a PhD in Linguistics from Northwestern University in 2004, and a BA from McMaster in the department where she is now a faculty member. The thread that connects her wide-ranging teaching and research interests is partnership: collaborating with learners and colleagues to further justice and to make learning accessible and enjoyable. Catherine lives with her wife and their twin teenage sons in Hamilton, on the territory governed by the Dish With One Spoon wampum agreement between the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe Nations.

Bronwyn Bjorkman (she/her) is an Associate Professor, Research Stream, in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Queen’s University, located in the traditional shared territories of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples. She received her PhD from MIT in 2011. Her research explores the interfaces between phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, focusing on how how information is represented and transferred between formal modules of grammar. Her research has appeared in journals such as Linguistic Inquiry, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, and Glossa. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted her belief in the value of virtual and remote community into ongoing work on building meaningful social connection into hybrid and virtual events both inside and outside academia. 

Derek Denis (he/him) is a tenure-stream, Assistant Professor, in the Department of Language Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga, located within Dish With One Spoon territory and the treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2015. His research examines language change and innovation from variationist and sociocultural linguistic perspectives, most recently focussing on the influence of immigrant youth in the emergence of a multiethnolect in Toronto. His work has appeared in Language, Language Variation and Change, American Speech, and the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development among venues. He lives in Toronto but spends as much time as possible at the cottage with his partner.

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The Linguistic Review

• Online ISSN: 1613-3676
• Print ISSN: 0167-6318
• Type: Journal
• Language: English
• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• First published: January 1, 1981
• Publication Frequency: 4 Issues per Year
• Audience: Anyone interested in linguistics, especially scholars

Book Reviews

Information about book reviews.

(This entry is specific to general book reviews. For information about textbook reviews, please see this link .)

1.  Definitions: Book reviews vs. review articles

Book reviews are 1200-2000 word pieces that summarize the content of the volume, assess its quality, and note its contribution to the field.  Book reviews appear in the journal Language . Book reviews are not usually assigned to volunteers, but instead are commissioned by the Review Editor in consultation with the Editor and Associate Editors of  Language . The journal typically publishes 20 to 40 reviews each year. Unsolicited reviews are discouraged. However,  Language  will entertain requests, suggestions, or proposals from potential reviewers and consider these on a case-by-case basis. Such individuals should first contact the Review Editor (Jessi Greiser).

Language also publishes reviews of textbooks. These reviews, however, are published in the Teaching Linguistics section of the journal, and are managed by the editors of that section rather than by the main Review Editor. If you are interested in doing a textbook review, contact the editors of Teaching Linguistics (see here for information about this section of Language ).

Review articles are longer pieces that are published as regular articles, and provide a more substantive review of a research area or a larger body literature on a specific topic. Review articles are commissioned by the Editors and are subject to the regular peer review process. Review articles are rather infrequent, and unsolicited review articles are generally not accepted. Individuals wishing to propose a review article should first contact the Language editorial office . 

2.  Editing

For any book review accepted for publication in  Language , the editors reserve the right to make alterations in punctuation, phrasing, and wording, as well as to make minor cuts, in order that the item be in keeping with the journal's requirements regarding style and usage. Authors are asked to proofread their contributions thoroughly before submission.

3. Format of a book review manuscript

Book reviews should strictly adhere to the formatting guidelines given below. A review that does not follow these guidelines may be returned to the reviewer for reformatting before it is considered for publication in  Language

The cover page Each book review should have a cover sheet within the document, providing the following information:

• the title and author(s)/editor(s) of the book;
• complete contact information for the review author (postal address, phone number, and e-mail address);
• an accurate word-count for the book  review (in MS Word, the "word count" utility is found in the "Tools" menu).

The first page The first page of the review should contain complete information about the book being reviewed and the name(s) of the the reviewer(s).

The page should start with information about the book being reviewed. Provide this information into a single paragraph, following this format (including punctuation and spacing): Title: Subtitle. Ed. by/By Full name of author(s). (series title) [if any].) Publication city, state abbreviation: Publisher, Publication year. Pp. XX. ISBN. Price in US$.

For indicating the price information, use the dollar amount unless none is available. In such a case, provide the price listed by the publisher in local currency (i.e., do not try to convert currencies). The price should be listed in only one currency. If there is a choice between listing paperback or hardbound prices, please provide the paperback price (this is the default). If the book is hardbound, please indicate do with the abbreviation "(Hb)" after the price. Prices should be given in whole units, without decimal points, if possible (e.g. $109 and not $109.00).

Reviewer information: The name and affiliation of the reviewer is handled differently depending upon whether it is a review or a book notice. For both reviews and book notices, include the review author's name and affiliation on a single line flush right following the header and preceding the body of the review (separated by spaces), as follows: Reviewed by Name,  Affiliation .

Please consult examples of book reviews published in  Language  to ensure that you format the first page of your review correctly.

The body of the review The body of the review should provide full first names of all scholars mentioned (except for those who publish under initials only). Please use Times New Roman font and a type size no smaller than 12 characters per inch. If the book is an edited volume, when you quote the names of authors of individual chapters, put the first name and surname in small capitals the first time you mention them, followed by regular font on subsequent mentions. Numbered examples are allowed in book reviews, but should be used sparingly. Book reviews do not allow subsections. 

4.  Timing

Book reviews should be completed within six months of receiving the book. If you need more time to complete your review, please contact the Review Editor who may be able to extend the deadline.

5.  Duplication

Undertaking to write a book review for  Language  entails that the reviewer has not previously published, and will not in future publish, a review the same book elsewhere. Exceptions to this policy may be granted in rare circumstances only after consultation with the Book Review Editor.

6.  Conflicts of interest

Individuals should not undertake to review a book to which they have contributed, or for which they have written publicity statements that appear on dust jackets or promotional literature.  Language  cautions prospective reviewers against taking on a project that would cause the objectivity of the review to be questioned (e.g. don't review a book written by a family member, close friend, advisee, advisor, student, colleague, etc.). Reviewers are also discouraged to take on reviews of books by researchers with which they have strong ideological disagreements, especially if these disagreements have played out in the public sphere. The editorial team reserves the right not to publish a review if we judge there be to a reason that may negatively impact the perceived objectivity of a review, even we learn about such a reason after a review has been accepted for publication.

7.  Negative reviews

Occasionally, a reviewer finds it necessary to express a negative opinion about a book in his/her review. When this is the case, it is important for the reviewer to maintain a professional tone and to avoid gratuitously offensive comments. The author of a negative review is also encouraged to send a copy of it to the author of the book when it is submitted to  Language for publication. This is done in order that book authors not be surprised, and infuriated needlessly, when a (deservedly) negative review appears. This also gives authors a chance to inform the reviewer of any factual errors in their review. It should be noted here that the journal rarely publishes replies to negative reviews, and only when the reply is likely to advance some useful scholarly dialogue. In such instances, the review and its rejoinder are usually published in the same issue. The decision of whether to publish a response is done at the sole discretion of the editorial team.

8.  Returns

Individuals who have been commissioned to write a book review should not hesitate to return the book, if it should turn out to be "not what was expected". If after inspecting the book, a reviewer decides against preparing a review, please inform the Book Review Editor and return the book promptly.

9.  Interaction between publishers, authors and Language

Language  receives many more books than we can publish a review for. The receipt of individual books cannot be separately acknowledged, and no book can be returned to the publisher. Accepting a book does not imply that it will be reviewed in this journal. The decision of which books to review is at the sole discretion of the Book Reviews Editor. Before sending books to Language , publishers are advised to consult the most recent reviews appearing in the journal for a representative sample of the type of publications that are sent out for reviews.

  Language  accepts books for reviews from publisher only, and never from authors. Authors interested in getting their books reviewed should confirm that their publisher's marketing department has sent a copy or new publication announcements to the  Language  Book Review office. Publishers who wish their linguistics selections to be noted in  Language should make certain to send relevant books or announcements to us.

Language  does not send copies of reviews to publishers or authors. Publishers and authors can access reviews through the same channels that they would usually access publications in  Language .

10.  How to submit a book review

All submissions should be e-mailed as both a Word and PDF attachment to the Book Review Editor. All other correspondence about book reviews should also be directed at the Book Review Editor.

Book Review Editor: Professor Jessi Grieser

E-mail: [email protected]  

Mailing address:

Language Reviews c/o Jessi Grieser Department of English College of Arts & Sciences Univeristy of Tennessee 301 McClung Tower Knoxville, TN 37996-0430

PUBLISHED BY

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Before submitting a manuscript

Sections of Language

FAQs about  Language

Information about book reviews

Information about textbook reviews

Online book notices 2007–2013

Advertising in  Language

Language  online archives

Language  indices

Subscribing to  Language

LSA guidelines on publication ethics

LSA guidelines for supplementary materials

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Book Review: Linguistics: Why It Matters

2019, ALTitude, 11(1), 8

This is a book review of Geoffrey Pullum's (2018) Linguistics: Why It Matters (Polity Press, 2018).

Related Papers

Open Access Library Journal

Prof Edward Owusu , Asuamah Adade-Yeboah

Every normal human being is born with a natural capacity for language learning and acquisition. To gain proficiency in language learning or teaching, one needs to fathom certain inputs that facilitate language learning and teaching. Books are influential resources for English language teaching and learning. Research papers can also be beneficial resources that facilitate second language teaching and learning. This paper, therefore, provides a précis of the main tenets of Meyer’s Introducing English Linguistics , in guileless words for the assistance of our second language students, readers, and English as second language teachers and users in general. Though this content analysis review paper uses the text, Introducing English Linguistics as the main data, references have been made to other related information from other authors.

Mehdi Zouaoui

Charles F. Meyers is a professor at Massachusetts University where he teaches Linguistics to students aspiring to teach English as a second language. The book is designed for first year students, per se, so as to give them a strong introductory about Linguistics and therefore serves as a guideline for them and also as a course book for teachers. For beginners, it is a perfect first to-start-with with the author aiming to convey most of the basic notions related to Linguistics that students need to know. The book is also designed as self-study work with the activities that are introduced by the end of each chapter. These activities are instrumental for students to check their understanding and grasp of the topic. The book even goes further by offering further reading at the end of each chapter for those who want to go deeper and find more information; however, I think that the author digressed in offering these suggested extensive reading which will likely to leave the reader, especially the beginner, perplexed on what reading needs more attention. It would have been better if the author has provided some required reading at the beginning including articles, online videos, etc to increase the chance of reading them by students. Having said that, the book won’t be too much beneficial for students who are already familiar with basic terms of Linguistics and they may find the book a bit simplistic in its structure except for some of the activities that they may enjoy while practicing their knowledge.

Journal of Sociolinguistics

Miriam Meyerhoff

D Terence Langendoen

Marcin Kuczok

Alejandro Mercado

Applied Linguistics

Alison Sealey

Albert Weideman

The framework for linguistics described in this book is not an introduction to linguistics in the conventional sense. Rather, it is an invitation to those entering the discipline to become intrigued by things lingual. Working from the premise that linguistics is not many disciplines, but one, however much it is sometimes divided up into formal (“theoretical”) and sociolinguistic camps, it is designed to provide insight into phenomena operating within the lingual dimension of our experience, that circumscribes the field of linguistics. The framework allows young scholars entering the field to gain an understanding of why and how the discipline is academically sustainable, a perspective that is likely to be useful beyond the shifts in linguistic paradigms that they will no doubt experience in their academic lifetimes.

Journal of English Linguistics

Csilla Weninger

Sam AlIraqi

The Routledge Linguistics Encyclopedia is a singlevolume encyclopedia covering all major and subsidiary areas of linguistics and applied linguistics. The seventy nine entries provide in-depth coverage of the topics and sub-topics of the field. Entries are alphabetically arranged and extensively cross-referenced so the reader can see how areas interrelate. Including a substantial introduction which provides a potted history of linguistics and suggestions for further reading, this is an indispensable reference tool for specialists and non-specialists alike.

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Book Review: ‘When the Sea Came Alive’ expands understanding of D-Day invasion

This cover image released by Avid Reader shows “When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day” by Garrett M. Graff. (Avid Reader via AP)

• Copy Link copied

Writing about the Allied invasion of Normandy , Garrett M. Graff is treading onto familiar history with his latest book.

From books by historian Stephen Ambrose to films like Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” there’s ample works chronicling the June 6, 1944, landing during World War II that ultimately led to the downfall of Nazi Germany.

But in “When The Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day,” Graff weaves together hundreds of eyewitness accounts to create a history that stands alongside those works, expanding readers’ understanding of D-Day and offering a new, complete portrait in time for the 80th anniversary commemorations .

The oral history begins with a look at the planning of the operation, going back to 1943, and the buildup of personnel and equipment in the months leading up to the operation.

Graff uses a wide array and diversity of voices that give a fuller picture of the lead-up to the invasion, as well as the fighting itself. The book excels in highlighting the experiences of Black soldiers who landed on D-Day beaches and women who were part of the story, such as correspondent Martha Gellhorn.

But it should come as no surprise that the most harrowing portions of the book remain the landing and the battles that occurred on D-Day itself, with vivid first-hand account. Graff skills at sifting through the accounts and documents propel the action throughout the book.

Graff’s book is a testimony to the value in preserving memories from grand historical events, demonstrating how much can be unearthed from even the most familiar stories.

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

Booker Prize finalist Chigozie Obioma sends readers into battle

“The Road to the Country” is a harrowing novel about the Nigerian Civil War.

“The writer is often faced with two choices,” the late Nigerian author Chinua Achebe argued, “turn away from the reality of life’s intimidating complexity or conquer its mystery by battling with it.” Based on the three novels he has produced so far, Chigozie Obioma appears to not even be aware of that first option. His books — “ The Fishermen ,” “An Orchestra of Minorities” and the new “ The Road to the Country ” — charge headfirst into the thorniest areas of human existence. His exhilarated readers carry the cuts and scratches.

“The Fishermen,” one of this century’s most remarkable debuts, tackles destiny, fratricide and revenge in a west Nigerian town. Its expansive follow-up, “An Orchestra of Minorities,” is narrated by a 700-year-old guardian spirit known as a chi and attempts, as Obioma explained to the arts magazine Bomb , an inversion of John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” in which the ways of men are justified to the gods. Both books contain writing as magnificent as their author’s ambitions. Both were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Neither will prepare readers for Obioma’s third novel.

Summer reading

“The Road to the Country” is set during the Nigerian Civil War, which took place over 2½ devastating years in the late 1960s. The war claimed a reported 1 million people, many of them children who perished from starvation. Some estimates — including Achebe’s in his 2012 memoir of what is also known as the Biafran War — put the losses even higher. “An entire generation was wrenched from the future,” as Obioma’s peer Emmanuel Iduma has noted.

The war began in July 1967, two months after a charismatic, college-educated military officer named Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu announced the creation of the independent Republic of Biafra in Nigeria’s Eastern Region. (Ojukwu, like other real-life Biafrans, appears in the novel.) In the previous year, the area had become a refuge to about a million members of the Igbo people, who fled a campaign of terror in the Northern Region after being scapegoated for a coup. The Nigerian government responded to the secession with overwhelming and merciless force. Achebe, to quote the Igbo author of “Things Fall Apart” one last time, called the war “a cataclysmic experience that changed the history of Africa.”

When “The Road to the Country” opens, the Biafran War is just underway. A poorly armed militia has formed to defend the nascent state. Casualties are mounting. People are afraid. Adekunle “Kunle” Aromire is oblivious to all of it.

A self-absorbed law student with an Igbo mother and a Yoruban father, Kunle has returned to the family’s Western Region home from Lagos for the first time in 13 months. He has spent the past decade blaming himself for an accident that paralyzed his younger brother, Tunde. (Hoping to be alone with his neighbor and crush, a fellow 9-year-old named Nkechi, Kunle had shooed the boy outside, where he was promptly struck by an Oldsmobile. Kunle has cloaked himself in guilt ever since.)

Obioma invests these early, establishing pages with a touch of dark comedy, as the hopelessly naive Kunle incites wide-eyed disbelief in his father and uncle. Relaxing on his parents’ couch following a bath, Kunle decides “that he must find out more about what is happening — this ‘war.’” How Obioma relieves Kunle of his innocence is a major focus of this ultraviolent and sometimes enervating novel.

Through a series of literal missteps and wrong turns, Kunle finds himself conscripted into the Biafran militia. Given inferior combat training and a new name — Adekunle is also the name of a Nigerian general known as the Black Scorpion — the reluctant soldier rechristened Peter Nwaigbo is thrust into a conflict marked by incessant bombings and widespread gore. Terror absorbs him. He feels “the sense of being trapped in a burning house.” He cries often.

In time, Kunle adopts the Biafran cause as his own. That’s in part because he sees the war as an opportunity to cleanse himself of shame over Tunde. “Perhaps instead of attaining the redemption he sought for so long in righting the wrong he once did,” Obioma writes, “he could achieve it on a larger scale if he helped fight to save this people.” In the meantime, and in the novel’s most strained storyline, Kunle falls in love with a comrade, the vengeful Agnes Azuka, whose husband and sons were butchered by the Nigerians.

Obioma says “The Road to the Country” is the first Biafran War novel to take place on the front lines. That may be so, but its ideas on the physical and psychic traumas of warfare, humanity’s destructive nature and the familial bonds that form in bunkers and barracks have been expressed countless times before. Despite the seemingly endless ambushes and explosions, “The Road to the Country” offers a story with few surprises. It can feel as if Obioma is searching for pieces of a puzzle that has already been solved. The labored framing device, in which the story we’re reading is actually a vision experienced by a seer in 1947, is weighted with notions about perspective and the fluidity of time.

The novel’s reflections and warnings bear repeating, though, particularly because war is a hell that we keep revisiting and especially when the writing is as skillful as this: “It occurs to him that the only true thing about mankind can be found in the stories it tells,” Obioma writes, “and some of the truest of these stories cannot be told by the living. Only the dead can tell them.”

Jake Cline is a writer and editor in Miami.

The Road to the Country

By Chigozie Obioma

Hogarth. 384 pp. $29

More from Book World

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Check out our coverage of this year’s Pulitzer winners: Jayne Anne Phillips won the fiction prize for her novel “ Night Watch .” The nonfiction prize went to Nathan Thrall, for “ A Day in the Life of Abed Salama .” Cristina Rivera Garza received the memoir prize for “ Liliana’s Invincible Summer .” And Jonathan Eig received the biography prize for his “ King: A Life .”

Best books of 2023: See our picks for the 10 best books of 2023 or dive into the staff picks that Book World writers and editors treasured in 2023. Check out the complete lists of 50 notable works for fiction and the top 50 nonfiction books of last year.

Find your favorite genre: Three new memoirs tell stories of struggle and resilience, while five recent historical novels offer a window into other times. Audiobooks more your thing? We’ve got you covered there, too . If you’re looking for what’s new, we have a list of our most anticipated books of 2024 . And here are 10 noteworthy new titles that you might want to consider picking up this April.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

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He Took a Terrible, Horrible, No-Good 800-Mile Hike So You Don’t Have To

In “A Walk in the Park,” Kevin Fedarko recounts a trek-of-a-lifetime that becomes a nightmare in one of America’s most stunning sites. At least he can laugh about it.

By Blair Braverman

Blair Braverman is a writer, adventurer and dog-sledder. Her most recent book is “Small Game.”

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A WALK IN THE PARK: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon, by Kevin Fedarko

Maybe it’s when he’s extracting drinking water from damp sand with a syringe, trying desperately not to die from dehydration, but there came a point in “A Walk in the Park,” Kevin Fedarko’s memoir about walking the length of the Grand Canyon, that I thought: Wow, this hike is a terrible idea.

Not that this was a revelation; Fedarko says as much from the start. But I still assumed, being well versed in the rhythms of adventure stories (and the accompanying “wait-till-you-hear-how-bad-it-was” ), that a Grand Canyon hike wouldn’t be uniquely awful. I was wrong.

Fedarko grew up in Pittsburgh, in a landscape drained by coal mining and poisoned by the byproducts of industry; his family recalls the yellow mist of the Donora Death Fog, a quirk of atmospheric pressure that trapped chemical emissions over a town some 20 miles south of the city, killing at least 20 people and sickening many more. As a child visiting his grandparents, he played on hills of strip-mine waste.

But when a magazine assignment brought him to the Colorado River, he fell in love with both the Grand Canyon and the elegant wooden dories that traverse it. He uprooted his life to volunteer for a tour company, handling raw sewage on rafting expeditions in the hope of one day being promoted to the driver’s seat of a dory. As he relates one grievous mishap after another, the reader faces a dawning realization. Wait: Is this guy going to walk the whole canyon because he’s not good enough to row a boat?

Indeed — and outdoor literature is the better for it, because “A Walk in the Park” is a triumph. Fedarko doesn’t describe awe; he induces it, with page-turning action, startling insights and the kind of verbal grace that makes multipage descriptions of, say, a flock of pelicans feel riveting and new. The canyon has no established through route. It is a living oven, full of scorpions, cactuses, venomous snakes, flash floods and various other incarnations of hell on earth.

Indeed, Grand Canyon is one of the deadliest national parks, and Fedarko relates in unflinching details the list of fatalities: Various tourists plummet off viewpoints and a guy drowns while crossing rapids on an air mattress. By the time he explains how the canyon’s extreme heat can cause the proteins in human cells to “denature and congeal as if one were boiling an egg,” I wished he were a little less gifted in his descriptive powers.

Fedarko’s hiking companion is his longtime creative partner, the photographer Pete McBride. Each man “often found the other to be madly annoying,” writes Fedarko — but some of his warmest and funniest writing is about his friendship with McBride, whether they’re discovering ancient petroglyphs or wrenching pieces of cholla cactus off each other. McBride is made up of equal parts idealism and “pigheadedness.” He theorizes that they don’t need to train because “the hike itself is the thing that’s gonna get us in shape for the hike” — though Fedarko acknowledges, in a lengthy and diplomatic footnote, that his depiction of the duo’s incompetence, while not technically in accurate, may be played up for drama. That it annoys McBride, it seems, is only a side benefit.

The canyon, unlike the reader, is unamused. The prospect of death very real, these men have to get their act together or quit. Though at times they come close to their demise, a team of magnanimous experts helps them to trek on. They encounter radioactive mine sites, wild horses, pools of dead tarantulas and countless other shocks and wonders, such as a cactus that retracts into the dirt and a carnivorous mouse that howls at the moon. Along the way they, and we, meet many of the park’s stakeholders, from Indigenous activists to a professor of Euclidean numbers theory. Fedarko interweaves their stories with wry, precise distillations of natural history and incisive profiles of the investment interests that aim to squeeze wild nature into cash.

The book never shies from its paradoxes: I did this so you don’t have to; I did this because you shouldn’t; I shouldn’t have done this, but it’s good I did. By the time the men complete their yearlong hike, they’ve endured and overcome so much that they’re briefly mistaken for plane crash victims. But in truth, they, and we, are pilgrims on holy ground. Readers will be tempted to visit the canyon just to keep the book’s spell alive longer — and to feel Fedarko’s company in their awe.

A WALK IN THE PARK : The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon | By Kevin Fedarko | Scribner | 489 pp. | $32.50

Exploring the Outdoors, One Step at a Time

Hiking is a great way to immerse yourself in nature and tune out the chaos of city life. the tips below will help you get ready before you hit the trail..

Hiking offers a host of mental and physical benefits. If you’re new to it, here’s how to get started .

Fourteen years and one Apple App of the Year award in, AllTrails has become something rare: a tool that works for both experts and newbies .

Make sure you have the right gear . Wirecutter has recommendations for anything you might need — from hydration packs  to trekking poles . And remember to try on hiking boots  at the right time of the day .

These clever apps and devices  will help you to find your way, triage an injury and generally stay out of trouble on the trail.

Planning to venture out for a nighttime  hike ? Opt for wide, easy-to-navigate paths.

Experts say failing to alert family or friends of your plans is one of the biggest mistakes hikers make. Here are some more safety tips .