Looking at Languages: A Workbook in Elementary Linguistics [Paperback]

Paul R. Frommer (Author), Edward Finegan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0838407951 | ISBN-13: 978-0838407950 | Publication Date: December 17, 2003 | Edition: 3

Used with any introductory language and linguistic text, this workbook provides exercise problems from 30 languages, including a significant number in English.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I love the variety of exercises in the book. The authors have done an extraordinary job gathering this data to analyze. students really appreciate the data and the data analyses they get to do. They've told me they felt like "real" linguists because they had so much data to analyze." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

BA in math from U of Rochester, master's and PHD from USC; taught in Malyasia and Iran; was VP, Special Projects Coordinator, Strategic Planner, and Writer-Reseracher at Bentley Industries in LA; creator of the language Na'vi for the movie, Avatar. Edward Finegan, USC emeritus (2010) - specializes in sociolinguistics and history & structure of the English language. Co-author, with Paul Frommer, of LOOKING AT LANGUAGES: A WORKBOOK IN ELEMENTRAY LINGUISTICS. MA and PhD, Ohio State University; served as chair of Department of Lingistics at USC; has been Fellow in Law and Linguistics, Harvard University; Visitng Professor at University of Zurich, Visiting Scholar at University of Helsinki, Liberal Arts Fellow at Harvard Universisty, Director of American Language Institute/National Iranian Radio and Television [1975-1976 - in peaceful times]. Recipient of many teaching awards and honors. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Heinle; 3 edition (December 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0838407951
• ISBN-13: 978-0838407950
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,898,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine introduction, February 10, 2010

By 

Frederico Lopes (Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Looking at Languages: A Workbook in Elementary Linguistics (Paperback)

This book is geared toward freshmen in Linguistics, and a very a good one. But there are better alternatives at the same level.
Paul Frommer is the author of the artifical language Nav'i, from the movie Avatar. From this book, I suppose that that language must be well designed and one of great expressiveness. After all, I'm happy with this book that teaches so well the basics.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful tool, May 9, 2011

By 

Tim Stoffel (Reno, NV) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Looking at Languages: A Workbook in Elementary Linguistics (Paperback)

I am a Na`vi language learner, and bought the book primarily because it is the first scholarly book to mention anything about this beautiful language. But in addition to the Na`vi sections, there is much other material here to assist one in understanding and learning other languages. This book is designed to be used in conjunction with another linguistics textbook, but is useful even without this book. If you know some basic linguistic terminology, you can use this book as-is to provide useful exercises in a wide variety of languages. Even English speakers will benefit from this book. A number of exercises based on the English language will help them get a better understanding of their own language.

0 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Languages workbook, October 28, 2009

By 

F. Ong (Kailua, Hawaii USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Looking at Languages: A Workbook in Elementary Linguistics (Paperback)

Looking at Languages Workbook was quite good and organized. Really benefited my son who is currently taking a linguistics course in college. The dealer we bought from shipped via postal mail so it was a bit slow using Media Mail to Hawaii but I did not choose a faster way so I guess this was my fault. Dealer advertised workbook as new. It was relatively new, no marks or mark-ups inside but the outside was a tad beat up like it had been on the shelf for a while. Overall a good deal and good price.