Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication (Paperback)

by Adrian Akmajian (Author), Richard A. Demers (Author), Ann K. Farmer (Author), Robert M. Harnish (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This popular introductory linguistics text is unique in the way various themes are integrated throughout the book. One primary theme is the question, "How is a speaker’s communicative intent recognized?" Rather than treat phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics as completely separate fields, the text shows how they interact in principled ways. Similarly, language variation and acquisition are informed by results in these fields. The text provides a sound introduction to linguistic methodology while also revealing why people are intrinsically interested in language--the ultimate puzzle of the human mind. The fifth edition has been thoroughly revised. Revisions include, but are not limited to, the addition of "selected readings" sections, updated examples, new discussion on the creative nature of neologisms, and the use of IPA as the primary transcription system throughout. This edition also includes an account of the patterns of occurrence of reduced vowels in English. An understanding of these patterns enables the reader to write a phonemic transcription of any English word.

About the Author
The late Adrian Akmajian was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona.

Richard A. Demers is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona.

Ann K. Farmer is a Senior Staff Technical Writer in the High Level Verification Group at Synopsys, Sunnyvale, California.

Robert M. Harnish is Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics and Research Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 5 edition (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262511231
• ISBN-13: 978-0262511230
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #132,001 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent intro text, December 24, 2003

By	magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication (Hardcover)

This is the second edition and fourth printing of this popular text by Akmajian, Demers, and Harnish at the University of Arizona. Although this text is now over 15 years old, it's still a fine introduction to the subject. One nice thing about the book is that the prose is not too technical for the beginning reader while providing excellent coverage of the important concepts and technical points. This is often a problem with linguistics texts since, unlike other technical subjects, most people have little or no background in linguistics before taking their first real course in the subject, and having previously learned a foreign language isn't as helpful as many students might think since much of linguistics, especially in the transformational grammar and generative grammar and analytical syntax areas, is a highly technical, formal, and even mathematical discipline now.

As I am mainly a neuroscientist and secondarily a linguist, I was most interested in Part 3 of this book. The first two parts present the usual linguistics topics such as phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, language variation, and evolution. Part 3 deals with the area of Psycholinguistics, and there are four chapters discussing language from the standpoint of Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology. The four chapters are: Pragmatics: The Study of Language Use and Communication; Speech Production and Comprehension; Language Acquisition in Chimp and Child;, and Language and the Brain. The chapter on the brain might be a little too basic for neuroscience students, but it's an excellent introduction for the linguistics students, and I noticed that a number of the classic experiments such as the famous "Wada test" and dichotic listening experiments were discussed, as well as topics like conduction aphasia, Broca's aphasia, Wernicke's aphasia, hemispheric localization and dominance, and so on.

Overall still a fine text and worth picking up used if you can find it, when it will be bargain for the price.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, February 8, 2008

By	M. Gongora (Mesa, AZ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great book... I had to read it in a period of 9 weeks; and that is a lot for me, I like taking my time, but with this book I only wanted to keep going. The definitions were simple and I did not have to go back and read again because I got lost somewhere in the text.

13 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book for learning linguistics, July 15, 2002

By	"blanchefleur" (JPN) - See all my reviews

As the titele shows, this book is an intro to English linguistics. It covers almost all the fields of linguistics---morphology, phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics. In this book, there are many examples, tables, and exercises. You can learn synthetic concepts of linguistics by reading the book. English is rather easy so even the foreign people can make good use of the textbook. You can rethink about the language and communication and it will be very interesting.