An Introduction to Language

An Introduction to Language helps shape readers’ understanding of what language is, how it works, and why it is both elegantly complex and yet essential to who we are. Presenting a scientific approach to language-in-use – investigated through wide-ranging examples from Old English to contemporary pop culture – it invites students to consider what qualities of language comprise everyday communication skills, be they sounds, words, phrases, or conversation.

Providing an introductory tour of language variation, Hazen deconstructs the idea of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ English, and explores the narrow interpretations society places on language. Each chapter features exercises that help students engage with key concepts and directly observe the patterns that are part of all human language, its social nuances, and inherent variation. Ideal for those coming to the subject for the first time, An Introduction to Language offers an engaging tour through the rich texture of language, and the ways in which we use and understand it today.

An Introduction to Language offers an engaging guide to the nature of language, focusing on how language works – its sounds, words, structures, and phrases – all investigated through wide-ranging examples from Old English to contemporary pop culture.

• Explores the idea of a scientific approach to language, inviting students to consider what qualities of language comprise everyday skills for us, be they sounds, words, phrases, or conversation
• Helps shape our understanding of what language is, how it works, and why it is both elegantly complex and essential to who we are
• Includes exercises within each chapter to help readers explore key concepts and directly observe the patterns that are part of all human language
• Examines linguistic variation and change to illustrate social nuances and language-in-use, drawing primarily on examples from English
• Avoids linguistic jargon, focusing instead on a broader and more general approach to the study of language, and making it ideal for those coming to the subject for the first time
• Supported by additional web resources – available upon publication at www.wiley.com/go/hazen/introlanguage – including student study aids and testbank and notes for instructors