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<p>Introduction 1</p> <p><b>Part I: Looking at Language through the Lens of Linguistics 7</b></p> <p>Chapter 1: Knowing a Language Versus Knowing What Language Is 9</p> <p>Chapter 2: Communicating with Language: The Design Features 21</p> <p><b>Part II: The Building Blocks of Language 33</b></p> <p>Chapter 3: Building Sounds: Phonetics 35</p> <p>Chapter 4: Putting Sounds Together: Phonology 57</p> <p>Chapter 5: Building Words: Morphology 77</p> <p>Chapter 6: Creating Sentences: Syntax 95</p> <p>Chapter 7: Making Sense of Meaning: Semantics 117</p> <p>Chapter 8: Using Language in Conversation: Pragmatics 133</p> <p><b>Part III: The Social Life of Language 151</b></p> <p>Chapter 9: Living with Language Variation: Sociolinguistics 153</p> <p>Chapter 10: Finding Family Relations: Historical Linguistics 171</p> <p>Chapter 11: Cataloguing Differences: Linguistic Typology 189</p> <p>Chapter 12: Beginning and Ending: Language Birth and Language Death 205</p> <p><b>Part IV: Your Brain on Language: Learning and Processing Language 221</b></p> <p>Chapter 13: Learning Language 223</p> <p>Chapter 14: Perceiving Language 245</p> <p>Chapter 15: Producing Language 259</p> <p>Chapter 16: Locating Language in the Brain: Neurolinguistics 277</p> <p><b>Part V: Getting from Speaking to Writing 293</b></p> <p>Chapter 17: Writing Down Language 295</p> <p>Chapter 18: Writing Changes You 307</p> <p><b>Part VI: The Part of Tens 321</b></p> <p>Chapter 19: Ten Myths about Language Busted by Linguistics 323</p> <p>Chapter 20: Ten Unsolved Problems in Linguistics 331</p> <p>Chapter 21: Top 10 Jobs for Linguists 337</p> <p>Index 343</p>

<p><b>Strang Burton</b> is a linguist with the Stolo nation and has taught linguistics at a number of universities. <b>Rose-Marie Déchaine</b> and <b>Eric Vatikiotis-Bateson</b> are professors of linguistics at the University of British Columbia.

<p><b><i>Learn to:</i></b> <ul> <li>The components of any language</li> <li>Language's social dimensions</li> <li>What language reveals about the human brain</li> <li>How writing changes a language</li> </ul> <p><b>Understand the science behind human language</b> <p>Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Whether you're currently enrolled in a course or just want to explore the subject, <i>Linguistics For Dummies</i> helps you understand some of the primary streams of linguistics: what language is for (communication), how language works (pattern formation), what language reveals about the mind (cognition), and how written language shapes society (technology). <ul> <li><b>Get to know the basics</b> — determine the traits that all languages share and get to know the design features which ensure that language can convey meaning</li> <li><b>Discover the building blocks of language</b> — investigate how individual speech sounds combine to form words, which form sentences, and how those are strung together to make conversation</li> <li><b>Explore the evolution of language</b> — consider how new languages are born, chart how language changes over time, and examine how languages are lost</li> <li><b>Study the relationship between the human brain and language</b> — find out how children and adults learn language and how language activates your brain</li> <li><b>Delve into the written word</b> — see how different writing systems develop, how writing a language down changes it, and how it changes you!</li> </ul> <p><b>Open the book and find:</b> <ul> <li>The architecture of words</li> <li>How linguistics categorizes into grammatical categories</li> <li>What makes a conversation tick</li> <li>The social variables that affect language</li> <li>How linguistic archeology connects Sanskrit and English</li> <li>Why dying languages matter and how they can be saved</li> <li>What brain damage does to language</li> <li>How electronic writing streamlines language</li> </ul>

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