Hazen K. An Introduction to Language

John Wiley, 2015. — 453 pp. — (Linguistics in the World). — ISBN10: 0470658967, ISBN13: 978-0470658963This book explores the nature of language primarily through an explanation of English, drawing on examples from other languages to illustrate similarity and diversity in human language.
As a result of the expansion of the British Empire, English is now a global language. With all the people who have learned English over the last 200 years, the language is in a different state than it used to be. We might be able to imagine a possible universe where language does not change, but as we will explore in this book, humans have a natural instinct to understand and produce language variation. A product of that daily variation is language change. Over time, our natural ability for variation has created many varieties of English.
At times, I refer to these different varieties as Englishes. It is more concise than dialects of English. Plus, the term dialect carries with it a great deal of social baggage, which will be explained throughout the book. Although speakers of many different Englishes can understand each other, the social differences and language characteristics of these varieties of English are widely recognized. As we talk about the qualities of language throughout this book, the examples will come from Englishes around the world.Sounds
Patterns of Sounds
Simple Words in the Lexicon
Idioms, Slang, and the English Lexicon
Words Made of Many Parts
Putting Pieces Together
Building Bigger Phrases
From Phrases to Meaning
The Winding Paths of Language in Education
The Life Cycles of Language