Ralph W. Fasold - An Introduction to Language and Linguistics

A clear and up-to-date introduction to linguistics, this bestselling textbook addresses the full scope of language, from the traditional subjects of structural linguistics (relating to sound, form, meaning, and language change) to the more specialized subjects of contextual linguistics (including discourse, dialect variation, language and culture, and the politics of language). There are also separate chapters on language and the brain, computational linguistics, writing, and first and second language learning. Extensively classroom-tested, this second edition has been revised to further support student learning, with numerous new examples, exercises, and textboxes to model and contextualize key concepts. Updated throughout to incorporate contemporary issues and events, it includes worked examples of phonological analyses and multiple examples of a variety of World Englishes. A rich collection of online resources completes the learning package.

RALPH FASOLD is Professor Emeritus and past Chair of the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University. He is the author of four books and editor or coeditor of six others. Among them are the textbooks The Sociolinguistics of Society (1984) and The Sociolinguistics of Language (1990).

JEFF CONNOR-LINTON is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University, where he has been Head of the Applied Linguistics Program and Department Chair. He is a Past President of the American Association for Applied Linguistics. He has supervised a multi-section introductory linguistics course and supervises the pedagogical training of graduate students in the Linguistics Department.

The editors sincerely thank Zhaleh Feizollahi, who helped in the revision of most chapters and added many new textboxes and other content. She taught introductory linguistics courses with the first edition at several universities and applied that experience to make the second edition even more accessible and engaging.

Thanks to Donna Lardiere, Alison Mackey, and Gigliana Melzi for their many helpful comments on this chapter, and to Rebekha Abbuhl for excellent research and editorial assistance.

This chapter was written with support from NSF SBR-9905273, NIH R01 HD049347, and research grants from the National Alliance for Autism Research, the Mabel Flory Trust, and Pfizer, Inc. The author thanks Paul Aisen, Sherry Ash, Harriet Bowden, Stefano Cappa, Alfonso Caramazza, Jeff Connor-Linton, Antonio Damasio, John Drury, Ivy Estabrooke, Angela Friederici, Jennifer Ganger, Matthew Gelfand, Jordan Grafman, Yosef Grodzinsky, Gregory Hickok, Argye Hillis, Peter Indefrey, Edith Kaan, Amy Knight, Sonja Kotz, Alex Martin, Goldie Ann McQuaid, Robbin Miranda, Matthew Moffa, Susan Nitzberg Lott, Aaron Newman, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, David Poeppel, Brenda Rapp, Ardi Roelofs, Ned Sahin, Karsten Steinhauer, Tamara Swaab, Michael Thomas, Sharon Thompson-Schill, John van Meter, Jill Weisberg, and particularly Matthew Walenski, for useful suggestions and help in preparing this chapter.

Thanks to Philip Carter, Janet M. Fuller, Kirk Hazen, Andrea Kleene, Anastasia Nylund, Aida Premilovac, Daniel Schreier, Corinne Seals, Barbara Soukup, and Walt Wolfram.

Thanks to Jonathan Frank for comments on a draft version of this chapter.