Description
Language is everywhere. It permeates our thoughts, mediates our relations with others, and even creeps into our dreams. Most human knowledge and culture is stored and transmitted in language, which is so ubiquitous that we take it for granted. Without it, however, society as we now know it would be impossible.
Despite its undeniable importance in human affairs, language is poorly understood. Misconceptions about it are legion, even among well-educated people, and not even professional linguists can claim to understand it fully. It is a radical mistake to assume that the nature of language is self-evident or that we know all about a language just because we speak it. Gradually, however, linguists and other scholars are gaining a better understanding of this remarkable instrument of human communication. The purpose of this book is to summarize a significant portion of what is known about language for the benefit of those with little or no previous training in linguistics.ISBN:015549192x
