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 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.

Kirk Hazen is Professor of Linguistics at West Virginia University. He is co-editor of Research Methods in Sociolinguistics (with Janet Holmes, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013).