This is the second edition of a book published in 2007. Like the first edition, this book covers the general subfields of modern linguistics, which include language acquisition, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, as well as language variation. A new chapter is devoted to computer-mediated communication and its effects on language.

This book consists of three parts. Part I (Chs. 1–3) explores the common nature and shared characteristics of diverse languages around the world. Ch. 1 explains how language can be defined as a system in the fields of sounds, lexicon, grammar, and so on. Language diversity is also mentioned in this chapter. Ch. 2 reveals the distinctive features that human languages have compared to animal communication systems. Ch. 3 presents the Innateness Hypothesis and the Critical Age Hypothesis that explain how language is acquired by human beings. Then the general stages of first language and second language acquisition are analyzed. Several issues related to second language teaching and learning—first language interference, individual differences, and so on—are also discussed.

Part II (Chs. 4–7) discusses phonetic, morphological, and syntactic aspects of human languages. Ch. 4 illustrates how the sound aspect of language is studied. Concepts such as vowels, consonants, place and manner of articulation, phonemes, and suprasegmentals are explained in this chapter. Ch. 5 examines the morphological structure of words; the concepts of the morpheme and its categorization and types of word formation are discussed. Ch. 6 shows how language is prescribed or deconstructed according to different models of grammar, such as traditional grammar, structural grammar, and functional grammar. Ch. 7 is dedicated to the discussion of diachronic change in English with respect to the lexicon, sounds, and grammar, revealing that many influences have caused huge changes in English in all three aspects.

Part III (Chs. 8–11) examines how meaning is expressed in language in human interaction. Ch. 8 focuses on the construction of the literal meaning of words and mainly shows that sense relations include synonymy, antonymy, homonymy, and polysemy. Ch. 9 looks at how the pragmatic meaning of an utterance is interpreted by language users under different social contexts. This chapter tells us that cultural, social, and ethical contexts play an important role in understanding. Ch. 10, a new chapter not included in the first edition, illustrates that both spoken and written languages have been influenced by new technologies such as computers, which have resulted in the formation of a unique style of English including special abbreviations and internet communicative etiquette. The final chapter, Ch. 11, points out that language undergoes constant change. For instance, the English language has experienced lots of modification—phonetically, phonologically, semantically, and syntactically. In addition, dialectal diversity in language is also discussed in this chapter. In a word, this book is very readable for beginners in linguistic research and those who want to have a basic understanding of language and linguistics.