Linguistics : An Introduction

Rating:
Summary: A Decent Survey
Review: I found this book to be a decent survey of Linguistics. It is written at a higher level, assuming the reader already knows a bit about language, which I appreciated, yet is not so complex you cannot follow it. Obviously a graduate level read. I recommend it for anyone who is brushing up on linguistics and already has a background in it. It is an overview with more depth than typical linguistics books.

Rating:
Summary: Response to watzizname's review
Review: The review posted by watzizname slams this book on a few fronts, but the slams are unfounded. Watzizname may be a casual observer of linguistics, but he doesn't seem to know what is going on in the field presently.

For example, when referring to case, watzizname says that English no longer uses case, but is a positional language. This is true to some extent, but most contemporary theories of syntax use case as a crucial component, even when the case is not overtly marked (as in English). The Principles and Parameters model of syntax contains the "case filter," where all overt DPs (or Noun Phrases) must be case-marked at Surface Structure, else the sentence is ruled ungrammatical. In the more modern Minimalist Program, uninterpretable case must be "checked." These apply to even non-case languages like English, since they refer to abstract case, not morhpological or "inherent" case. Pronoun case markings are simply the most concrete way of explaining case in English, since we have few morphological reflexes left.

The other gripe of watzizname's was that Noun Prases are referred to as Determiner Phrases in the book. Watzizname clearly doesn't know where the theory is nowadays. Noun Phrases are now thought to be embedded withing DPs, with the determiner serving as sort of a 'fuctional shell,' even when there is no overt determiner in the phrase. These function just like the 'light verb' "v" serves as a functional shell for verb phrases and TP/IP/AgrP/CP serve as functional shells for clauses (preveiously termed "S").

So, please ignore watzizname's complaints about this book. What he is complaining about actually reflects some of the more recent developments in the fields of syntax and linguistics and should actually be considered PLUSSES for this book, not detractors. Most intro to linguistics textbooks show you where the field was 20 years ago.

Rating:
Summary: A Flawed Introduction to Linguistics
Review: This book consists of an introductory section followed by three parts covering three major divisions of linguistics. Part 1, "Sounds" (chapters 1-7) covers phonology; part 2, "Words" (chapters 8-16) deals with morphology; and part 3, "Sentences" (chapters 17-26) is about syntax.

Part 1 is particularly difficult for the typical American reader because most of the English language examples are based on Received Standard pronunciation (or something near enough to RS to be less than illuminating for one brought up to speak a dialect close to Network Standard).

But worse by far than that is the authors' lack of understanding of how the English language works. For example, on page 227 is the following sentence: "Additionally, . . . "I dog Bill" and "Bill dogs me" are interpreted quite differently, and these different interpretations are due to the choice between nominative "I" and accusative "me" and the related choice between "dog" and "dogs." (because I cannot italicize here, I have put quotation marks around words that are italicized in the book.) Once upon a time, several centuries ago, case inflections of pronouns had some grammatical significance in English, but English has since evolved into a positional language. In modern English, direction of action is determined solely by position, and the remaining vestiges of nominative and accusative case inflections have no grammatical significance whatever. The only case inflections that retain any grammatical significance are the possessives, and in some dialects of English even those are disappearing.

The third and final part of the book discusses syntax, and features an altogether ludicrous reclassification of the components of sentences. If the authors were to describe a house like they describe the structure of English, the living room might be viewed as subsidiary in importance to the coat closet, and the kitchen and dining room as minor adjuncts to the pantry. Auxiliary verbs are accorded more importance than content verbs. Here we find no Noun Phrases; they are called Determiner Phrases if they contain no case marker, otherwise Prepositional Phrases.

For an introduction to the fascinating subject of linguistics, as Consumer Reports might put it, there are better choices.