Language and linguistics books
Language and linguistics books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
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New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
The Study of Language
George YuleA widely used undergraduate introduction that covers the main areas of linguistics in short, accessible chapters.
The Language Instinct
Steven PinkerA popular account arguing that language is an innate human capacity, drawing on child language acquisition and generative grammar.
An Introduction to Language
Victoria A. FromkinA long-running textbook, co-written with Robert Rodman, that became a standard entry point for students in the United States.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
David CrystalA reference survey of languages, writing systems and language topics, organized so readers can browse by subject.
Because Internet
Gretchen McCullochA linguist's account of how online communication shapes written English, including punctuation, emoji and internet slang.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
Reading lists
More language and linguistics books
- Course in General Linguistics.
Course in General Linguistics.Ferdinand de Saussure - Syntactic Structures
Syntactic StructuresNoam Chomsky - Introduction to Theoretical LinguisticsIntroduction to Theoretical LinguisticsJ. Lyons
- Linguistics
LinguisticsDavid Crystal - The Stuff of Thought
The Stuff of ThoughtSteven Pinker - Introducing Discourse Analysis
Introducing Discourse AnalysisDavid Nunan - Introducing Applied Linguistics
Introducing Applied LinguisticsS.P. Corder - Linguistics in Language Teaching
Linguistics in Language TeachingDavid Arthur Wilkins - On Bullshit
On BullshitHarry G. Frankfurt2005 - Language Files
Language FilesDepartment of Linguistics2016 - The timeless way of building
The timeless way of buildingChristopher Alexander1979 - Essential college English
Essential college EnglishSelby, Norwood.1982