Product details
- ISBN 9781041029229
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 23 Sep 2026
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Language: The Basics provides a concise, plain language introduction to the study of language. The new edition of this classic text by R.L. Trask has been revised and completely rewritten to bring it up-to-date.
Written in an engaging and entertaining style, the book features:
*new chapters on language and AI and word formation processes;
*new discussions on racio-linguistics and anthropology, gender and sexuality, language and migration, heritage languages, multilingual speakers and language and the brain;
*new examples from a range of languages to showcase the diversity that languages bring;
* an updated glossary of key terms; and
* handy annotated guides to further reading.
Providing an accessible overview of a fascinating subject which assumes no prior knowledge, this is an essential book for all students and anyone who's ever been accused of splitting an infinitive.
Online support materials, including exercises and ideas for mini-research projects, are available at www.routledge.com/9781041029229.
Andreea S. Calude is an Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Waikato, in New Zealand. She is the author of Questions about Language (Routledge, 2019, edited with Laurie Bauer), Mysteries of English Grammar (Routledge, 2020, written with Laurie Bauer), and The Linguistics of Social Media (Routledge, 2023). Her work has been funded by several Royal Society Marsden Fund grants and she is a TedEd educator (Does Grammar Matter?, seen by more than 2.5 million viewers) as well as a TedX speaker (Our changing digital language, recorded in November 2025).
