Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction

by William D. O'Grady, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff

Contemporary Linguistics is the gold standard of introductory linguistics textbooks. Meticulously prepared, it is one of the most comprehensive, authoritative, up-to-date introductory resources on the market. The bookâ s extensive examples and exercises help students master the course material, and its lucid writing style makes complex concepts easy to understand.

Genres: Linguistics, Language, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference, Education, School

684 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overall, a horrible choice for an intro course.

Chapter One is decent. It gives a general overview of the field of Linguistics, and what I can expect in my studies. It's easy to follow, and gave me high hopes for this unexpected (and largely unwanted) post-baccalaureate class choice.

Chapter Two is in a different language. Literally.

This textbook (and, unfortunately, my class) made broad assumptions regarding my understanding of the International Phonetic Alphabet and how to use it. One would expect an introductory course that is a prerequisite for so many non-Linguists (read: me) to spend a bit more time setting up a healthy foundation. Nope. My understanding was, and is, incredibly shaky.

The textbook improves in later chapters, but not by much. Luckily, my class took two steps back and taught me everything the book didn't, and this remained the trend for this term. I would make a valiant stab at deciphering the book, and then rely on lectures to translate the technical jargon and sparse examples that this textbook flung at me.

Even Sociolinguistics, which I anticipated being the most fascinating subsection of this course, is bogged down by research methods and the technical side of linguistic data collection. All of the dialectical differences between urban/rural, domestic/foreign, and even male/female speech patterns is confined to terse sub-subsections of Chapter 14.

Sigh. Hopefully next week's lectures will prove these facets of Linguistics to be more interesting.

All I know is: I am taking the highest grade I can get this term (it's shaping up to be in the neighborhood of a B+) and running far, far away from this field. My apologies to all you Linguists out there, but this book reads like stereo instructions.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only have one other intro linguistics book with which to compare this.... and it's a much better book than that one 👀

It's not that the content is better, but the quality and presentation certainly are.

In any case, i learned a ton.

[Avery Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

obviously this was for my class — but it’s my major and I find it so interesting!

[Dan Slimmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This textbook is solid. It covers a wide variety of topics, from phonetic to computational, and it made me feel well prepared for further linguistics study. The glossary and additional-reading suggestions are especially great.

By the way, this was the text for the MIT OCW Intro Linguistics course, which I found excellent.

[Shaoola · Rating 4 out of 5]

A main resource I used in my study as a reference

[SueAnne Juskowich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was super interesting (for the most part). It was written by multiple people (if I remember correctly), so parts of the book were boring and verbose. It was worth reading for an overall introduction to linguistics though. I especially liked the sections where language intersects with the brain/psychology, language history and language “families,” as well as language acquisition. I learned a lot of cool facts.

PS. I’m writing this review on Sept 2023, so the exact dates are estimates. I took linguistics, however, in the Fall semester of 2013. I received an A.

[Leonardo]

...a general introduction to linguistics...

Natural Language Processing with Python Pág.322

[Macalester Linguistics]

L 5.0

[Jared Collier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid overall depiction of language science: content, methodology, and aim.

[Donald Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best "introduction" to scientific linguistics out there. Does not dummy it down.

[Abdelfatah Yousef]

please I need from page 197 to page 213 . I need it for my study and don't have enough money to pay

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting but could be dry from time to time. The exercises and glossary were really helpful.

[Ramanqu]

Comprehensive.

[Craig Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gifted to me from Dr. Ina Biermann, UBC
-textbook used for LING 100 at UofA

[Gro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tykkelsen på bogen er meget demotiverende, men når man åbner den opdager man at sproget, for en fagbog at være, er meget fængende og let forståeligt.

[Peter Drury · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my textbook for Intro 1 and Intro 2 for Linguistics, and I loved it. Especially the second half of the book for Intro 2. I'm sad that no future Linguistics classes in my major will use it.

[Alec · Rating 3 out of 5]

read bits and pieces

[S. Alberto ঌ⁻⁷ (semi-active, always yearning) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a serviceable textbook, providing useful chapters for learning key concepts, but overall, it tended towards the mundane side, lacking the engaging flair needed for sustained interest.

[Serena Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I have always liked learning languages, this winter semester was the first time I took a course in linguistics. I can tell you, it won't be my last!

This textbook provides an excellent look at linguistics as a science, very comprehensive, and delivers exactly what it promises: an introduction into the various areas of linguistics. I found some of them (morphology and semantics) more interesting than others, but the book gave me a good initial understanding of all of them in an easy-to-understand way with lots and lots of examples.

Definitely recommended!

[Suhaib · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction into the realm of linguistics. If you are going to embark into a general study of linguistics, then this is your book. It is both inclusive and informative covering pretty much all the linguistics branches necessary. I've sure found it very helpful as a beginner course back in 2012.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not great. I mean, I get that it's an intro textbook, but a) it's not very good at being introductory, because it's not very clear, and b) it's not very good at being intermediate either, because it doesn't really explain anything. I was hoping I'd be able to keep it around as a reference after the end of the semester. This book isn't worth it.

[Anney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love the subject... I'm one of the lone students in my class who finds linguistics fascinating. However, this book makes it a lot harder than it needs to be. Without my wonderfully gentle Mr. Rogers-like prof, I'd be lost.

[Wael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is considered to be the introductory book for linguistics (Lin 201) and I think not all of the information in it is basic. The book also has some high level knowledge about all the branches of Linguistics.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book which I read in 1st year university. I used it in other classes too as it was very informative

[Simona · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disorganized, confusing, unclear and repetitive.

[Breanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and general overview of the basics of linguistics.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good introduction to linguistics! Everything is explained in a comprehensive manner, and the examples and exercises are useful to reinforce the concepts.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better linguistics textbooks that I've had to read.