What Is This Thing Called Language?

Written by eminent linguist David Nunan, this concise text immerses readers in the complex, curious and continually evolving phenomenon that is at the centre of everything we do: language. It can be fascinating, puzzling and entertaining and sometimes all of these at the same time. Featuring entertaining anecdotes and interesting examples throughout, this book introduces readers to the foundations of language, namely its sounds, words and grammar, before illustrating how language is used in different ways in a variety of contexts. Fully updated and revised for the second edition, it covers a wide range of topics, including language variation and culture, second language acquisition and bilingualism.

List of Tables and Figures.- Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Introduction to the First Edition: The Stuff that Surrounds Us.- Introduction to the Second Edition: A Personal Account.- What is this Thing Called Language?.- The Sound System.- The Lexical System.- The Grammatical System.- Doing Things with Spoken Language.- Doing Things with Written Language.- First and Second Language Acquisition.- Language at Play.- Language, Culture and Identity.- Language in a Global Context.- Postscript.- Books to Read on a Long Plane Flight.- Key Figures.- Glossary.- References.- Author Index.- Subject Index.