《语言学入门（新版）》以通俗的英语向读者介绍了当代语言学所涉及的诸多领域和学科，包括语言的定义、词汇学、语义学、音位学、句法学、文体学等。Thisbookintroducesthenatureoflanguage.Itdealswiththesoundsthatwemakewhenwespeak，withthewayinwhichweconstructsentences，withthewaysinwhichourspeechvariesbetweensocialsituations，andsono.Itdoessobythecommonlyadoptedmethodofhavingchapterswithsuchheadingsasphonetics，syntax，socialvariation.Lessconventionally，ithasamajorchapterwhich，againsethebackgroundoftheseaspectsoflinguistics，presentstheprincipalfeaturesofthelanguagesofwesternEurope.Youhaveatleastoneremarkableskill；youcanspeakalanguage.Foratleastonelanguageyougenerallyknowwhatcanandwhatcannotbedesignatedbytheeverydaywords，youknowwhatisandwhatisnotanacceptablewayofcombiningwordstoformasentence，youhaveagoodideaofwhetherornotaparticularstatementwouldbeacceptableinaparticularsocialsituation.Asaskilleduser，then，youalreadyhaveasubstantialfoundationforthestudyoflanguage.Thatfoundationandaninterestinlanguageareallyouneed；giventhose，thisintroductorybookcanleadyoutoanunderstandingofwhatlanguageconsistsof，ofhowitworks.Itservesasanintroductorybookforstudentsoflinguisticsandasimportantbackgroundmaterialforstudentsofmodernlanguages.Reflectingmyworkincontinuingeducation，Ihaveattemptedtowriteinareadablestylethatwillalsomadethebookattractivetothemanypeoplewhowanttoexplorethefascinatingworldoflanguagewithoutenteringfull-timeeducation.IwouldliketothankmywifeBery1andastudent，ArthurMcIvor，fortakingtimetoreadandcommentonmydraft.IalsothankBery1forhersupportandtolerancewhileIwasworkingonthebook.IalsothankArthurasarepresentativeofthosestudentswhoseinterestandenthusiansmhelptoinspireandrewardmywork.ThefaciltiesoftheUniversityofEdinburghsuchasthelibraryandword-processingfacilitieshavebeenofgreatassistance.