Contents: Preface. 1. Language. 2. Linguistics. 3. Linguistis through the ages. 4. Major divisions of linguistics. 5. Linguistics in language teaching. 6. Language and linguistic matters. 7. Readings in linguistics. Bibliography.

This book is based on a course given in introductory linguistics. The course provides a brief introduction to the subject for beginners and readers with no previous knowledge or training in the subject. It draws heavily on the works of distinguished linguistics and it is most suitable, therefore, for the students about to start a course in linguistics and applied linguistics.

The treatment in this outline is deliberately brief and an attempt detailed theoretical discussion. In a field as theoretically fragmented as linguistics is it is difficult to do justice with each and every topic, so the book covers the most significant aspects of general and applied linguistics.