Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 09:21:59 CST

From: salikoko mufwene mufw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU

Subject: Re: intro linguistics texts



In Message Mon, 26 Sep 1994 19:42:06 -0500,

"Timothy C. Frazer" mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uxa.ecn.bgu.edu writes:



We need an intro text which is not written for beginning linguistics

majors, but for students who have no idea what the topic is, are not

intellectually adventurous, who need to see in every page what the topic

means in their lives. For sociolinguiistics, Elaine Chaika's text does

this better than any I have seen, but we need one which works as well in

a general intro to the discipline.

This past year, I tried INVESTIGATING LANGUAGE: CENTRAL PROBLEMS IN

LINGUISTICS by Ronald Wardaugh (1993) and was generally happy with it. It

also has a useful glossary in the end. I complemented it with readings from

LANGUAGE: INTRODUCTORY READINGS, 5th edition, ed. by Clark, Escholz, and

Rosa (1994). The latter offers alternative but overlapping essays on several

traditional topics of linguistics. Most of the essays are thought-provoking

and current.

Sali.

Salikoko S. Mufwene

University of Chicago

Dept. of Linguistics

1010 East 59th Street

Chicago, IL 60637

s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu

312-702-8531; fax: 312-702-9861