Linguistics is a comprehensive crosslinguistic introduction to the study of language, and is ideal for students with no background in linguistics. * A comprehensive introduction to the study of language, set apart by its inclusion of cross-linguistic data from over 80 different spoken and signed languages * Explores how language works by examining discourse, sentence-structure, meaning, words, and sounds * Introduces psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic issues, including language acquisition, neurolinguistics, language variation, language change, language contact, and multilingualism * Written in a problem-oriented style to engage readers, and is ideal for those new to the subject * Incorporates numerous student-friendly features throughout, including extensive exercises, summaries, assignments, and suggestions for further reading * Based on the bestselling Dutch edition of this work, the English edition has been revised and expanded to offer an up-to-date and engaging survey of linguistics for students new to the field