"Instructors of introductory linguistics assume their textbook will be comprehensive. They expect it will cover basic concepts and introduce fundamental strategies of linguistic analysis. Many prefer that an introductory linguistics text minimize theoretical constructs and limit representational formulas. So it is with Linguistics: An Introduction by William B. McGregor. It covers the essential components of linguistic study: historical/comparative, morphology, phonetics/ phonology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, syntax and semantics. It also has chapters on the world''s languages and the kinds of structural features found in different areas of the world. It emphasizes the systematic nature of language, its paradigmatic and syntagmatic aspects.

Throughout these chapters, students will appreciate the attention to meaning and use of language. Instructors will appreciate the way McGregor has highlighted significant parameters of linguistic analysis such as the animacy hierarchy in syntax, the meronymic hierarchy of body parts in the lexicon and geographic directions in the expression of spatial relations. Instructors of introductory linguistics classes will find McGregor''s book pedagogically stimulating and flexible. It offers a variety of avenues for getting students involved with the concepts of each chapter. As the introduction makes clear, each chapter is anchored to a problem solving pedagogy in order to engage students in the process of understanding. There is a deliberate attempt to bring real world scenarios and commonly held assumptions to bear on the study of linguistics so that one can address perspective questions of the sort, "Why should anyone be interested in the ideas of this chapter?". Instructors will find value in this book and its organization. Since the chapters are not inextricably linked one after the other, they can be arranged in a class syllabus in various orders: word formation and morphology, with their emphasis on word level units of meaning, can precede what students often perceive as the abstractness of phonetics and phonology.

There is a nearly 30 page glossary of terms at the outset that provides useful definitions for students grappling with chapter concepts and relationships among them. There is also a website for the book. For each chapter, the website provides additional information as well as multiple choice questions to test student understanding. Feedback in the form of answers to the questions is provided. Incorporating website activities and assessment provides instructors with yet another measure of student understanding. Within each chapter, clearly delineated sections provide material that can be used for pedagogic effect. The instructor is thus able to place students in small groups that emphasize peer-to-peer learning, engage students in large lecture halls that place a premium on individual student learning as well as various combinations of these. For each chapter, there are nine sections, in addition to the text itself, that can be utilized to enhance student learning.

At the outset of each chapter is a brief paragraph summary that succinctly captures its conceptual character. A Chapter Contents section follows that lays out these concepts and provides some notion of their interrelationship. A list of Goals for the chapter follows. Then occurs a list of Key Terms for the chapter. All of this is available before the chapter narrative. Instructors will thus be able to assign key concepts to individual students or groups of students, ask students to convert Chapter Content material into a schematic representation or engage students in a host of other pedagogic activities in order to build understanding before, during and after text material has been addressed. Within each chapter there are useful and informative figures, tables, maps and examples that illustrate and provide perspective for the key concepts and their relationships. Additional useful features within each chapter are bold-demarcated text islands of important information or illustration of chapter content.

At the end of each chapter, there is a Guide to Further Reading that provides additional sources ranging from introductory to more specialized information in order to expand understanding.  Perhaps most useful at the end of each chapter is a section entitled Issues for Further Thought. It has activities and questions that relate chapter content to the student''s immediate environment, i.e. newspapers, magazines like Scientific American and other sources that allow the student to explore examples of linguistic behavior beyond the text. This section has the potential to sharpen the observation and analytic skills of students; it leads naturally to a questioning of linguistic assumptions commonly held by the general population and whether these assumptions are justified under a scientific understanding of language. And finally there is a Notes section for each chapter that clarifies distinctions or provides a broader context for selected concepts. Overall, McGregor has fashioned a stimulating and pedagogically satisfying introductory textbook that will prove valuable for introductory linguistics taught in a variety of classroom formats.

"  -- Professor Ronald P. Schaefer, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA.