INTRODUCTION 1 PART 1: LOOKING AT LANGUAGE THROUGH THE LENS OF LINGUISTICS 5 CHAPTER 1: Knowing a Language Versus Knowing What Language Is 7 CHAPTER 2: Communicating with Language: The Design Features 21 PART 2: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF LANGUAGE 37 CHAPTER 3: Building the Auditory-Vocal Signal: Speech Phonetics 39 CHAPTER 4: Building the Visual-Spatial Signal: Sign Phonetics 61 CHAPTER 5: Putting Units Together: Phonology 73 CHAPTER 6: Building Words: Morphology 95 CHAPTER 7: Creating Sentences: Syntax 111 CHAPTER 8: Making Sense of Meaning: Semantics 131 CHAPTER 9: Using Language in Conversation: Pragmatics 147 PART 3: THE SOCIAL CYCLE OF LANGUAGE 165 CHAPTER 10: Embracing Language Variation: Sociolinguistics 167 CHAPTER 11: Finding Family Relations: Historical Linguistics 183 CHAPTER 12: Cataloging Differences: Linguistic Typology 203 CHAPTER 13: Beginning and Ending: The Ebb and Flow of Language 221 PART 4: YOUR BRAIN ON LANGUAGE: LEARNING AND PROCESSING LANGUAGE 237 CHAPTER 14: Learning Language 239 CHAPTER 15: Producing and Perceiving Language 261 CHAPTER 16: Locating Language in the Brain: Neurolinguistics 285 PART 5: TURNING LANGUAGE INTO TEXT 299 CHAPTER 17: Learning Language as a Machine 301 CHAPTER 18: Writing Changes You 315 PART 6: THE PART OF TENS 333 CHAPTER 19: Ten Language Myths Busted by Linguistics 335 CHAPTER 20: Ten Unsolved Problems in Linguistics 343 APPENDIX: ISO LANGUAGE CODES 351 INDEX 361.