Exploring Language Structure: A Student's Guide

Designed for those beginning to study linguistics, this is a lively introduction to two key aspects of the structure of language: syntax (the structure of sentences) and morphology (the structure of words). It shows students in a step-by-step fashion how to analyze the syntax and morphology of any language, by clearly describing the basic methods and techniques, and providing almost 100 practical exercises based on data from a rich variety of the world's languages. Written in an engaging style and complete with a comprehensive glossary, Exploring Language Structure explains linguistic concepts by using clear analogies from everyday life. It introduces a range of essential topics in syntax and morphology, such as rules, categories, word classes, grammatical relations, multi-clause constructions and typology. Providing a solid foundation in morphology and syntax, this is the perfect introductory text for beginning students, and will fully prepare them for more advanced courses in linguistic analysis.

Thomas E. Payne is Research Associate in the Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon, and International Linguistics Consultant at SIL International. He specializes in the grammatical description of undocumented languages, and has travelled extensively in Asia, Africa, and the Americas lecturing and conducting his research. He is author of Describing Morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists (Cambridge University Press, 1997).