This introductory level collection of original readings explores the relationship between language and human social behavior from an applied linguistics perspective. Specifically, we look at the nature and structure of language and establish the relationship between language as a rule-governed system and what role it plays in our lives as social beings. In the process, students discover answers to questions about who they are as individuals and as members of their communities.
We address questions such as:
• How old is human language and what are its origins?
• Why is language important to the study of society?
• What is the relationship between language, culture, and identity?
• How do we perceive our own dialects and the dialects of others?
• How is language used to unite/divide communities?
• What are the components of human language?
• What do all languages have in common?
• Are all languages related to one another?
• How is human language different from the communication systems of other animals?
• How and when do children acquire language(s)?
• How do adults learn a second or third language?
• How does bilingualism affect language development and social dynamics?
• Do men and women have different communication styles?
• How is language used as a tool?
• How is language used as a weapon?
Section 1. What is Language and How Do We Study It?
Chapter 1.1 How Do We Know What We Know About Languages?
Chapter 1.2 What Do Native Speakers Know About Language?
Chapter 1.3 What Are the Components of Language?
Chapter 1.4 Sign Language
Chapter 1.5 Language in Society
Chapter 1.6 Written Language
Section 2. Origins of Human Language Chapter
2.1 How Old is Human Language? Facts and Hypotheses
Section 3. A World of Languages
Chapter 3.1 The World’s Languages and Language Families
Chapter 3.2 How Languages Change Over Time
Section 4. Brain, Babies, and Language Learning
Chapter 4.1 Language and the Brain
Chapter 4.2 How Do Children Learn Their First Language?
Chapter 4.3 Is Learning a Second Language Like Learning the First?
Section 5. Language Contact
Chapter 5.1 Language Contact and Multilingualism
Chapter 5.2 World Englishes
Chapter 5.3 Indigenous Languages and Endangered Languages
Section 6. Language and Interaction
Chapter 6.1 Language Varieties
Chapter 6.2 Cultural Competence
Chapter 6.3 It’s a Matter of Style
Chapter 6.4 Taboos, Euphemisms, and Political Correctness
Section 7. Language and Identity
Chapter 7.1 Constructing Identity: Personal, Social, National
Chapter 7.2 Language and Gender
Section 8. Language and Power
Chapter 8.1 Language and Discrimination
Chapter 8.2 Language and Propaganda
Section 9. Language and Social Networks
Chapter 9.1 Txting, Tweeting, -ing
Shahrzad
Mahootian
Shahrzad Mahootian is professor emerita of linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. She received her doctorate in linguistics from Northwestern University. Her research interests and publications include topics in language contact and the structural, cognitive, and social aspects of multilingualism; early childhood and adult bilingualism, including code switching and language choice; and various aspects of Persian linguistics. She continues to research bilingualism and is a contributing expert to Bilingual Matters Chicago. She is currently working on the second edition of her book Bilingualism (Routledge, forthcoming 2027).
Judith
Kaplan-Weinger
Judith Kaplan-Weinger is professor emerita of linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. She received her PhD in linguistics from Georgetown University. Her research and teaching focus on sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, language teaching, and the ethnography of communication. Her most recent publications include Methods for the Ethnography of Communication (2nd ed. 2025) and Linguistic Fundamentals of Teaching (2026) both published by Routledge.
Lewis
Gebhardt
Lewis Gebhardt is a professor of linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. He earned his PhD at Northwestern University in 2009. His research interests include syntax and semantics, topics in morphology, and language revitalization. He
has worked with and contributed to The Language Conservancy’s efforts to document and analyze Crow, a Siouan language spoken in Montana, and the Crow tribe’s language-education and language-revitalization efforts. His recent publication is entitled The Study of Words: An Introduction (Routledge, 2023).
Richard W.
Hallett
Richard W. Hallett is a professor of linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. He received his PhD in linguistics from the University of South Carolina in 2000, the same year he began teaching at NEIU. He regularly teaches introductory linguistics, world Englishes, lexical acquisition, multiple language acquisition, English grammar in the classroom, and language and identity. He has published in the areas of second language acquisition, discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, humor, and language and tourism.
