Exploring patterns of language structure (Linguistics series -3)

K. P. Mohanan, Tara Mohanan

This book is an exploration of the structure of human language. It uses the scientific mode of inquiry, that of building an integrated and interconnected understanding of the information we gather by observing the world. In working through this book, we hope student readers will learn something about language structure as well as about scientific inquiry.

Our primary readers, we expect, will be students of a beginning linguistics course. If you are new to the idea of the ‘structure’ of language, you will find in this book plenty of patterns of language structure to explore. We hope that at least some of the patterns will amaze or delight you by their very existence, and some will make you say, “I’ve spoken this language all my life but I didn’t know it had this pattern.” In the process of trying to understand the patterns, we hope you will experience the joy of building systematic explanations.

We hope that the book will also catch the eye of non-linguists who might be curious about language structure. We also hope that practicing linguists will find in it something of value by way of insights and pointers for both linguistic inquiry and linguistics education.

You can find the book linked here. Please use the navigation links on the left to view the material. Some of the links may point to Google docs links -- you can copy these links and paste them on a new tab in your browser, in case you are not automatically redirected. We are currently in the process of adding all the material on this site to the ThinQ website.