Reviewed by Katrin Hiietam, Manchester, UK

This 2004 reissue is an unabridged republication of the original book first published in 1921. A general introduction to the study of language, the topics covered are accessible to both general readers and students of linguistics since the field-specific terminology is kept to a minimum.

The book begins with a reflection on the nature of human language. Edward Sapir provides insight into the psychological and physical basis for speech—that is, the connection between words and their meaning as well as the relationship between thought and language. S also discusses whether language is an innate or an acquired skill.

The next two chapters deal with the micro level of language. ‘The elements of speech’ focuses on word types and significant parts of words, whereas ‘The sounds of language’ sketches the possible sounds, the production of consonants and vowels, the phonetic patterns of languages, and the organs of speech production.

Ch. 4 discusses grammatical processes in languages such as word order, compounding of radical elements (i.e. parts that carry the lexical meaning of a word), affixation, vocalic and consonantal change, and the grammatical functions of stress and pitch.

Ch. 5 analyzes an English sentence (The farmer killed the duckling) and introduces grammatical concepts such as constituency. The conclusion is, however, that it is not possible to offer an absolute classification of the constituents of a sentence.

Ch. 6 offers an overview of the existing classifications of language types. S proposes that the traditional classification of languages into strict types (e.g. isolating, agglutinating, polysynthetic, inflective) offers too simplistic a view of the actual language types. Rather, S suggests a threefold classification based on the types of concepts a language expresses, its prevailing grammatical technique, and the degree of synthesis in a language.

Chs. 7 and 8 look at the changes in languages through history at the level of words and sentences (Ch. 7) as well as sounds (Ch. 8).

Ch. 9 describes the effect cultural contact can have on a language, focusing on the phenomenon of borrowing and the speakers’ resistance to it. S provides examples from the level of sound systems and word composition to illustrate the discussion.

Ch. 10 investigates whether it is correct to link certain languages with certain races and cultures. S concludes that race and language need not correspond and that cultural and linguistic boundaries are not identical.

Finally, Ch. 11 examines language as a material of art (e.g. literature) and states that linguistic art, in contrast to other forms or uses of language, is untranslatable because it is strictly language specific. This idea was developed further in the Sapir-Worf hypothesis, which states that the way an individual thinks is largely influenced by the nature (i.e. structure) of their native language.