Language: The Basics - Paperback

by Andreea S. Calude (Author)

Language: The Basics provides a concise, plain language introduction to the study of language. The new edition of this classic text by R.L. Trask has been revised and completely rewritten to bring it up-to-date.

Author Biography

Andreea S. Calude is Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. She is the author of Questions About Language (Routledge, 2019, edited with Laurie Bauer), Mysteries of English Grammar (Routledge, 2020, written with Laurie Bauer), and The Linguistics of Social Media (Routledge, 2023). Her work has been funded by several Royal Society Marsden Fund grants, and she is a TEDEd educator (Does Grammar Matter?, seen by more than 2.5 million viewers) as well as a TEDx speaker (Our Changing Digital Language, recorded in November 2025).