本书共有11章，每章均包含4个部分：(1)正文内容。每一章内容均简明扼要地对所涉及的英语语言学理论和知识进行论述，并特别将理论讲解和对相关例题的分析相结合，使学生融会贯通。(2)课后练习。从各大高校的英语语言学试卷中精选一部分试题作为课后练习题，试题覆盖面广，并与每一章的内容紧密联系，使学生在答题过程中掌握理论知识，并提高应试能力。(3)参考答案。书后附有详细的解题思路和参考答案，对学生应对研究生入学考试十分奏效。(4)参考文献。每章后附有参考文献，可作为推荐读物来提高学生对该章的学习效果，并为读者继续阅读、学习提供了较大的便利。

本书是英语语言学理论方面的通俗读物，在对重要概念和相关理论进行清晰讲解时，尽量避免生冷、晦涩，力求做到浅显易懂、讲练结合、可读性强，帮助读者轻松掌握、综合归纳、灵活运用。本书可作为高校英语专业的本科生教材，也可用作英语专业硕士研究生入学考试的备考指导用书，还适用于所有对英语语言学感兴趣的人们阅读和研修。

Chapter 1 Towards Linguistics: Some Fundamental Concepts

1.1 What Is Language？ 

1.2 Design Features

1.3 Functions of Language

1.4 The Origin of Language

1.5 What Is Linguistics？

1.6 Areas of General Linguistics

1.7 Guiding Principles for Linguistic Studies

1.8 Some Basic Distinctions in Linguistics

Exercises

References

Chapter 2 Speech Sounds

2.1 Speech Production and Perception

2.2 Speech Organs

2.3 Consonants

2.4 Vowels

2.5 Coarticulation and Phonetic Transcription

2.6 Phonological Analysis

2.7 Phonemes and Allophones 

2.8 Distinctive Features

2.9 Phonological Processes

2.10 Suprasegmental Features

Exercises

References

Chapter 3 Lexicon

3.1 Lexicon

3.2 Word 

3.3 Morpheme

3.4 Inflection and Word-Formation

3.5 Phonology and Morphology

3.6 Lexical Change

3.7 Idiom

3.8 Collocation

Exercises

References

Chapter 4 Syntax

4.1 The Traditional Approach

4.2 The Structural Approach

4.3 The Generative Approach

Exercises

References

Chapter 5 Meaning

5.1 Meanings of "Meaning"

5.2 Different Approaches to Meaning

5.3 Word Meaning

5.4 Sentence Meaning

5.5 Semantic Analysis

Exercises

References

Chapter 6 Psycholinguistics

6.1 First Language Acquisition

6.2 Second Language Acquisition

6.3 Language Comprehension

6.4 Language Production

Exercises

References 

Chapter 7 Language, Culture and Society

7.1 Language and Culture

7.2 Language and Society 

Exercises 

References

Chapter 8 Pragmatics

8.1 Speech Act Theory

8.2 The Theory of Conversational Implicature

8.3 Conversational Analysis

Exercises

References

Chapter 9 Stylistics

9.1 How to Define Stylistics？ 

9.2 Potential Stylistic Features

9.3 Literary Stylistics

Exercises

References

Chapter 10 Foreign Language Teaching and Testing

10.1 Theories of Foreign Language Teaching

10.2 Syllabus Design

10.3 Testing

10.4 Summary

Exercises

References

Chapter 11 Theories and Schools of Modern Linguistics

11.1 The Beginning of Modem Linguistics

11.2 American Structuralist Linguistics

11.3 Functionalist Linguistics Theories

11.4 Transformational-Generative Grammar

Exercises

References

Keys to the Exercises