这是一本语言学综述著作，视点与以往国内语言学综述性著作完全相反，指出我国语言学所缺少的理论与方法。全书将国外语言学发展新动向与中国语言学当前现状进行比较，对中外语言学分道的缘由进行了深入思考。该书由我国享有世界声誉的语言学家徐烈炯教授撰写，其独特的视角必将使该书在语言学界引出极大的反响，该书也将受到国内语言学者的广泛关注。
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开篇语
上篇 走近当代语言学的主流
第一章 生成立语法纵横谈
第二章 生成语法学方法论
第三章 CHOMSKY的语言习得理论
第四章 心智主义语言观
第五章 生成语法三十年（1957-1987）
第六章 管辖与约整理论
第七章 生成语法最近二十年：从管约论到最简方案
中篇 观察中国语言学的现状
第八章 音标中的学问
第九章 跨语言研究的广度与深度
第十章 汉语语义研究的空白地带
第十一章 非对比性的语言语法研究
第十二章 外文系的教学与研究
下篇 思考中外语言学分道的缘由
第十三章 语言学理论与语言事实
第十四章 形式与功能
第十五章 功能主义与形式主义
第十六章 中国人看CHOMSKY的语言哲学
第十七章 中国语言学的道路
附录
2007年1月14日访谈记录
Wonder of Speech：Similarities and Differences between Languages（香港公开演讲）
后记

SignatureReviewed by Christine KenneallyThe ways language and thought intertwine have long intrigued scientists. Does language shape the way we see the world? Does the world influence the structure of language? Do we think in words? Such lofty questions pondered in many an ivory tower would go unanswered without the mostly anonymous work of field linguists. These scholars venture into isolated communities and wrestle with culture shock, broken tape recorders and dysentery—all to learn an unfamiliar language from the ground up. Their work is painstaking, and no matter how smart or how educated they are, their projects must begin with the most elementary communicative tactics—they point at a rock or a tree or a bird, and whether they are in Australia's Western Desert, the remote islands of Indonesia or the jungles of Brazil, their interlocutor will respond, rock or tree or bird in the native tongue. Dan Everett's life as a field linguist began when he entered a Pirahã village in the Amazonian jungle in December 1977. After being greeted by a happy, chattering crowd, he walked over to a man cooking on a small fire. First, he tapped his own chest and said, Daniel, then he pointed at the animal being cooked on the fire. Káixihí, said the man. Everett pointed at a stick. Xií said the man. Everett dropped the stick and said, I drop the xii. Xií xi bigí kíobíi, his new friend replied, meaning stick it ground falls. Thus began 30 years of dedication to the Pirahã and their native tongue, a mystifying system of sound and rules unrelated to any other language in the world. In this fascinating and candid account of life with the Pirahã, Everett describes how he learned to speak fluent Pirahã (pausing occasionally to club the snakes that harassed him in his Amazonian office). He also explains his discoveries about the language—findings that have kicked off more than one academic brouhaha. Everett learned that Pirahã does not use what are supposed to be universal aspects of grammar, an observation that runs counter to linguistic dogma about how culture, the brain and language connect. For Everett, Pirahã is evidence that culture plays a crucial and previously unacknowledged role in the creation of language.Everett's life with the Pirahã cost him dearly. He almost lost two family members to malaria, and his first marriage broke down after years of highly productive shared field work. But life in the Amazon taught him a great deal about human nature, too, perhaps more about his own than that of the Pirahã. Everett began his linguistic work as a Christian missionary, but the Pirahã were marvelously impervious to his promise of a life with Jesus. They pointed out that Everett simply had no proof for the supernatural world he described, and in the end he found himself agreeing with them. He left the church, choosing a world that more honestly integrated his goals as a scholar with the world view of his Pirahã friends—one where evidence matters. (Nov. 11)Christine Kenneally is the author of The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language, a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

In 1993 the first edition of ELL (Ron Asher, Editor) was hailed as “the field’s standard reference work for a generation”. Now the all-new second edition matches ELL’s comprehensiveness and high quality, expanded for a new generation, while being the first encyclopedia to really exploit the multimedia potential of linguistics.
The most authoritative, up-to-date, comprehensive, and international reference source in its field
An entirely new work, with new editors, new authors, new topics and newly commissioned articles with a handful of classic articles
The first Encyclopedia to exploit the multimedia potential of linguistics through the online edition
Ground-breaking and International in scope and approach
Alphabetically arranged with extensive cross-referencing
Available in print and online. The online version will include updates as subjects develop
ELL2 INCLUDES:
c. 7,500,000 words
c. 11,000 pages
c. 3,000 articles
c. 1,500 figures: 130 halftones and 150 colour
Supplementary audio, video and text files online
c. 3,500 glossary definitions
c. 39,000 references
Extensive list of commonly used abbreviations
List of languages of the world (including information on no. of speakers, language family, etc)
Indexes available: Full Subject Index, Thematic Index, Name Index (print) and Author Index (online)
Extensive list of commonly used abbreviations
List of languages of the world (including information on no. of speakers, language family, etc)
Approximately 700 biographical entries (now includes contemporary linguists)
Over 100 language maps in print, approx 200 online
"This work is vital to all college-level libraries as the most comprehensive language resource of its kind."
"A strong international focus...the definitive scholarly reference work in linguistics and language studies" -- CHOICE
"An awe-inspiring project of breath-taking scope, bringing together a distinguished list of internationally recognized editors and authors." --
Mark Steedman, University of Edinburgh, UK
"An extraordinary resource, encompassing a comprehensive breadth of major topics in all aspects of language and linguistics, the perspectives of leading scholars, and regional viewpoints from around the world! It does look to be an impressive undertaking, allright." -- Alister Cumming, Professor and Head, Modern Language Centre Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada.
"With over 3,000 articles and 39,000 references, this volume is vital to all college-level libraries as the most comprehensive language resource of its kind. -- John Aiello, The Electric Review.

本书展示了卡西尔著名的“符号形式哲学”的成因和发展，力图把哲学引向语言神话思维，即扩大康德以来的以逻辑为根基的认识论，努力去理解语言、神话、宗教与艺术思维的功能，从而建设一种“系统的关于人类文化的哲学”，也就是“从理性的批判变成文化的批判”。
《语言与神话》预示了20世纪欧陆哲学的一个重要趋势，即语言的转向和对西方自柏拉图以降形而上学的哲学传统乃至文化传统的彻底批判，接踵而至的便是将这种趋势推向彻底和极端的存在主义、解构主义等在20世纪引起巨大震响的哲学与文化思潮。