Books like Understanding linguistics by John H. McWhorter

An Introduction to Language is a student-friendly, up-to-date guide covering the core components of linguistics—phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics—while integrating recent research on bilingualism, neurolinguistics, and sociolinguistics.

"There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. How did they all develop? What happened to the first language?". "In this tour of territory too often claimed by stodgy grammarians, linguistics professor John McWhorter ranges across linguistic theory, geography, history, and pop culture to tell the fascinating story of how thousands of very different languages have evolved from a single, original source in a natural process similar to biological evolution. While laying out how languages mix and mutate over time, he reminds us of the variety within the species that speaks them, and argues that, contrary to popular perception, language is not immutable and hidebound, but a living, dynamic entity that adapts itself to an ever-changing human environment.". "Full of humor and imaginative insight, The Power of Babel draws its illustrative examples from languages around the world, including pidgins, creoles, and nonstandard dialects. McWhorter also discusses current theories on what the first language might have been like, why dialects should not be considered "bad speech," and why most of today's languages will be extinct within one hundred years.". "The first book written for the layperson about the natural history of language, The Power of Babel is a dazzling tour de force that will leave readers anything but speechless."--BOOK JACKET.

"This new, thoroughly revised edition of the acclaimed Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language incorporates the major developments in language study which have taken place since the mid-1990s. Two main new areas have been added: the rise of electronic communication in all its current forms, from email to tweeting, and the crisis affecting the world's languages, of which half are thought to be so seriously endangered that they will the out this century." "Praise for the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language" "̀...magnificently demonstrates Professor Crystal's outstanding breadth of knowledge, incisiveness of judgment and superb skills at getting to the heart of highly complex issues in a clear and straightforward manner'.---Randolph Quirk, FBA" "̀... David Crystal has a great facility for explaining language issues with plain good sense, wit and admirable brevity'.---The Times Educational Supplement" "Ìnvestigates every conceivable corner of the world of language'.---The Christian Science Monitor'...remarkably accessible ... the writing is plain and non-technical ...' Toronto Globe and Mail"--BOOK JACKET.