A student introduction to descriptive linguistics, Describing Language is essentially practical in its orientation. It is useful for anyone who wishes to refer to technical literature involving linguistic description, who requires a basic conceptual framework and technical vocabulary with which to discuss language, and who needs to make elementary but principled descriptions and analyses of real data (such as classroom interaction or counselling sessions). Topics covered include phonetics, prosody, word structure, syntax, text and discourse structure, word and utterance meaning, and non-verbal behaviour. This is a significantly revised, updated and expanded version of the successful first edition. In particular, it uses a new approach to syntax and a broader review of grammar including an accessible introduction to both Chomsky's Universal Grammar and Halliday's Systematic Grammar. It is an invaluable textbook for students across the social sciences.