Re: What book(s) might you recommend for linguistics in general?

Peter T. Daniels kirjoitti:

The best textbook (IMnsHO) is O'Grady et al.'s, which is Canadian, 

You mean the thick and heavy Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction,
whose fourth edition came out a year or so ago? I only perused the
psycholinguistics section, and I think I sensed the distinct smell of
Chomsky there. But maybe I'm just paranoid...

Are you looking at the original or the American edition?

How can I say? My copy is the third edition from 1996, published by Pearson Education (of the Longman group) and printed in England. The section on psycholinguistics I mentioned is written by Gary Libben (don't know him).

BTW, the Chomskian flavour I perceived in the book may also have something to do with one of the co-editors, Francis Katamba. I used his introductory book on phonology when I lectured on that subject for the very first time (eight years ago--how the time flies!), and I recall he seemed very emphatic on GP being the one phonological theory worthy of mention.

What about Jean Aitchison's Linguistics: An Introduction?
....
Haven't seen it -- maybe it isn't available here.

Shame. Aitchison writes well and broadly, although she never seems to go very deep. (I was thoroughly disappointed on The Seeds of Speech. The evolution of language is what I'd call a hobby of mine, but I cannot stand Bickerton, Pinker and the rest of them.)

I have one thing of Linell's on Indo-European (translated). Strange it
is.

:-) Okay, even when a linguist, Linell was perhaps never strictly in the mainstream. His most important book by far is Psychological Reality in Phonology (Cambridge UP 1979) which is principally on the question of argumentation and evidence in phonology (not only psychological reality but empirical argumentation as well). Anyone interested in questions of argumentation in linguistics should read it.

--
.... Tommi Nieminen ... http://www.saunalahti.fi/~tommni/ ...
      O Gracious God! how far have we
    Profaned thy heavenly gift of poesy!
       -John Dryden-
.... tommi dot nieminen at campus dot jyvaskyla dot fi ...
.