A survey of the substance of linguistics and of the activities of linguists is presented in an attempt to acquaint ordinary readers with the various aspects of la"guage. A discussion of the human tendency toward speech, of the traits of language, and of phonetic elements prepares the way for an analysis of the structure of languag e in terms of sound and syntax. The forces affecting language and the evolution which a language continually undergoes are covered, with historical changes in spellings, meanings, and sounds traced in some detail. Dialect study, linguistic geography, the relation of written to spoken language, and various approaches to language from traditional grammar to formal linguistics are then discussed. The volume concludes with a study of the r"lationship of language to meaning and of the way human mental processes form a language and, consequently, are influenced by the conceptualization necessary for linguistic expression. (LH)