A special way of looking is necessary in order to see something--in this case language--that people learn very young to make invisible, says McCabe (languages and literature, Saint Louis U.-Madrid). She introduces such perspectives, along with the specialized tools and terminology for studying language and linguistics. After a short history of modern linguistics, she discusses focusing on spoken interaction; analyzing written language; language and mind; language change; language variation; language, biology, and learning; and fields of linguistics. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)