Book excerpt: This textbook provides a clear and concise overview of the main schools of linguistic thought and scholarship from the late 18th century to the present day, examining the key tenets and leading figures of each approach and assessing their impact on the field. Combining theory with practice, the author aims to familiarise students with the mechanisms used in analysing language structures, to acquaint them with the history of the discipline, and to demonstrate how different - sometimes competing - approaches can be combined to understand language and linguistics today. Written in an engaging and accessible manner, this textbook is an ideal primer for new students of linguistics at any level, as well as more experienced researchers seeking to understand the history of their field or the arguments and theories of other sub-disciplines.