[]()[]()First printed under the title General Linguistics 1972 Second edition 1978 Third edition 1987 Fourth edition 1992 Fifth edition 1999 Sixth edition 2003 Seventh edition under the title Aitchison’s Linguistics 2010
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: on file.
First published in UK 1999 by Hodder Education, part of Hachette UK, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH.
First published in US 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
This edition published 2010.
Previously published as Teach Yourself Linguistics
The Teach Yourself name is a registered trade mark of Hodder Headline.
Copyright © 1999, 2003, 2010 Jean Aitchison
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