This is a companion volume to Martin Joos's Readings in Linguistics I . Whereas Joos's volume contains only representative essays of the neo-Bloomfieldian school, Readings in Linguistics II includes other theoretical viewpoints.
In making their selection the editors followed the suggestions of many linguists. The result is an ideal sourcebook for linguistics courses, of obvious usefulness to scholars and libraries both in the United States and abroad. Most of the items—from a significant formative period of twentieth-century linguistics—are otherwise out of print and. in some cases, unobtainable. The prime principles for inclusion were scholarly quality and the pertinence of each essay to its field; for exclusion, chronology—anything written before the mid-20's—and the presence of the item in other collections now in print or firmly projected.
English, French, and German writings are included, the latter two without translation, since it is assumed that serious students will want to read these in the original.