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That a new edition of a textbook should be in demand some six
years after its first publication is, naturally enough, gratifying to
the author. But it is no less apparent that, in a subject developing
as rapidly and vigorously as linguistics is today, more radical
alterations are required than the mere correction of errors and
the clarification of points hitherto left in obscurity, if the book
is to continue in usefulness.
As regards unresolved controversies and competing views on
the theoretical understanding and the analysis of language, on
which readers were warned in the preface to the first edition, the
passing of years has not diminished this characteristic of current
linguistics, although older disputes now arouse less heat as the
newer ones attract more attention.