This is the first introduction to linguistics for students of English, which is (a) written in English and (b) especially designed for students with a German-speaking background. It concentrates on the traditional core areas of linguistics, without neglecting interdisciplinary and applied branches. For this 3rd, thoroughly revised edition all chapters were reorganised and updated, especially those on syntax, semantics, socio- and psycholinguistics. The layout has been improved, more boxes were created to visualize central theoretical concepts. Furthermore many additional cross-references between different sections of the book were inserted, the index was expanded, and the bibliographies were also updated