Introduccin a la Ling]mstica Espaqola

Just what I needed for my Spanish class and much cheaper than the college bookstore. Speedy delivery too.

Milton M. Azevedo's book, 'INTRODUCCIÓN a la LINGÜÍSTICA ESPAÑOLA', has proven to be an essential text for the serious, and even curious, student of Spanish linguistics. Professor Azevedo thoroughly examines the basic principles of phonetics and phonology, to fundamentals of syntax and semantics, to comparing old-school Spanish with good ol' U.S. "Spanglish".He uses a myriad of examples to effectively illustrate his numerous points. One of the most useful tools in this book is the 'Práctica' section at the end of each chapter, preceded by a concise summary. I feel that this leaves the reader clear and refreshed about what they just read. Furthermore, I also enjoyed how every chapter began with a quote from a literary text to focus the reader on what it will uncover. The author even dares to include an interesting quote from Genesis for chapter 7--"El cambio lingüístico"--albeit very pertinent to the detailed information that follows. As a former student of Professor Azevedo at UC Berkeley, I can only highlight his need to share his remarkable knowledge and equally outstanding research on the subject of Hispanic Linguistics. Therefore, I think that this combination, coupled with the fact that 'INTRODUCCIÓN a la LINGÜÍSTICA ESPAÑOLA' IS written in Spanish, only reflects Azevedo's strive for excellence. Believe me, it makes one appreciate it more this way. "Attaboy, professor!"

I find this book a particularly good book for somebody interested in coping with the Spanish language from the Natural Language Processing perspective. The book has a tranformational grammar approach to syntax but it can be easily extended to other more up-to-date formalisms. It is much useful that "usual" normative grammars. However, the fact that it is written in Spanish limits is possibility of wide-spreading somehow. In any case the book is well-written and full of content.