ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents some of the most important properties of human language that enable it to function as a mediator of world-view. Language can be seen as a tool for the classification of our experience of the world in many different ways and at many different levels. The point that language imposes a classificatory scheme on the observed phenomena of experience is illustrated not only by lexical entities but also by grammatical elements. Many languages have different stylistic levels, the choice between them being governed by formality of context. In English there are particular ways of speaking associated with particular social contexts - the kind of language used in a sermon, for example, is normally quite different from that employed by the after-dinner speaker.
