THE RELATIONSHIP OF LINGUISTICS TO THE TEACHING OF READING IS DESCRIBED. FOUR MAJOR PRINCIPLES ON WHICH LINGUISTS SEEM TO AGREE ARE OUTLINED--(1) SPEECH IS LANGUAGE, WHILE PRINT IS ONLY THE REPRESENTATION OF LANGUAGE. (2) LANGUAGE IS SYSTEMATIC, NOT HAPHAZARD OR RANDOM, AND CONSEQUENTLY CAN BE STUDIED IN A SYSTEMATIC FASHION. (3) LANGUAGE IS HABITUAL, AND ONE DEVELOPS SKILL IN A LANGUAGE BY OPERATING WITHIN IT, NOT BY LEARNING ITS RULES. (4) THE TYPICAL SCHOOL-AGE CHILD HAS ALREADY MASTERED THE SOUNDS AND BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS OF HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE. THE SUCCESS OF THE CRITICAL ACT OF APPLYING THESE PRINCIPLES TO THE TEACHING OF READING DEPENDS ON THE COOPERATION BETWEEN LINGUISTS AND READING SPECIALISTS. TO ILLUSTRATE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS, THE CONTENT OF LINGUISTICS MATERIALS IS CONTRASTED WITH THE CONTENT OF TYPICAL BASAL READERS. LINGUISTS SHOULD HELP TEACHERS OF READING TO UNDERSTAND THE STRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGE AND HOW IT FUNCTIONS SO THAT THEY CAN TEACH READING MORE EFFECTIVELY. A BIBLIOGRAPHY IS GIVEN. (RH)