WRITTEN WITH THE IDEA THAT ONCE A LANGUAGE LEARNER HAS ACQUIRED A KIND OF LINGUISTIC SOPHISTICATION HE CAN LEARN ANY FOREIGN LANGUAGE MORE EFFICIENTLY, THIS INTRODUCTION TO THE PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE AND CONTRASTIVE LINGUISTICS PROVIDES SOME NEW INSIGHTS INTO HUMAN LANGUAGES. AFTER DISCUSSING BRIEFLY HOW DISTINCTLY ADVANTAGEOUS IT IS FOR THE INTELLECTUALLY MATURE LANGUAGE LEARNER TO MANIPULATE SKILLFULLY, ANALOGIZE, ANALYZE, AND APPRAISE A TARGET LANGUAGE, THE ACCOUNT DESCRIBES THE COMMONLY HELD MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE ROLES THAT LOGIC, LATIN, WRITING, GRAMMAR, TRANSLATION, NATIONALITY, AND MUSIC PLAY IN THE ACQUISITION OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILL. FOLLOWING A CHAPTER THAT ANALYZES, ONE BY ONE, THE ELEVEN SUCCESSIVE STAGES RELATED TO MESSAGE ENCODING, SENDING, TRANSMITTING, RECEIVING, AND DECODING THAT RESULT IN THE ACT OF COMMUNICATION, THE VOLUME'S FIVE REMAINING CHAPTERS CONSIDER SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING. INCLUDED IN THESE SECTIONS ARE (1) DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS INVOLVED IN MASTERING A FOREIGN SOUND SYSTEM BY IMITATION AND INTELLECTUAL DEVICES, (2) THE IDENTIFICATION, FOR DRILLING AND LANGUAGE EXPANSION PURPOSES, OF THE SIMPLEST TYPES OF BASIC SENTENCES AND THE PARTS OF SPEECH SYSTEM ENCOUNTERED IN THE LANGUAGE LEARNED, AND (3) DISCUSSIONS OF THE DENOTATIVE, GRAMMATICAL, AND CONNOTATIVE ASPECTS OF MEANING AS THEY AFFECT THE LANGUAGE LEARNER, AND THE USE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE SYMBOLS OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE. A BRIEF ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF USEFUL BOOKS IS INCLUDED. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE AS NUMBER E30 FOR $1.50 FROM THE MLA/ACTFL MATERIALS CENTER, 62 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY, N.Y., 10011. (AB)