"While it may be too early to totally assess Roman Jakobson's contributions, his work over the past fifty years has had a major impact on the study of linguistics. He is probably most well known for his structural approach and has made important contributions to the study of language development in children and to the study of aphasia.

"This most recent publication presents another aspect of Jakobson's scholarly activity.... In these six lectures, Jakobson presents the basis for a theory of language which is founded on sound and its relation to meaning. In beginning the series of lectures, Jakobson contends that linguistic research has been preoccupied with acoustic phonetics—research which is solely concerned with the mechanics of sound production. As he argues...a thorough study of language will inevitably lead to the necessity to consider meaning in relation to sound and its production....

"Overall, these lectures by Jakobson offer communication scholars an easily accessible introduction to his theory of language."
—Journal of Communication

"What makes this book valuable even now, despite the time separating authorship from publication, is the fact that widespread ignorance still prevails in contemporary linguistics about the semiotic structure of the sound system of language; a careful reading of Jakobson should ultimately improve matters."
—Language

"The 15-page preface by the eminent structural anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss who attended the original lectures, is a brilliant summary and projection of Jakobson's ideas."
—Choice