Waugh and Monville-Burston have assembled an intellectual overview of Roman Jakobson's work in linguistics from partial and complete works that they have arranged, introduced, and cross-referenced. Some appear here in print for the first time, others are newly translated into English. Jakobson's general view of the science of linguistics is followed by a range of topics from his contributions to linguistic metatheory and the interdiscplinary perspectives of linguistics to the sound and meaning system of language, the interrelationship between sound and meaning. More than a convenient access to Jakobson's basic works, On Language presents a broad profile of the polymathic general linguist who suggested radical innovations in every area of linguistic theory.