This is a university textbook that looks at virtually all aspects of the Spanish language: the sound system, inflectional and derivational morphology, syntax, the language's history from spoken Latin to the present day, varieties of Spanish throughout the world, sociolinguistic variation, Spanish bilingualism and creole Spanish. Each chapter contains detailed linguistic analysis, together with numerous illustrations, and is followed by exercises or a list of seminar/essay topics. Few if any existing volumes contain such a variety of information about Spanish.

The first part of the book covers the 'core' areas of linguistics - phonology, morphology and syntax - and the focus here is on Castilian Spanish. In the second part the scope is broadened to include Spanish as spoken in the rest of the Peninsula, the Canary Islands, Latin America, the USA and the Philippines. The final chapter contains, among other things, descriptions of the Spanish-based creoles Palenquero and Chabacano.

The book is designed to appeal both to linguists and students of Spanish. Thus the approach is descriptive rather than theoretical. Ideally, the book should enable its readers to place their practical knowledge of Spanish within a broader, more scientific framework, although it will also be of interest to those who are unfamiliar with Spanish.