This book has two related purposes. The first is to demonstrate theextent and importance of language play in human life, the second is to draw out the implications for applied linguistics and languageteaching. Language play should not be thought of as a trivial orperipheral activity, but as central to human thought and culture, tolearning, creativity, and intellectual enquiry. It fulfils a majorfunction of language, underpinning the human capacity to adapt: asindividuals, as societies, and as a species.
