This two-volume resource contains over 500 essay entries (arranged alphabetically) and an expansive glossary, making even the more complex linguistic issues understandable for the non-specialist reader. The approach is both historical and international, with emphasis on the varied perspectives, figures and methodologies that make up the field of linguistics.

Containing entries contributed by several hundred scholars from around the world, the Encyclopedia covers a wide range of theoretical issues, highlighting the main problems discussed in the relevant subdisciplines of linguistics and giving sketches of individual languages that provide readers with a broad phenomenological and historical overview. To capture the variability of language, each entry concentrates on the particular characteristics that differentiate the language (or language family) from others. Essays on countries and regions highlight linguistics issues specific to a given country or geographic region. These regional essays concentrate on the political and sociological aspects of, among others, linguistic diversity, language planning and education.

In addition, biographical essays focus on the scholarship and contributions to the theoretical development of linguistics by leading linguists past and present.