The book "Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics" by the famous English scientist John Lyons gives a broad picture of the main directions that exist in the modern science of language, as well as acquaints the reader with the main problems of linguistics. At the same time, the author takes into account both the provisions of traditional linguistics and the latest theoretical ideas. John Lyons's book is of interest to linguists of all profiles, as well as specialists in psychology, sociology, computational mathematics and other sciences.