Languages of the World
An Introduction
4th Edition
Published on 7. December 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
600 pages
978-1-009-33865-3 (ISBN)
Description
Are you curious to know what all languages have in common and how they differ? Do you want to find out how language can be used to trace different peoples and their past? Now in its fourth edition, this fascinating book guides beginners through the rich diversity of the world's languages. It presupposes no background in linguistics, and introduces key concepts with the help of problem sets, end-of-chapter exercises and an extensive bibliography. It is illustrated with detailed maps and charts of language families throughout, and engaging sidebars and 'food for thought' boxes contextualise and bring the languages to life with demographic, social, historical, and geographical facts. This edition has been extensively updated with a new section on the languages of the Caribbean, new problem sets, and an updated glossary and index. Supplementary online materials includes links to all websites mentioned, and answers to the exercises for instructors.
Reviews / Votes
'A fine panoramic view of the rich variety of the world's languages.' Greville G. Corbett, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, Surrey Morphology Group, University of Surrey 'Reading this book reminds me of why I became a linguist. Pereltsvaig provides a fascinating overview of human languages, exploring their diversity, commonalities, and history. This book is accessible to anyone who is curious about language but is also detailed and extensive enough to be a valuable resource for linguistic scholars, teachers, and students.' Diane Massam, Professor Emeritus, University of TorontoMore details
Edition
4th Revised edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Edition type
Revised edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
877 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-33865-3 (9781009338653)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
11/2023
4th Edition
Cambridge University Press
€42.99
Available for download
Previous edition
Book
09/2020
3rd Edition
Cambridge University Press
€58.37
No shipping information available
Person
Asya Pereltsvaig is an independent scholar, a native speaker of Russian, and a fluent speaker of three other languages. For the last twenty years, she has taught courses in linguistics at Yale, Cornell, Stanford, and several other universities around the world. Her academic interests include languages, history, genetics, and the relationship between the three.
Content
Prologue; 1. Introduction; 2. Languages of Europe; 3. Languages of Iran and South Asia; 4. Languages of Northern Eurasia; 5. Languages of the Caucasus; 6. Languages of the greater Middle East; 7. Languages of sub-Saharan Africa; 8. Languages of eastern Asia; 9. Languages of the Pacific; 10. Aboriginal languages of New Guinea and Australia; 11. Indigenous languages of Canada and the US; 12. Indigenous languages of Latin America; Epilogue; Glossary; Bibliography; Index of Languages; Index of Terms.