The World's Major Languages
2nd Edition
Published on 5. July 2017
978-1-351-53937-1 (ISBN)
Description
This volume features over fifty of the world's languages and language families. The featured languages have been chosen based on the number of speakers, their role as official languages and their cultural and historical importance. Each language is looked at in depth, and the chapters provide information on both grammatical features and on salient features of the language's history and cultural role. This second edition has been updated and revised. Two new languages, Amharic and Javanese, have been included. This accessible volume will appeal to anyone with an interest in linguistics.Key features:Attention is paid to both grammatical and sociolinguistic featuresAttention is concentrated on the world's major languagesDesigned to be accessible to all readers with an interest in language.
Reviews / Votes
'This excellent, thorough resource has an unsurpassed amount of detail for a single-volume survey.' --S. L. Johnson, Eastern Illinois University, Choice Reviews'Highly recommended. Academic libraries supporting lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.'--S. L. Johnson, Eastern Illinois University, Choice Reviews
'Originally published in 1987, the second edition of this major handbook contains considerable enough amount of revision and new material to warrant its purchase by those libraries which invested in the original edition' -- Reference Reviews
'The Volume is well constructed for reference access as well as for more in-depth consultation' -- Reference Reviews The World's major languages, ed. by Bernard Comrie. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2009. 911p bibl index; ISBN 9780415353397, $200.00. Reviewed in 2009jul CHOICE.
The second edition of Comrie's classic linguistics reference is just as impressive and valuable a resource as the first. Each of its 52 essays, written by a recognized expert, focuses on a language, group, or family that is widely spoken and/or is of major cultural importance. Most of the original authors have remained since the 1987 edition (CH, Feb'88), and have updated or completely rewritten their chapters and bibliographies as needed. Two new languages, Amharic and Javanese, have been added. The hierarchical organization ("Indo-European Languages," "Romance Languages," and "French" are separate chapters) lets readers see how protolanguages were reconstructed and how their descendant languages developed. While standard elements are discussed in detail--geographic distribution, number of speakers, history, sociocultural background, phonology, morphology, and syntax--important or unique aspects of each language also are emphasized. Thus readers will learn about the Japanese written language, affective language in Tamil, and regional variations of English. Relevant charts listing alphabets, phonemes, verb conjugations, and noun declensions are abundant throughout, as are maps and many other examples of language usage. This excellent, thorough resource has an unsurpassed amount of detail for a single-volume survey. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Academic libraries supporting lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. -- S. L. Johnson, Eastern Illinois University
More details
Edition
2nd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Edition type
New edition
File size
36,74 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-351-53937-1 (9781351539371)
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
Bernard Comrie
The World's Major Languages
Book
11/2015
2nd Edition
Routledge
€155.99
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