Historical and comparative linguistics Books

Book SynopsisIn this book, Aidan Doyle traces the history of the Irish language from the time of the Norman invasion at the end of the 12th century to independence in 1922, combining political, cultural, and linguistic history. The book is divided into seven main chapters that focus on a specific period in the history of the language; they each begin with a discussion of the external history and position of the Irish language in the period, before moving on to investigate the important internal changes that took place at that time. A History of the Irish Language makes available for the first time material that has previously been inaccessible to students and scholars who cannot read Irish, and will be a valuable resource not only for undergraduate students of the language, but for all those interested in Irish history and culture.Trade Reviewthe historiography of the Irish language is vibrant at the moment, and Aidan Doyle has made a very constructive contribution to it. * Niall Ó Ciosáin, Historical Sociolinguistics *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. The Anglo-Normans and their heritage (1200-1500) ; 3. The Tudors (1500-1600) ; 4. The Stuarts (1600-1700) ; 5. Two Irelands, two languages (1700-1800) ; 6. A new language for a new nation (1800-1870) ; 7. Revival (1870-1922) ; 8. The modernization of Irish (1870-1922) ; 9. Conclusion ; Glossary ; References ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe abundant Roman inscriptions to be found in British museums tell us much about the everyday life of the inhabitants of Roman Britain - about their hopes and fears, their work and their beliefs. Nor is a fluent command of Latin essential for understanding their meaning. As John Rogan shows, by learning a few basic rules and formulae anyone can become proficient at reading inscriptions, guide the reader through the steps necessary for deciphering them.

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Book SynopsisFor anyone who has ever wondered why English is so weird, an entertaining and expert tour of the most puzzling parts of our language.Maybe you''ve been speaking English all your life, or maybe you learned it later on. But whether you use it just well enough to get your daily business done, or you''re an expert with a red pen who never omits a comma or misplaces a modifier, you must have noticed that there are some things about this language that are just weird.Perhaps you''re reading a book and stop to puzzle over absurd spelling rules (Why are there so many ways to say ''-gh''?), or you hear someone talking and get stuck on an expression (Why do we say How dare you but not How try you?), or your kid quizzes you on homework (Why is it eleven and twelve instead of oneteen and twoteen?). Suddenly you ask yourself, Wait, why do we do it this way? You think about it, try to explain it, and keep running into walls. It doesn''t conform to logic. It doesn''t work the way you''d expect it to. There doesn''t seem to be any rule at all. There might not be a logical explanation, but there will be an explanation, and this book is here to help.In Highly Irregular, Arika Okrent answers these questions and many more. Along the way she tells the story of the many influences--from invading French armies to stubborn Flemish printers--that made our language the way it is today. Both an entertaining send-up of linguistic oddities and a deeply researched history of English, Highly Irregular is essential reading for anyone who has paused to wonder about our marvelous mess of a language.

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Book SynopsisFrom ''shotclog'', a Yorkshire term for a companion only tolerated because he is paying for the drinks, to Albanian having 29 words to describe different kinds of eyebrows, the languages of the world are full of amazing, amusing and illuminating words and expressions that will improve absolutely everybody''s quality of life. All they need is this book! This bumper volume gathers all three of Adam Jacot de Boinod''s acclaimed books about language - The Wonder of Whiffling, The Meaning of Tingo and Toujours Tingo (their fans include everyone from Stephen Fry to Michael Palin) - into one highly entertaining, keenly priced compendium. As Mariella Frostup said ''You''ll never be lost for words again!''Trade ReviewA book no well-stocked bookshelf, cistern-top or handbag should be without - The Meaning of Tingo -- Stephen FryYou'll never be lost for words again. Truly enlightening! - The Wonder of Whiffling -- Mariella FrostrupVery funny * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisEnglish Vocabulary Elements draws on the tools of modern linguistics to help students acquire an effective understanding of learned, specialized, and scientific vocabulary. This fully refined and updated edition helps develop familiarity with over 500 Latin and Greek word elements in English and shows how these roots are the building blocks within thousands of different words. Along the way, the authors introduce and illustrate many of the fundamental concepts of linguistics, sketch word origins going back to Latin, Greek, and even Proto-Indo-European, and discuss issues around meaning change and correct usage. Moreover, the volume adds new illustrative examples, self-help tests, and study questions. A companion website provides supplementary materials including an Instructor''s Manual with an answer key. Offering a thorough approach to the expansion of vocabulary, English Vocabulary Elements is an invaluable resource that provides students a deeper understanding of the language.Trade ReviewLeben, Kessler, and Denning have created a winning combination of the practical and the academic in English Vocabulary Elements, now in its third edition. This latest edition features a companion website that makes for a seamless and enjoyable learning experience for students looking to improve their English vocabulary through linguistic analysis. * Mark Aronoff, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, Stony Brook University *English Vocabulary Elements is the best college-level introduction to English words and the system behind their structure and use that is available. College students, English teachers, and anyone interested in using English will benefit from this remarkably broad and thorough examination of the rich lexical resources of English. * Suzanne Kemmer, Associate Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Sciences, Rice University *Table of ContentsPreface List of Figures List of Tables Symbols and Abbreviations 1. The Wealth of English 2. The History of English and Sources of English Vocabulary 3. Morphology: The Structure of Complex Words 4. Allomorphy 5. Phonetics 6. Regular Allomorphy; Numeric Elements 7. Meaning Change 8. Usage and Variation 9. Latin and Greek morphology 10. The Prehistory of English and the Other Indo- European Languages 11. Later Changes: From Latin to French to English Appendix 1. Elements to Glosses Appendix 2. Glosses to Elements Glossary Further Reading and Research Tools Index

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Book SynopsisWithin classical music, much writing on the Western song tradition since 1800 has assumed a direct link between musical cultures and national literatures, and song has typically been interpreted as one of the means by which constructions of nationalism and nationhood have been pursued in the cultural sphere. Yet song can also be a mobile and cosmopolitan genre and form of cultural practice, able - through performance, publication, and translation - to cross boundaries between cultures and languages. This volume brings together musicologists, literary scholars, linguists, and cultural historians to examine the ways in which song creation, practice, and interpretation has been defined by, and in turn defines, conceptions of nationalism and the transnational. It focuses on four key poets - the Persian Hafiz, German Heine, American Whitman, and French Verlaine - and examines how their poems have been ''translated'' into song, and how music can challenge the seemingly organic relationship bTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION Philip Ross Bullock and Laura Tunbridge: 'L'invitation au voyage' HAFIZ 1: Natasha Loges: Hafiz between Nations: Song Settings by Daumer/Brahms and Peacock/Beamish 2: Stephen Downes: Szymanowski, a Hafiz 'Grablied', and the 'translation' of Nietzsche 3: Philip Ross Bullock: The German Roots of Russian Orientalism: Hafiz's Poetry in Early Twentieth-Century Russian Song HEINE 4: Suzannah Clark: Traces of Tourism and Transnationalism in Liszt's Heine Settings 5: Benjamin Binder: Performance Matters in Heine: The Case of Pauline Viardot's 'Das ist ein schlechtes Wetter' 6: Laura Tunbridge: 'Once again...speaking of' Heine, in Song VERLAINE 7: Peter Dayan: Why song in Verlaine's Verse is Always Already Beyond the Nation 8: David Evans: French Impressions: The Transnational Afterlives of Verlaine's 'La Lune blanche' in Song 9: Carlo Caballero: Paul Verlaine in Parallel: Loeffler, Fauré, Debussy 10: Helen Abbott: Song Just Beyond the Nation, or Debussy via Verlaine WHITMAN 11: Jennifer Ronyak: Johanna Müller-Hermann's Lied der Erinnerung: Austria, America, and Beyond 12: Lawrence Kramer: The Émigré Walt Whitman: Songs of Mourning, 1943-48 13: Elizabeth Helsinger: A Song, the Sea, and a Listening Boy: Whitman - Swinburne - Delius 14: Emma Sutton: Whitman and Stevenson: Singing the Nation from Scotland to Samoa via Ohio and Hawai'i AfterwordTerence Cave:

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Book SynopsisThirty years ago Robert Kaster''s Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity investigated ancient Greco-Roman grammarians as social agents within their social and cultural context. This collection of twelve essays develops that line of inquiry by focusing on one dimension of their activity: how Roman grammarians - as well as scholars and intellectuals more broadly - described, made sense of, and resisted linguistic diversity within the Roman republic and empire. This includes social and diachronic variety within Latin as well as multilingual contact with Greek and other Mediterranean languages. The essays cover five centuries of Latin reflection on language, from Varro to the fifth or sixth century CE. The book concludes with an autobiographical Epilogue by Robert Kaster about the origins of Guardians of Language and updates to the prosopography of known ancient grammarians found in Guardians.Trade ReviewHow does a language that has become the lingua franca of an Empire change over time? Who drives such change, and how is it seen by intellectuals and by those who oversee élite education-the grammatici? These essays explore these questions in detail, insightfully, often humorously. The Epilogue, Robert Kaster's own account of the accidental genesis of Guardians of Language, shows why its 30th anniversary deserves celebration, and displays the wit and modesty that helped inspire the loyalty of Kaster's students and colleagues alike. Kaster's updated prosopography of Roman grammatici makes the book indispensable for students of that no longer quite so neglected group of guardians of the Latin language. * David Blank, University of California, Los Angeles *Gitner has assembled an all-star team to finally respond to Guardians of Language in the best possible way. Recent technical advances in a variety of fields have been marshaled, the time frame of the investigation has been expanded, and the relevance of a variety of other scholarly discourses to the policing of language has been properly recognized. All in all, a remarkable collective achievement. * Andrew Riggsby, University of Texas, Austin *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Contributors Short Title Abbreviations Preface Adam Gitner Introduction 1. Counterfeit and Coinage: Gresham's Law and the Grammarian James E. G. Zetzel Part I: Varro 2. Varro the Conservative? Katharina Volk 3. Varro and the Sabine Language in the De lingua Latina Wolfgang D. C. de Melo 4. Varro's Word Trees Andreas T. Zanker Part II: Professional Grammarians 5. The Use of Greek in Diomedes' Ars grammatica Bruno Rochette 6. The Grammarian Consentius on Language Change and Variation Tommaso Mari 7. Antiquus = squalidus? Pompeius' Attitude towards Antiquity Anna Zago 8. T(w)o Be or Not T(w)o Be: The dualis numerus according to Latin Grammarians up to the Early Middle Ages Tim Denecker 9. Anonymous Grammatical Scholarship: Insights from an Annotated Juvenal Codex from Egypt Alessandro Garcea and Maria Chiara Scappaticcio Part III: Scholars and Intellectuals 10. Civic Metaphors for Lexical Borrowing from Seneca to Gellius Adam Gitner 11. Grammar and Grammarians, Linguistic and Social Change from Gellius to Macrobius Leofranc Holford-Strevens 12. Language Variation and Grammatical Theory in Roman Legal Texts Rolando Ferri Epilogue The (Very Fragile) Origins of Guardians of Language Robert A. Kaster Prosopographical Addenda to Guardians of Language Robert A. Kaster Bibliography General Index Index of Notable Passages

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Book SynopsisLost origins of words revealed. We like to recount that goodbye started out as god be with you, that whiskey comes from the Gaelic for water of life, or that avocado originated as the Aztec word for testicle. But there are many words with origins unknown, disputed, or so buried in old journals that they may as well be lost to the general public. In Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology, eminent etymologist Anatoly Liberman draws on his professional expertise and etymological database to tell the stories of less understood words such as nerd, fake, ain''t, hitchhike, trash, curmudgeon, and quiz, as well as puzzling idioms like kick the bucket and pay through the nose. By casting a net so broadly, the book addresses language history, language usage (including grammar), history (both ancient and modern), religion, superstitions, and material culture. Writing in the spirit of adventure through the annals of word origins, Liberman also shows how historical linguists constr

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Book SynopsisComparative Literature is both the past and the future of literary studies. Its history is intimately linked to the political upheavals of modernity: from colonial empire-building in the nineteenth century, via the Jewish diaspora of the twentieth century, to the postcolonial culture wars of the twenty-first century, attempts at ''comparison'' have defined the international agenda of literature. But what is comparative literature? Ambitious readers looking to stretch themselves are usually intrigued by the concept, but uncertain of its implications. And rightly so, in many ways: even the professionals cannot agree on a single term, calling it comparative in English, compared in French, and comparing in German. The very term itself, when approached comparatively, opens up a Pandora''s box of cultural differences. Yet this, in a nutshell, is the whole point of comparative literature. To look at literature comparatively is to realize just how much can be learned by looking over the horizon of one''s own culture; it is to discover not only more about other literatures, but also about one''s own; and it is to participate in the great utopian dream of understanding the way nations and languages interact. In an age that is paradoxically defined by migration and border crossing on the one hand, and by a retreat into monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other, the cross-cultural agenda of comparative literature has become increasingly central to the future of the Humanities. We are all, in fact, comparatists, constantly making connections across languages, cultures, and genres as we read. The question is whether we realise it.This Very Short Introduction tells the story of Comparative Literature as an agent of international relations, from the point of view both of scholarship and of cultural history more generally. Outlining the complex history and competing theories of comparative literature, Ben Hutchinson offers an accessible means of entry into a notoriously slippery subject, and shows how comparative literature can be like a Rorschach test, where people see in it what they want to see. Ultimately, Hutchinson places comparative literature at the very heart of literary criticism, for as George Steiner once noted, ''to read is to compare''.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade ReviewWith admirable clarity, Hutchinson analyses the issues that the discipline faces, and brings back invigorating news of possibilities ahead. This eloquent and richly packed VSI puts the case for comparative literature as the most vital, enriching and valuable way of reading and studying literature at a time of colossal shifts in the prospects of the Humanities. * Marina Warner, President of the Royal Society of Literature *This fascinating study presents an optimistic view of the state of comparative literature today, showing how the discipline has evolved and why it is so important. This book should be required reading for anyone with an interest in literature. * Susan Bassnett, President of the British Comparative Literature Association *Comparative Literature: A Very Short Introduction focuses not only on the history of comparative literature but also the future of it.Table of Contents1: Metaphors of Reading 2: Practices and Principles 3: History and Heroes 4: Disciplines and Debates 5: The Futures of Comparative Literature Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisThis textbook provides a comprehensive scholarly introduction to Classical Chinese and its texts. Classical Chinese is the language of Confucius and Mencius and their contemporaries, who wrote the seminal texts of Chinese philosophy more than 2,000 years ago. Although it was used as a living language for only a relatively short time, it was the foundation of Chinese education throughout the Imperial age, and formed the basis of a literary tradition that continues to the present day. This book offers students all the necessary tools to read, understand, and analyse Classical Chinese texts, including: step-by-step clearly illustrated descriptions of syntactic features; core vocabulary lists; introductions to relevant historical and cultural topics; selected readings from classical literature with original commentaries and in-depth explanations; introductions to dictionaries and other reference works on the study of ancient China; and a guide to philological methods used in the critical aTable of ContentsPreface List of figures List of abbreviations Abbreviated book titles Introduction Part I 1: Word Classes and Constituents 2: Noun Phrases 1 3: Nominal Clauses 4: Verbal Clauses 5: Objects and Questions 6: Noun Phrases 2 7: Adverbial Modification 8: Prepositional Phrases I 9: Prepositional Phrases II 10: Reference to Time 11: Complements 12: Nominalization 13: Themes 14: Anteposition and Inversion 15: Complex Sentences 1 16: Complex Sentences 2 Part II 17: Lunyu 18: Mengzi 19: Xunzi 20: Zuozhuan 21: Guoyu 22: Laozi 23: Zhuangzi 24: Mozi 25: Guanzi 26: Military Texts 27: Shangjun shu 28: Han Feizi 29: Lüshi chunqiu 30: Zhanguo ce 31: Shiji 32: Yijing 33: Ritual Texts Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWhat could Greek poets or Roman historians say in their own language that would be lost in translation? After all, different languages have different personalities, and this is especially clear with languages of the ancient and medieval world. This volume celebrates six such languages - Ancient Greek, Latin, Old English, Sanskrit, Old Irish, and Biblical Hebrew - by first introducing readers to their most distinctive features, then showing how these linguistic traits play out in short excerpts from actual ancient texts. It explores, for instance, how Homer''s Greek shows signs of oral composition, how Horace achieves striking poetic effects through interlaced word order in his Latin, and how the poet of Beowulf attains remarkable intensity of expression through the resources of Old English. But these are languages that have shared connections as well. Readers will see how the Sanskrit of the Rig Veda uses words that come from roots found also in English, how turns of phrase characteristic of the Hebrew Bible found their way into English, and that even as unusual a language as Old Irish still builds on common Indo-European linguistic patterns. Very few people have the opportunity to learn these languages, and they can often seem mysterious and inaccessible: drawing on a lucid and engaging writing style and with the aid of clear English translations throughout, this book aims to give all readers, whether scholars, students, or interested novices, an aesthetic appreciation of just how rich and varied they are.Trade ReviewThe style is light and breezy, and is generally easy to follow, but G. tends to dwell in great depth on highly specialised points. There is something for everyone... * MCCOMAS TAYLOR, The Australian National University, THE CLASSICAL REVIEW *On the whole, this is an excellent book, and it should prove a very stimulating introduction to ancient languages in general and to comparative linguistics for students and for interested laypersons. The author claims that he wishes to convey enthusiasm for learning the languages discussed in the book, as well as to acquaint students with a certain degree of linguistic diversity, and he masterfully succeeds in doing this. * Audrey Mathys, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *The book takes readers through Greek, Latin, Old English and the Germanic Languages, Sanskrit, Old Irish and the Celtic Languages, and Hebrew, introducing their phonology, morphology, lexicons, grammar, and excerpting passages from texts such as the Iliad, Beowulf, and the Rig Veda, to illustrate how the flavor of a language is always lost a little in translation. * Malcolm Keating, Yale-NUS College, New Books Network *(...) this is a book about the impossibility or the limits of translation and the awareness of how much is lost when, by changing the language, the expressive resources also have to be altered. * The Euphrosyne, Vol 50 *Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Greek The sounds of Greek Word-forms The Iliad Formulas Thucydides and abstract language Pauline prepositions 3: Latin How Latin works Lucretius Horace and Housman Tacitus 4: Old English and the Germanic Languages Grimm's Law and umlaut Verbs, strong and weak Old English Beowulf 5: Sanskrit The sounds of Sanskrit Sandhi Nouns in Sanskrit The Rig Veda How to kill a dragon The hidden names of the dawn-cows 6: Old Irish and the Celtic Languages The eccentricities of the Irish language Old Irish in action Welsh 7: Hebrew The sounds of Semitic How Semitic words change shape Let there be light Noun chains 8: Epilogue and Further Reading Endmatter Index

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Book SynopsisAn Introduction to Middle High German is a dedicated student edition of The Oxford Guide to Middle High German (Jones & Jones; OUP, 2019) designed for taught courses and self-study. It offers a detailed account of the language and literature of German in the period 1050-1350, including an introductory-level grammar and a wide selection of texts with extensive explanatory material.Following an initial chapter that defines Middle High German linguistically, geographically, and chronologically, the grammar and lexis chapters offer a self-contained introduction to the language. The user-friendly and accessible grammatical descriptions and explanations will allow entry-level students to gain sufficient knowledge of the language to read and understand a range of Middle High German texts. Chapter 4 comprises thirty textual passages, each placed in context and with extensive explanatory footnotes to facilitate their use in teaching and class discussion. The volume also offers two essential glo

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Book SynopsisThe history of science is echoed in the development of its language and the names chosen for its technical terms. The Names of Science examines in detail how, over time, new words have entered the scientific lexicon and how some of them, but far from all, have survived to the present. Why is a transistor called a transistor and not something else? Why was the term ''scientist'' only coined in 1834, and why was the name regarded as controversial for a long time afterwards?There is a story behind every scientific word we use today. In this work, Helge Kragh tells many of these stories, taking a broad historical perspective from the Renaissance to the present. By combining elements of linguistics with the history of the natural sciences including physics, chemistry, and astronomy, this book offers a new and innovative perspective on the historical development of the natural sciences.Following an introductory list of useful linguistic terms, the book is structured in six chapters, which cover important phases in the history of science, dealing with a vast range of scientific terminology from physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, to cosmology. It also considers, if only briefly, how English - and not, say, Latin or French - developed to become the internationally accepted language of science.Contrary to other works dealing with the subject, The Names of Science pays serious attention to the historical dimension of scientific language, and to the way in which scientists have, sometimes unconsciously, acted as linguists and neologists in their research work.

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Book SynopsisThe Concise New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis by Christopher A. Beetham is a significant resource for those looking for a quick-reference guide to aid in exegesis and interpretation. It is the ideal resource for pastors, teachers, students, and scholars engaging in exegesis and study of the New Testament.

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Book SynopsisAn student's introduction to the first centuries in the history of the English language.Trade ReviewThe revised edition of this fine textbook retains all the excellent features of the original. Hogg's voice can still be heard on every page, speaking directly to the reader and guiding him or her expertly through the intricacies of the earliest stages of our language. -- Carole Hough, University of Glasgow

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Book SynopsisOf outstanding value to both runologist and Anglo-Saxonist alike. EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE Discussion of the forms of the runic alphabet and interpretations of individual inscriptions, with consideration of wider matters on which runes throw light - magic, paganism and literacy.How, where and why runes were used is still often mysterious; they continue to set puzzles for those who study them, among whom few are better known than the author of this book. Here he investigates evidence from Anglo-Saxon runic coins to Manx inscribed stones, including many of the known Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions (notably the Ruthwell cross and the Franks casket) and manuscripts, and looks in passing at some Scandinavian material, both in Great Britain and elsewhere. In addition to these detailed descriptions of inscriptions, and of the runic futhorc, or alphabet, on which they are based, Page also considers wider issues on which runes throw light: magic, paganism and literacy. Archaeologists, historians and others will find this a uniquely useful and authoritative volume on Anglo-Saxon runes. The late R.I. PAGE was a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Emeritus Professor ofAnglo-Saxon, Cambridge University.Table of ContentsQuondam et futurus (1994); Northumbrian "aefter" (in memory of) + accusative (1958); an early drawing of the Ruthwell Cross (1959); language and dating in Old English inscriptions (1959); the Bewcastle Cross (1960); the Old English rune "ear" (1961); a note on the transliteration of Old English runic inscriptions (1962); the use of double runes in Old English inscriptions (1962); Anglo-Saxon runes and magic (1964); Ralph Thoresby's runic coins (1965); the Old English rune "eoh, ih" (Yew Tree) (1968); the runic solidus of Schweindorf, Ostfriesland, and related runic solidi (1968); runes and non-runes (1969); how long did the Scandinavian language survive in England? - the epigraphical evidence (1971); Anglo-Saxon texts in early modern transcripts - 1 The Anglo-Saxon runic poem (1973); some thoughts on Manx runes (1980); the Manx rune-stones (1983); on the transliteration of English runes (1984); new runic finds in England (1987); a 16th-century runic manuscript (1987); runeukyndige risteres skriblerier - the English evidence (1989); Roman and runic on St Cuthbert's coffin (1989); dating Old English inscriptions - the limits of inference (1990).

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Book SynopsisThis book is a state-of-the-art overview of English historical pragmatics, covering a range of topics, including pragmatic markers, speech representation, address terms, speech acts, politeness, and registers, genres and style. It is essential reading for both students and scholars of English linguistics and historical linguistics.Table of ContentsList of Figures; List of Tables; Preface; List of Abbreviations; 1. The Field of Historical Pragmatics; 2. Historical Pragmatics: Scope, Methods, Challenges; 3. Pragmatic Markers; 4. Speech Representation; 5. Politeness; 6. Speech Acts; 7. Address Terms; 8. Discourse: Register, Genre, and Style; 9. Concluding Remarks; List of References; Index.

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Book SynopsisDesigned for students with no prior experience in linguistics, this is an engaging guide to the rich variety and typology of world languages. This fourth edition has been revised with new problem sets, an updated glossary and index, and new sections, including one on the languages of the Caribbean.Trade Review'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 TorontoTable of ContentsPrologue; 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.

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Book SynopsisIn providing an analysis of the grammar of the dialect of seven counties along the Yellow River, this two-volume set synchronically and diachronically studies the Jin dialect of China's Northern Shaanxi Province.The Jin dialect of Northern Shaanxi is one of the most ancient, complicated, and representative dialects of the Yellow River region and figures prominently in our understanding of the Jin dialect and northern Chinese dialects as a whole. The first volume focuses on pronouns, aspect and appearance and tenses; while the second volume focuses on aspects including the subjunctive mood, expressions of complex sentence relationships, embedded sentence patterns, complex interrogative sentences, the formation of the imperative modal particle zhe, and the phonetic variation of grammatical constituents. Hence, it gives insight into the peculiarity of the Jin dialect in terms of grammar, the significant role of diachronic comparative studies of dialectal grammar, and the

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Book SynopsisOne of the most intriguing features of languages is that speakers can produce novel grammatical utterances that they have never heard before. Consequently, most linguists agree that the mental grammars of speakers are complex systems that must be more abstract than the input they are exposed to. Yet, linguists differ as to how general and abstract speakers'' mental representations have to be to allow this grammatical creativity. This book addresses this issue by empirically investigating one specific construction, English comparative correlatives (e.g., the more you eat, the fatter you get). Drawing on authentic corpus data from Old English to Present-day English varieties around the world, it shows how input frequency and domain-general cognitive principles affect the complex mental network of constructions that underlies speakers'' linguistic behaviour. This pioneering and original study will be of interest to scholars and students of English syntax and English historical linguisticsTable of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Previous research; 3. The diachronic evolution of English CCs: a constructionist account; 4. Synchronic properties of the standard British and American English CC construction network; 5. A contrastive view: German versus English comparative correlatives; 6. Variation and mental grammars: the view from World Englishes; Conclusion: the role of constructional networks.

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Book SynopsisPresenting the latest ideas in the study of word-formation and linguistic typology, this volume represents the state-of-the-art in methodological and theoretical approaches to linguistic complexity. It brings together research by leading international morphologists to explore multiple aspects of complex words, across a wide range of languages.Trade Review'By uniting the world's top morphologists in a single volume, this book offers an exclusive insight into how current theories tackle some of the most challenging – and exciting – aspects of complex words. A comprehensive and accessible account of the latest advances in morphology that is set to become a modern classic.' Réka Benczes, Corvinus University of BudapestTable of ContentsIntroduction: advances in morphology: a summary Jan Don and Martin Everaert; Part I. Lexico-Semantic Aspects of Complex Words: 1. Formal semantics and the problem of nominalizations Rochelle Lieber; 2. Semantically subtractive morphology Stephen Anderson; 3. -less and –free Mark Aronoff; 4. Instrument Nouns in -one in Latin and Romance Franz Rainer; 5. Prominence in noun-to-verb conversion Heike Baeskow; 6. On Spanish dvandva and its restrictions Antonio Fábregas; Part II. Structure of Complex Words: 7. Estonian case inflection made simple. A case study in word and paradigm morphology with linear discriminative learning Yu-Ying Chuang, Kaidi Lõo, James P. Blevins, and R. Harald Baayen; 8. Uninflectedness: uninflecting, uninflectable, and uninflected words, or the complexity of the simplex Andrew Spencer; 9. Complex exponents Gregory Stump; 10. Derivational patterns in proto-basque word structure Juliette Blevins; 11. The complexity of greek verbal morphology: the case of prefixed verbs Artemis Alexiadou; 12. Affixoids, an intriguing intermediate category Angela Ralli; Part III. Corpus-Based Case Studies: 13. Competition between synthetic nn compounds and nn.GEN phrasal nouns in polish: semantic niches, hapax legomena and low-level construction schemas Bozena Cetnarowska; 14. An s is an s', or is it? Plural and genitive-plural are not homophonous Ingo Plag, Sonia Ben Hedia, Arne Lohmann, and Julia Zimmermann; 15. The role of word-formation families and subfamilies in the organisation of German diminutive compounds Wolfgang U. Dressler, Sonja Schwaiger, and Jutta Ransmayr; 16. Semantic patterns in noun-to-verb conversion in English Salvador Valera; 17. Onomatopoeia: on the crossroads of sound symbolism and word-formation Lívia Körtvélyessy, and Pavol Štekauer; 18. Dingsbums and thingy: placeholders for names in German and other languages Petra M. Vogel.

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Book SynopsisThe Blackwell History of the Latin Language charts the development of Latin from its prehistoric origins in the Indo-European language family, through the earliest texts, to the creation of the Classical Language of Cicero and Vergil, and examines the impact of the spread of spoken Latin through the Roman Empire.Trade Review“The stated goal of this welcome new survey is to overcome some of the shortcomings of L. R. Palmer's classic handbook The Latin Language, unrevised since its publication in 1954. The goal is worthy, and the execution is in many ways a success.” (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, March 2009) “Clackson and Horrocks have produced a wide-ranging, theoretically sophisticated, and still thoroughly manageable book that will not easily be superseded.” (New England Classical Journal, February 2009) "James Clackson and Geoffrey Horrocks have … Succeeded admirably in their aim, presenting a mass of data within persuasive narrative." (Times Literary Supplement, December 2008) “The…hefty Blackwell History of the Latin Language…The authors focus on the evolution of the sounds, vocabulary, word and sentence structure…over the centuries.” (Chicago Tribune) “[The authors] set the tone … with an honesty that is … appreciated … .Marvelous treatment of … understudied languages … .Carefully, admirably, proofread … .Recommended.” (Choice)Table of ContentsPreface. 1 Latin and Indo-European. 2 The Languages of Italy. 3 The Background to Standardization. 4 'Old' Latin and its Varieties in the Period c.400--150 BC. 5 The Road to Standardization: Roman Latin of the Third and Second Centuries BC. 6 Elite Latin in the Late Republic and Early Empire. 7 Sub-Elite Latin in the Empire. 8 Latin in Late Antiquity and Beyond. Glossary. Appendix: The International Phonetic Alphabet. Bibliography of Reference and Other Works. Index.

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Book SynopsisThis workbook guides students through 12 problems on the establishment of genetic relationship among languages, 24 problems on sound change, 35 problems on phonological reconstruction, 10 problems on internal reconstruction, and 20 problems on subgrouping.

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Book SynopsisUnderstanding sound change through contemporary theory and historical evidence

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Book SynopsisLyle Campbell's linguistic fieldwork has taken him to numerous countries, sometimes in challenging circumstances. Written with humour, heart, and a clear dedication to endangered languages and their speakers, his vivid memoir is a lesson not only on life in the field but on the importance of documenting indigenous languages.

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Book SynopsisLike trigger warnings and gender-neutral bathrooms, pronouns spark debate, prompting new policies about what pronouns to use. More than a by-product of the culture wars, gender-neutral pronouns are, however, nothing new. Pioneering linguist Dennis Baron puts them in historical context, noting that Shakespeare used singular they, women invoked the generic use of he to assert the right to vote (while those opposed to women’s rights asserted that he did not include she) and people have been coining new gender pronouns for centuries. An essential work in understanding how 21st century culture has evolved, What’s Your Pronoun? chronicles the story of the role pronouns have played—and continue to play—in establishing both our rights and our identities.Trade Review"Dennis Baron’s What’s Your Pronoun? is a delightful account of the search for what Baron, a professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois, calls ‘the missing word’: a third person singular, gender-neutral pronoun." -- Amia Srinivasan - London Review of Books"Dennis Baron has spent years researching the quest for a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun in English. Lively, accessible and full of fascinating details, What’s Your Pronoun? will appeal to anyone with an interest in linguistic and cultural history." -- Deborah Cameron, Worcester College, University of Oxford"Into the breach comes a useful corrective in the form of Dennis Baron's well-timed new book, "What's Your Pronoun?"" -- The Economist"In this learned and entertaining book, Dennis Baron provides vital historical context to today's impassioned debates over gender-neutral and non-binary pronouns... Baron knows what he's talking about and provides a much-needed dose of scholarship leavened with good sense in the language wars. The book is timely, for pronouns are suddenly politically sexy." -- The Times"A scrupulous and absorbing survey. Its great virtue is to show that these issues are nothing new… This scholarly assiduousness, though, also makes him the ideal pilot through these contentious political-linguistic waters. If you want to know why more people are asking ‘what’s your pronoun?’ then you (singular or plural) should read this book." -- Joe Moran - The New York Times Book Review"His [Dennis Baron's] new book, What's Your Pronoun? Beyond He and She is a meticulous, consummate dissection of the pronoun wars..." -- Attitude

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Book SynopsisDid you know that the word 'prestige' derives from the Latin word for 'illusion'? Or that 'infantry' stems from a Latin word meaning one who could not speak? In this original and highly entertaining book, Peter Jones reveals the roots of Latin words that are now common in the English language and shows how Romans actually used them in the ancient world. Covering every aspect of Roman life - from politics, philosophy, religion and the arts, to technology, warfare, medicine and botany - Quid Pro Quo highlights the vital role Latin has played in the creation of our vast vocabulary.Trade ReviewWhat did the Romans ever do for us? Well, besides the sanitation, the roads, etc, they left us Latin, and in this wonderfully informative survey, Peter Jones guides us through the ways in which their language has percolated through our own. Jones wears his learning lightly and there's an arresting insight or a fascinating historical anecdote on every page. * Mail on Sunday *Wonderfully enteratining * Spectator *

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Book Synopsis'Quite simply, and quite ridiculously, one of the funniest and most illuminating books I have ever read. I thought I was obsessive, but Keith Kahn-Harris is playing a very different sport. He really has discovered the whole world in an egg.' Simon Garfield'There is a delicious humour implicit in every page . . . [the book] is filled with a sense of wonder, gazing at languages that neither the writer nor reader understands . . . The Babel Message was such fun that I even went out and bought a Kinder Surprise Egg.' - Mark Forsyth, The SpectatorA thrilling journey deep into the heart of language, from a rather unexpected starting point.Keith Kahn-Harris is a man obsessed with something seemingly trivial - the warning message found inside Kinder Surprise eggs:WARNING, read and keep: Toy not suitable for children under 3 years. Small parts might be swallowed or inhaled.On a tiny sheet of paper, this message is translated into dozens of languages - the world boiled down to a multilingual essence. Inspired by this, the author asks: what makes 'a language'? With the help of the international community of language geeks, he shows us what the message looks like in Ancient Sumerian, Zulu, Cornish, Klingon - and many more. Along the way he considers why Hungarian writing looks angry, how to make up your own language, and the meaning of the heavy metal umlaut.Overturning the Babel myth, he argues that the messy diversity of language shouldn't be a source of conflict, but of collective wonder. This is a book about hope, a love letter to language.'This is a wonderful book. A treasure trove of mind-expanding insights into language and humanity encased in a deliciously quirky, quixotic quest. I loved it. Warning: this will keep you reading.' - Ann Morgan, author of Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary ExplorerTrade ReviewQuite simply, and quite ridiculously, one of the funniest and most illuminating books I have ever read. I thought I was obsessive, but Keith Kahn-Harris is playing a very different sport. He really has discovered the whole world in an egg. -- Simon GarfieldThis is a wonderful book. A treasure trove of mind-expanding insights into language and humanity encased in a deliciously quirky, quixotic quest. I loved it. Warning: this will keep you reading. -- Ann Morgan, author of Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary ExplorerI would warn everyone to read and keep this beautifully written book ... Keith explores the world of language - what it is, what it means and how we use it. Keith's precisely written prose celebrates the wonderful imprecision of language in all its glory. -- James Ward, founder of The Boring Conference and author of Adventures in Stationery: A Journey Through Your Pencil CaseThe Babel Message is a gloriously inflected record of an obsession ... [It] manages to teach us a great deal about language - its protean energy and its slipperiness - but also makes us properly laugh (a rare Venn diagram, believe me). ... Kahn-Harris's fan-boy passion for the gorgeous surface of written language and his own skill in deploying it make the book a complete delight. -- John Mitchinson, author of The QI Book of General IgnoranceIn this unlikely story of a quixotic translation, Keith Kahn-Harris illuminates how language-learning can hone our minds, strengthen our empathy, and lead us all to justice. Read this book - and immerse yourself in the raw pleasure of linguistic diversity. -- Daniel Bögre Udell, Executive Director, Wikitongues

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Book SynopsisWriting in the ancient Mediterranean existed against a backdrop of very high levels of interaction and contact. In the societies around its shores, writing was a dynamic practice that could serve many purposes – from a tool used by elites to control resources and establish their power bases to a symbol of local identity and a means of conveying complex information and ideas.This volume brings together contributions by members of the Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems (CREWS) research team and visiting fellows, offering a range of different perspectives and approaches to problems of writing in the ancient Mediterranean. Their focus is on practices, viewing writing as something that people do within a wider social and cultural context, and on adaptations, considering the ways in which writing changed and was changed by the people using it.Trade Review[T]his volume, as a contribution to the research output of the CREWS project, encapsulates how the research of the CREWS core team and wider family has revolved around questions of the contexts and relatedness of writing systems and traditions * New Testament Abstracts *Table of ContentsApproaches to writing in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East Philippa M. Steele Relations between script, writing material and layout: the case of the Anatolian Hieroglyphs Willemijn Waal Word division in Sicilian inscriptions Robert Crellin What is an Alphabet good for? Csaba La’da Measuring particularity and similarity in archaic Greek alphabets with NLP Natalia Elvira Astoreca Borrowing, invention, remodelling: Observations on the rare letters of the Phrygian alphabet and the problem of formation of Anatolian alphabets Rostislav Oreshko Cypro-Minoan and its potmarks and vessel inscriptions as challenges to Aegean Scripts corpora Cassandra Donnelly Ductus in Cypro-Minoan writing. Definition, purpose and distribution of stroke types Martina Polig The introduction of the Greek alphabet in Cyprus, a case study in material culture Beatrice Pestarino The death of alphabets at the end of the Bronze Age. How does the Deir ‘Alla alphabet fit the picture? Michel de Vreeze Early Egyptian writing from the perspective of the embodied practitioner Kathryn Piquette The magic of writing Philip J. Boyes

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Book SynopsisWhen first published in 2006, Rats Alley was a ground-breaking piece of research, the first-ever study of trench names of the Western Front. Now, in this fully updated and revised second edition, the gazetteer has been extended to well over 20,000 trench names, complete with map references in itself an essential tool for any First World War researcher. However, combined with the finely considered history and analysis of trench naming during the First World War, this is an edition that no military history enthusiast should be without. Discover when, how and why British trenches were first named and follow the names' fascinating development throughout the First World War, alongside details of French and German trench-naming practices. Looked at from both contemporary and modern points of view, the names reveal the full horror of trench warfare and throw an extraordinary sidelight on the cultural life of the period, and the landscape and battles of the Western Front. Nam

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Book SynopsisThis book concisely describes ways in which today's standard British English speech differs from the upper-class accent of the last century, Received Pronunciation, which many now find old-fashioned or even comic. In doing so it provides a much-needed update to the existing RP-based descriptions by which the sound system of British English is still known to many around the world.The book opens with an account of the rise and fall of RP, before turning to a systematic analysis of the phonetic developments between RP and contemporary Standard Southern British (SSB) in vowels, consonants, stress, connected speech and intonation. Topics covered include the anti-clockwise vowel shift, the use of glottal stops, 'intrusive r', vocal fry and Uptalk. It concludes with a Mini Dictionary of well over 100 words illustrating the changes described throughout the book, and provides a chart of updated IPA vowel symbols.This book is an essential resource for anyone interested in British pronunciation and sound change, including academics in phonetics, phonology, applied linguistics and English language; trainers of English teachers; English teachers themselves; teachers of voice and accent coaches; and students in those areas.Table of Contents‘A concise, readable and teachable framework. It will be invaluable not only to teachers of EFL, but also to everyone teaching or studying linguistics and phonetics, speech and drama, and speech and language therapy. It is a book I wish I had written myself – but I don’t think I would have been able to make such a good job of it’—From the Foreword by J.C. Wells, Emeritus Professor of Phonetics, University College London, UK‘The subject of the phonetics of the standard English accent has been in the doldrums, and most pronunciation materials in current use are outdated. English After RP – whose author is ideally qualified – sets out the groundwork for a complete rethink. I believe the book will establish itself as an essential foundation for new directions in the phonetics of English.’—Peter Roach, Emeritus Professor of Phonetics, University of Reading, UKThis book concisely describes ways in which today's standard British English speech differs from the upper-class accent of the last century, Received Pronunciation, which many now find old-fashioned or even comic. In doing so it provides a much-needed update to the existing RP-based descriptions by which the sound system of British English is still known to many around the world. The book opens with an account of the rise and fall of RP, before turning to a systematic analysis of the phonetic developments between RP and contemporary Standard Southern British (SSB) in vowels, consonants, stress, connected speech and intonation. Topics covered include the anti-clockwise vowel shift, the use of glottal stops, 'intrusive r', vocal fry and Uptalk. It concludes with a Mini Dictionary of well over 100 words illustrating the changes described throughout the book, and provides a chart of updated IPA vowel symbols. This book is an essential resource for anyone interested in British pronunciation and sound change, including academics in phonetics, phonology, applied linguistics and English language; trainers of English teachers; English teachers themselves; teachers of voice and accent coaches; and students in those areas.Geoff Lindsey is Honorary Lecturer in Linguistics, and Director of the Summer Course in English Phonetics, at University College London, UK. He works internationally as a pronunciation and accent tutor and is co-editor of the online dictionary CUBE. He has also worked in film and TV as a writer and director.

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Book SynopsisThis textbook approaches the history of English from a theoretical perspective. The book provides a brief chronological overview describing the way in which the English language has changed over time from Old English to Modern English, while subsequent parts adopt a theoretical focus that is thematically organised to deal with the question of how and why English changed in the way it did, including a part addressing some specific contact-induced changes and key topics such as English as a Lingua Franca. Supported throughout with information boxes with empirical studies, the examples given are all drawn from English, but boxes with examples from other languages tie the development of the English language into changes in other contexts and settings. This book is an ideal resource for undergraduate students of the English Language and historical linguistics. Table of ContentsPart I Introduction.- So what had happened was….- Explaining language change.- Part II Sound change.- Phonetic change.- Phonological change.- Track changes.- Part III Contact-induced change.- Language contact.- Dialect contact.- Part IV Structural change.- Analogy.- Grammaticalisation.- Syntactic change.- The loss of case.

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Book SynopsisThis book asks how we—as citizens, immigrants, activists, teachers—can counter the abuse of language in our midst. How can we take back the power of language from those who flaunt that power to silence or erase us and our fellows? In search of answers, Linguistic Disobedience recalls ages and situations that made critiquing, correcting, and caring for language essential for survival. From turn-of-the-twentieth-century Central Europe to the miseries of the Third Reich, from the Movement for Black Lives to the ongoing effort to decolonize African languages, the study and practice of linguistic disobedience have been crucial. But what are we to do today, when reactionary supremacists and authoritarians are screen-testing their own forms of so-called disobedience to quash oppositional social justice movements and their languages? Blending lyric essay with cultural criticism, historical analysis, and applied linguistics, Linguistic Disobedience offers suggestions for a hopeful pathway forward in violent times.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Obeying and Disobeying.- Chapter 1: Critique.- Chapter 2: Correction.- Chapter 3: Care.- Epilogue: Finding Our Minds.

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Book SynopsisLanguage isolates provide unique insights into human history and linguistic diversity. Nevertheless, isolates have been studied less exhaustively than non-isolates. The eleven papers gathered in this volume provide new methodological tools in order to better understand isolates, including a detailed, in-depth, up-to-date discussion of what it means to be a language isolate and the criteria by which languages should be classified as isolate. The book also provides a series of techniques, some refined on the basis of former literature, and others new, in order to recover the histories of language isolates. In addition, the papers in this volume advance our knowledge about each of the individual languages studied here, which are, for the most part, endangered and under-documented. This book will appeal to a broad audience spanning typologists, historical linguists, descriptive linguists, and teachers of linguistics.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Peasant Status and the Meanings of Serfdom 2. Peasants, Property, and Payments 3. Peasants, Religion, and the Church 4. Peasants, New Towns, and Communes 5. Peasant Agency Conclusion

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Book SynopsisPresents seven dramas from the first truly American theatre. Composed in Nahuatl during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, most of these plays survive only in later copies. In this volume, Barry D. Sell and Louise M. Burkhart offer faithful transcriptions of the Nahuatl as well as new English translations of these remarkable dramas.

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Book SynopsisTA-U-RO-QO-RO takes up problems of script and language representation and textual interpretation, ranging from the use of punctuation marks and numbers in the Linear B to personal names and place names reflecting the ethnic composition of Mycenaean society and the dialects spoken during the proto-Homeric period of the late Bronze Age.

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Book SynopsisThis innovative introduction outlines the structure and distribution of the world s languages, charting their evolution over the past 200,000 years.Table of ContentsMap 0.1 World map with language families xi Figure 0.1 IPA consonants xii Figure 0.2 IPA vowels xii About the Website xiii List of Maps and Figures xv Preface xvii Part I Linguistic Preliminaries: Approach and Theory Introductory Note: On Language 1 1 All Languages Were Once Spanglish 3 The Mexican State of Coahuila y Tejas 3 What Is Language? 4 How Many Languages Are There? 6 How and When Did Language Get Started? 9 The Structure of Spanglish 13 Final Note: The Encounter of Spanish and English on Television in the United States 17 Exercises 18 Discussion Questions 20 Notes 20 References 21 Further Reading 21 2 The Language Loop 22 The Australian Walkabout 22 Introducing the Language Loop 23 Language and Cognition 26 Language, the World, and Culture 28 Language and Linguistic Structure 31 Language, Discourse, and Ideology 32 On Major and Minor Languages 33 Final Note: The Contingencies of Time, Place, and Biology 35 Exercises 37 Discussion Questions 37 Notes 38 References 38 Further Reading 39 3 Linguistics and Classification 40 The Role of Sanskrit in Philology 40 Of Linguistics, Philology, Linguists, and Grammarians 42 Genetic Classification 46 Areal Classification 48 Typological Classification 51 Functional Classification 55 Final Note: The Role of Sanskrit in India Today 57 Exercises 58 Discussion Questions 59 Notes 60 References 60 Further Reading 61 Part II Effects of Power Introductory Note: On Power 63 4 Effects of the Nation-State and the Possibility of Kurdistan 65 Lines Are Drawn in the Sand 65 The Status of Language on the Eve of the Nation-State 66 The Epistemology of the Nation-State 69 The French Revolution, German Romanticism, and Print Capitalism 71 Standardization and the Instilling of Vergonha 75 Language and Individual Identity 76 What’s Race Got to Do with It? 78 The Problematic Race–Nation–Language Triad 79 Final Note: The Kurds Today – Different Places, Different Outcomes 84 Language Profile: Kurdî / [Kurdish (Indo-European)] 85 Exercises 90 Discussion Questions 91 Notes 91 References 92 Further Reading 93 5 The Development of Writing in the Litmus of Religion and Politics 94 The Story of the Qur’¨¡n 94 Magico-Religious Interpretations of the Origins of Writing 95 Steps Toward the Representation of Speech 97 Types of Writing Systems 100 Religion and the Spread of Writing Systems 105 The Always Already Intervention of Politics 108 Orality and Literacy 111 Final Note: Azerbaijan Achieves Alphabetic Autonomy 114 Language Profile: [Arabic (Afro-Asiatic)] 114 Exercises 119 Discussion Questions 122 Notes 123 References 124 Further Reading 124 6 Language Planning and Language Law: Shaping the Right to Speak 125 Melting Snow and Protests at the Top of the World 125 Language Academies: The First Enforcers 127 Another Look at Prescriptivism 129 Making Language Official: A Tale of Three Patterns 131 Language Policy and Education: A Similar Tale of Three Patterns 139 Language Planners and Language Police 144 Final Note: Choosing Death or Life 146 Language Profile: [Tibetan (Sino-Tibetan)] 147 Exercises 152 Discussion Questions 153 Notes 154 References 155 Further Reading 156 Part III Effects of Movement Introductory Note: On Movement 159 7 A Mobile History: Mapping Language Stocks and Families 161 Austronesian Origin Stories 161 Population Genetics and Links to Language 162 A Possible Polynesian Reconstruction 166 Linguistic Reconstructions Revisited 168 Proto-Indo-European and Its Homeland 173 Other Language Stocks and Their Homelands 176 Models of Spread 183 Lost Tracks 186 Final Note: On Density and Diversity 187 Language Profile: 'Olelo Hawai'i [Hawaiian (Austronesian)] 187 Exercises 194 Discussion Questions 195 Notes 195 References 196 Further Reading 197 8 Colonial Consequences: Language Stocks and Families Remapped 198 Eiffel Towers in Vietnam 198 Time-Depths and Terminology 199 The Middle Kingdom: Government-Encouraged Migrations 201 Linguistic Geography: Residual Zones and Spread Zones 203 Spreading Eurasian Empires: The Persians, Mongols, Slavs, and Romans 206 Religions as First Nations and Missionaries as Colonizers 213 English as an Emergent Language Family 215 Final Note: Creoles and the Case of Kreyòl Ayisyen 218 Language Profile: Tiéng Việt [Vietnamese (Austro-Asiatic)] 219 Exercises 223 Discussion Questions 226 Notes 226 References 228 Further Reading 229 9 Postcolonial Complications: Violent Outcomes 230 Tamil Tigers Create New Terrorist Techniques 230 What’s in a Name? Burma/Myanmar 232 Modern Sudan: The Clash of Two Colonialisms 235 The Caucasian Quasi-States: Two Types of Conflict 238 Poland’s Shifting Borders 242 Terrorism on the Iberian Peninsula: Basque and the ETA 244 Québécois Consciousness and the Turbulent 1960s 245 The Zapatista Uprising and Indigenous Languages in Chiapas 247 Final Note: The Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic 249 Language Profile: Tamil (Dravidian) 250 Exercises 254 Discussion Questions 255 Notes 256 References 257 Further Reading 257 Part IV Effects of Time Introductory Note: On Time 259 10 The Remote Past: Language Becomes Embodied 261 Look There! 261 Seeking Linguistic Bedrock 262 The Primate Body and Human Adaptations to Language 263 Evolution in Four Dimensions 269 The Genetic Story 270 Grammatical Categories and Deep-Time Linguistics 275 Complexity and the Arrow of Time 279 Final Note: The Last Stone Age Man in North America 282 Language Profile: !Xóõ [Taa (Khoisan)] 283 Exercises 288 Discussion Questions 288 Notes 289 References 290 Further Reading 291 11 The Recorded Past: 'Catching Up to Conditions' Made Visible 292 Mongolian Horses 292 Chapter 3: The Invariable Word in English 294 Chapter 4: The Shift to Head-Marking in French 295 Chapter 5: Writing and e-Arabic 299 Chapter 6: Mongolian Cases 301 Chapter 7: Reformulating Hawaiian Identity 304 Chapter 8: Varieties of Chinese – Yesterday and Today 306 Chapter 9: Juba Arabic Pidgin, Nubi, and Other African Creoles 310 Final Note: Language Change in Progress 313 Language Profile: [Mongolian (Mongolic)] 315 Exercises 320 Discussion Questions 321 Notes 322 References 323 Further Reading 323 12 The Imagined Future: Globalization and the Fate of Endangered Languages 324 Gold in the Mayan Highlands 324 Beyond the Nation-State: The Globalized New Economy 325 Money Talks: What Language Does It Speak? 327 When the Language Loop Unravels 329 Language Hotspots 332 Rethinking Endangerment 334 Technology to the Rescue 336 Anishinaabemowin Revitalization in Wisconsin 339 What Is Choice? 341 Final Note: Our Advocacies 342 Language Profile: K'iche' [Quiché (Mayan)] 342 Exercises 347 Discussion Questions 349 Notes 350 References 350 Glossary 353 Subject Index 359 Language Index 373

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Book SynopsisA much-cited and highly influential text by Alastair Pennycook, one of the world authorities in sociolinguistics, The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language explores the globalization of English by examining its colonial origins, its connections to linguistics and applied linguistics, and its relationships to the global spread of teaching practices. Nine chapters cover a wide range of key topics including: international politics colonial history critical pedagogy postcolonial literature. The book provides a critical understanding of the concept of the worldliness of English', or the idea that English can never be removed from the social, cultural, economic or political contexts in which it is used. Reissued with a substantial preface, this Routledge Linguistics Classic remains a landmark text, which led a much-needed critical and ideologically-informed investigatiTable of ContentsPreface Author's acknowledgementsPublishers' acknowledgements1. The world in English2. Discourse and dependency in a shifting world3. English and colonialism: origins of a discourse4. Spreading the word/disciplining the language5. ELT from development aid to global commodity6. The worldliness of English in Malaysia7. The worldliness of English in Singapore8. Writing back: the appropriation of English9. Towards a critical pedagogy for teaching English as a worldly languageReferencesIndex

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