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Languages of the World

Languages of the World

Languages of the World

An Introduction
4th Edition
December 2023
Available
Paperback
9781009338653

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    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.

    • All terminology introduced in the book is defined in the text and in the updated glossary at the end of the book
    • Chapters have been revised and updated, with additional material on Sign Languages, Creole genesis, deciphering Mayan writing and the languages of Northern Eurasia, and a new section on the languages of the Caribbean
    • Fully illustrated throughout with maps showing the locations of the languages described
    • Each chapter contains several problem sets designed to teach students with no background in linguistics to analyze data from unfamiliar languages, with numerous new sets added to this edition

    Reviews & endorsements

    '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 Toronto

    See more reviews

    Product details

    December 2023
    Paperback
    9781009338653
    600 pages
    245 × 171 × 25 mm
    0.98kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 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.
      Author
    • Asya Pereltsvaig

      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.