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One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost
There are more than six thousand languages used around the world today, although linguists now estimate that by the year 2050 as many as half of those will be extinct. This beautifully designed, engagingly written reference takes us on a panoramic tour of the globe to explore this unique and endangered human gift. Generously illustrated throughout with color photographs, informative sidebars, and clear maps and graphics, One Thousand Languages illuminates the sources, characteristics, and interrelationships of the world's spoken tongues. It looks in detail at the eleven global languages, then delves into the major languages of each world region in turn. Each entry gives a history of the growth and development of the language, details the number of speakers, and traces its geographical spread. The volume also provides information on many extinct languages. A detailed map section tracks the migrations of the major languages, and the book also tells how to count to ten in more than 250 ways.
Ivy Press Limited
Ivy Press Limited
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2008
9 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 6, 2008
While the two books featured above could be printed in any medium without disrupting the message, this one needs heavy paper, lots of color, and sturdy boards. Open it up and it smells like wall-to-wall ink. After all, this is a book about language.
Divided into sections like “World Languages” (considerably spoken beyond its point of origin), then regionally, then by absence, One Thousand Languages is illustrated with the written shapes of the letters, the landscapes that produced the sounds, and the people who speak them. Each represented language also includes an article about origins and present usage. Kituba, for example, spoken by 4.3 million, began as a contact language among Africans of different tribes living along the Congo River when Portuguese traders arrived. As many of these same Central Africans were taken away to the Americas as slaves, the language survives abroad in Brazilian, Jamaican, and Cuban religious rituals; it’s a source of for Gullah, a language spoken in South Carolina and Georgia; and it became the Palenquero creole in Colombia.
Peter K. Austin has published eleven books on the lesser-spoken and endangered languages. In an article in the Guardian, Austin lists his top ten from the more than 3,000 disappearing tongues. “My selection is a personal one that tries to take into account four factors: (1) geographical coverage—if possible I wanted at least one language from each continent; (2) scientific interest—I wanted to include languages that linguists find interesting and important, because of their structural or historical significance; (3) cultural interest—if possible some information about interesting cultural and political aspects of endangered languages should be included; and (4) social impact—I wanted to include one or more situations showing why languages are endangered, as well as highlighting some of the ways communities are responding to the threat they currently face.”
This book is very warmly recommended for school libraries.
Divided into sections like “World Languages” (considerably spoken beyond its point of origin), then regionally, then by absence, One Thousand Languages is illustrated with the written shapes of the letters, the landscapes that produced the sounds, and the people who speak them. Each represented language also includes an article about origins and present usage. Kituba, for example, spoken by 4.3 million, began as a contact language among Africans of different tribes living along the Congo River when Portuguese traders arrived. As many of these same Central Africans were taken away to the Americas as slaves, the language survives abroad in Brazilian, Jamaican, and Cuban religious rituals; it’s a source of for Gullah, a language spoken in South Carolina and Georgia; and it became the Palenquero creole in Colombia.
Peter K. Austin has published eleven books on the lesser-spoken and endangered languages. In an article in the Guardian, Austin lists his top ten from the more than 3,000 disappearing tongues. “My selection is a personal one that tries to take into account four factors: (1) geographical coverage—if possible I wanted at least one language from each continent; (2) scientific interest—I wanted to include languages that linguists find interesting and important, because of their structural or historical significance; (3) cultural interest—if possible some information about interesting cultural and political aspects of endangered languages should be included; and (4) social impact—I wanted to include one or more situations showing why languages are endangered, as well as highlighting some of the ways communities are responding to the threat they currently face.”
This book is very warmly recommended for school libraries.
June 4, 2013
A handy book if you're looking for a quick introduction to a language and its history. I felt that these introductions were almost too brief at some points though, varying from 2 pages to just a few sentences per language. I also missed certain languages that I would have expected to be featured in this book. For example, Indonesian is collectively mentioned with other Austronesian languages, but there is no page, not even a sentence specifically dedicated to this language.
October 22, 2017
It's essentially a coffee table introduction to the World's Languages in order of numbers of speakers. There are more National Geographic photos than text which makes it a great coffee table edition but not for a serious introduction. It would be a fabulous purchase for a teen or casual reader with a budding interest in global languages.
3 stars because instead of including information for what makes each language unique or geographic relations to each other or introductory language change over time, it has a short profile for each language. Wikipedia has more information :( Each language also has the numbers 1-10 as a sample of the actual language (phonetically spelled I think is included) and in the language's writing system.
3 stars because instead of including information for what makes each language unique or geographic relations to each other or introductory language change over time, it has a short profile for each language. Wikipedia has more information :( Each language also has the numbers 1-10 as a sample of the actual language (phonetically spelled I think is included) and in the language's writing system.
March 29, 2023
This was a great book to read in short bursts, giving focused attention as necessary to fully absorb the summary it provides for each language and language group. I was never very good at foreign languages, but I take joy in learning about their (particularly social and cultural) characteristics and the way they spread, develop, change, and relate. This book delivered in a manner suited to my attention span and interest.
December 29, 2017
My students and I enjoy reading about the different languages of the world. Organized well, with languages spoken by millions, all the way to endangered and extinct languages. Also organized by region. Many pages give samples of the languages, with which my students have fun reading out loud.
September 25, 2016
One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost, edited by Peter K. Austin was divided into geographic regions and then broken down into the major languages within each region. Small maps accompanied the longer language profiles as well as charts showing the numbering system from one to ten. I liked the charts showing various lists of words in related languages and loanwords (which may or may not be from English). The final three chapters were devoted to endangered languages, extinct languages, and to larger and more colourful maps. One Thousand Languages was only 288 pages long but took me eleven days to read. I normally lap up anything written about languages but this book's format--as well as its overall heft, as it was printed on a heavy paper--made me only want to take it in small doses. Each language profile started the same way, identifying its history, number of speakers, writing system as well as one or two particular traits. The structure of each profile never varied. Austin also lifted word-for-word entire paragraphs to describe similar languages. There was no variety in the reading experience. I understand this was meant to be a reference book, one which the reader picked up and read about a certain region or a specific language or two. It was probably not intended to be read cover to cover. As I did read it just like that I found the experience tiring. That does not mean at all that I didn't find the book itself enjoyable. I just couldn't curl up with it for hours at a time. The font was another reason to keep my reading time down to a minimum: it was too thin for my eyes to read without a magnifying glass. The font was similar to Century Gothic or Futura but a visit to the Identifont website didn't turn up any matches. The microscopic size of the type used in captions was impossible to read without a magnifying aid.
I took plentiful notes about alphabets and linguistic phenomena which I will research later. This book will serve as a valuable launching pad to discover characteristics of other languages I had never heard of. As I turned each page I recognized names of languages that I had only heretofore encountered at Schoenhof's. My notes reveal that I took particular interest in extinct alphabets and how they were supplanted by others, for example the Roman or Cyrillic. Wonders of world languages abound, and I learned about the three degrees of vowel length in the Ghanaian language of Ga (short, long and extra long). Sindhi has four implosive stops. There are three sets of pronouns in South Efate, the choice of which depends on whether the action is in the past, present or future. Thus the three words for the pronoun I are: kai (past), a (present) and ka (future). I took a keen interest in the indigenous languages of North America, particularly Cherokee, but found the following statement derogatory:
"The Cherokee self-name is unpronounceable in Cherokee and has been adapted as Tsalagi."
Wouldn't the Cherokee self-name be unpronounceable for an unskilled English speaker and not for a Cherokee? In the chapter on the indigenous languages of North America I also learned that Bungee was a Cree creole with Scots Gaelic, spoken in Manitoba. My curiosity about Cherokee has been piqued and since I had already been looking into books on other First Nations languages such as Michif and Oji-Cree I think I will investigate these indigenous languages first. (I hope to travel to northern Ontario. To me, "northern Ontario" means north of Lake Superior, and the language of the First Nations there is Oji-Cree.)
I took plentiful notes about alphabets and linguistic phenomena which I will research later. This book will serve as a valuable launching pad to discover characteristics of other languages I had never heard of. As I turned each page I recognized names of languages that I had only heretofore encountered at Schoenhof's. My notes reveal that I took particular interest in extinct alphabets and how they were supplanted by others, for example the Roman or Cyrillic. Wonders of world languages abound, and I learned about the three degrees of vowel length in the Ghanaian language of Ga (short, long and extra long). Sindhi has four implosive stops. There are three sets of pronouns in South Efate, the choice of which depends on whether the action is in the past, present or future. Thus the three words for the pronoun I are: kai (past), a (present) and ka (future). I took a keen interest in the indigenous languages of North America, particularly Cherokee, but found the following statement derogatory:
"The Cherokee self-name is unpronounceable in Cherokee and has been adapted as Tsalagi."
Wouldn't the Cherokee self-name be unpronounceable for an unskilled English speaker and not for a Cherokee? In the chapter on the indigenous languages of North America I also learned that Bungee was a Cree creole with Scots Gaelic, spoken in Manitoba. My curiosity about Cherokee has been piqued and since I had already been looking into books on other First Nations languages such as Michif and Oji-Cree I think I will investigate these indigenous languages first. (I hope to travel to northern Ontario. To me, "northern Ontario" means north of Lake Superior, and the language of the First Nations there is Oji-Cree.)
April 8, 2013
1000 Languages gives the reader an interesting introduction not only to the major languages spoken today (Chinese, English, Spanish, Hindi, etc.) but also important regional languages for each continent. Most languages have an introduction about its history, literature, and speakers; though unfortunately grammar and syntax are often not discussed.
Aside from major global languages, numerous lesser known languages are covered, though some languages are missed out (Indonesian being a notable one). Of particular interest are the chapters on extinct languages ranging from Hittite and Latin to more recently Ubykh, and on endangered languages grouped by continent, which highlights the pressing need for language preservation, particularly in America.
Nevertheless, Austin provides an admirable introduction to the world's numerous languages and this book is perfect for that or for libraries. It will provide an excellent base for further study about language.
Aside from major global languages, numerous lesser known languages are covered, though some languages are missed out (Indonesian being a notable one). Of particular interest are the chapters on extinct languages ranging from Hittite and Latin to more recently Ubykh, and on endangered languages grouped by continent, which highlights the pressing need for language preservation, particularly in America.
Nevertheless, Austin provides an admirable introduction to the world's numerous languages and this book is perfect for that or for libraries. It will provide an excellent base for further study about language.
November 5, 2016
by 'read', i mean read the parts that most interested me. it was well crafted, however the detail was light. that's understandable, given the nature of the book (reference). it was light reading done in a sitting. maps showing dispersion were ace. the world languages had 2 pages dedicated to them.
world languages, according to the text: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish. what's a world language? one with over 100 million speakers (1.5% of the world's population). these are the top eleven by population, with Chinese coming in first (1,055 million speakers) and Japanese (128 million speakers) coming in last. English has 760 million and Spanish has 417 million.
world languages, according to the text: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish. what's a world language? one with over 100 million speakers (1.5% of the world's population). these are the top eleven by population, with Chinese coming in first (1,055 million speakers) and Japanese (128 million speakers) coming in last. English has 760 million and Spanish has 417 million.
to-read-first
November 11, 2014[apparently has a number of factual errors]
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews