Languages of the World

by Asya Pereltsvaig

Are you curious to know what all human languages have in common and in what ways they differ? Do you want to find out how language can be used to trace different peoples and their past? Then this book is for you! Now in its third edition, it guides beginners through the rich diversity of the world's languages. It presupposes no background in linguistics, and introduces the reader to linguistic concepts with the help of problem sets, end of chapter exercises and an extensive bibliography. Charts of language families provide geographical and genealogical information, and engaging sidebars with demographic, social, historical and geographical facts help to contextualise and bring languages to life. This edition includes a fully updated glossary of all linguistic terms used, new problem sets, and a new chapter on cartography. Supplementary online materials include links to all websites mentioned, and answers to the exercises for instructors.

Genres: Language

875 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 23, 2022

Reviews

[hihihoho · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'd rather drag scissors over my skin than reread this, cool to know so many facts about languages of the world I guess

[Sarah Salisbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Part 1 of the Renaissance Project, primary text for January’s topic: language diversity and world linguistics)

This was a great general overview of world languages for someone with a very limited knowledge of linguistics. There were definitely parts that were a bit too technical for me, but since I was reading it purely for my own enrichment and not for a class, I didn’t really have an issue with skimming those sections. Overall a great place to start if you want to get an idea of the scope of the world’s languages!

[Molly Keough · Rating 5 out of 5]

fun, interesting, and informative

[Felicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read this for one of my uni classes, i must admit thst for me it has to much examples to explain the way it works. Sadly I had to look up videos about it and then i was like "ooooh". Might be because I'm more of a visual learner, but the book didn't click for me a lot of the time.