The World Atlas of Language Structures is a book and CD combination displaying the structural properties of the world's languages. 142 world maps and numerous regional maps - all in colour - display the geographical distribution of features of pronunciation and grammar, such as number of vowels, tone systems, gender, plurals, tense, word order, and body part terminology. Each world map shows an average of 400 languages and is accompanied by a fully referenced description ofthe structural feature in question.The CD provides an interactive electronic version of the database which allows the reader to zoom in on or customize the maps, to display bibliographical sources, and to establish correlations between features. The book and the CD together provide an indispensable source of information for linguists and others seeking to understand human languages.The Atlas will be especially valuable for linguistic typologists, grammatical theorists, historical and comparative linguists, and for those studying a region such as Africa, Southeast Asia, North America, Australia, and Europe. It will also interest anthropologists and geographers. More than fifty authors from many different countries have collaborated to produce a work that sets new standards in comparative linguistics. No institution involved in language research can afford to bewithout it.
This book, derived from the acclaimed Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages, describes the ancient languages of Europe, for the convenience of students and specialists working in that area. Each chapter of the work focuses on an individual language or, in some instances, a set of closely related varieties of a language. Providing a full descriptive presentation, each of these chapters examines the writing system(s), phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon of that language, and places the language within its proper linguistic and historical context. The volume brings together an international array of scholars, each a leading specialist in ancient language study. While designed primarily for scholars and students of linguistics, this work will prove invaluable to all whose studies take them into the realm of ancient language.
‘Latin is "it", the most wonderful "thing". It is mind-enhancing, character-improving, enthralling, exciting, deeply satisfying, and valuable. My solid determination is to spare no pains to do it the justice that its importance demands.’ Mr Gwynne, author of the Sunday Times bestselling phenomenon Gwynne’s Grammar, is just as emphatic about the importance of Latin as he is about the importance of grammar. From the novice to the more well-versed, Gwynne’s Latin is essential for anyone interested in learning Latin; Mr Gwynne promises to teach you more Latin in half an hour than you would learn from years of being taught Latin at school. He also includes a fascinating section on everyday Latin usage, which discusses all the Latin words and idioms we still use today, such as ‘quid pro quo’ and ‘sui generis’. Though we need no further convincing – as we know, Mr Gwynne is never wrong – here are just some of the many reasons why Latin is utterly wonderful: - Latin is an academic subject easy enough for the least intelligent of us to grasp all the basic elements of, and yet difficult enough to be demanding for its greatest scholars. - For well over a thousand years it was the means of communication that united the whole of Europe culturally and in every other significant way. - It is the direct ancestor of, between them, the five most widely-spoken European languages, and both of the official South American languages. - It is the ancestor and source of more than half of the English language, partly directly and partly through French, which for some centuries was England’s official language. Following in the same beautifully designed footsteps of Gwynne’s Grammar, Gwynne’s Latin will teach you all the fundamentals of Latin quickly, thoroughly and better than all the competition.
With 6,400 entries, this is the most complete available lexicon of ancient Sumerian vocabulary. It replaces version 3 of the author's Sumerian Lexicon, which has served an audience of over 380,000 visitors at the web site www.sumerian.org since 1999. This published version adds over 2,600 new entries, and corrects or expands many of the previous entries. Also, following the express wish of a majority of online lexicon users, it has merged together and sorted the logogram words and the compound words into purely alphabetical order. This book will be an indispensable reference for anyone trying to translate Sumerian texts. Also, due to the historical position of ancient Sumer as the world's first urban civilisation, cultural and linguistic archaeologists will discover a wealth of information for research.
Bilingualism has seen an explosion of work in recent years. This volume introduces classicists, ancient historians and other scholars interested in sociolinguistic research into evidence of bilingualism in the ancient Mediterranean.
Generalisations about language and culture are at best amusing and meaningless, but is there anything sensible left to be said about the relation between language, culture and thought? *Does language reflect the culture of a society? *I