Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship : An Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics

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Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship : An Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics

Regular price
Unit price
per
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ISBN: 9783110214291
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Date of Publication: 2009-08-19
Format: Paperback
Goodreads rating: 3.52
(rated by 23 readers)

Description

Why does language change? Why can we speak to and understand our parents but have trouble reading Shakespeare? Why is Chaucer's English of the fourteenth century so different from Modern English of the late twentieth century that the two are essentially different languages? Why are Americans and English 'one people divided by a common language'? And how can the language of Chaucer and Modern English - or Modern British and American English - still be called the same language? The present book provides answers to questions like these in a straightforward way, aimed at the non-specialist, with ample illustrations from both familiar and more exotic languages. Most chapters in this new edition have been reworked, with some difficult passages removed, other passages thoroughly rewritten, and several new sections added, e.g. on language and race and on Indian writing systems. Further, the chapter notes and bibliography have all been updated.
 

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.