Languages: A Very Short Introduction

by Stephen Anderson

Overview

How many languages are there? Are new languages still being discovered? Why are so many languages disappearing? In this Very Short Introduction, eminent linguist Stephen Anderson addresses such questions as he illuminates the science behind languages. Considering a wide range of different languages and linguistic examples, Anderson provides the basic facts about the world's major families of spoken languages and their distribution around the globe. He explores the basis for linguistic classification and raises questions about how we identify a language. Considering signed languages as well as spoken, Anderson also examines the wider social issues of losing languages, and their impact on vanishing cultures and peoples.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199590599
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/07/2012
Series:	Very Short Introductions
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	407,715
Product dimensions:	4.30(w) x 6.70(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Stephen Anderson is the Dorothy R. Diebold Professor of Linguistics at Yale University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and past president of the Linguistic Society of America.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: dimensions of linguistic diversity2. How many languages are there in the world? 3. Phylogenetic linguistics: establishing linguistic relationships4. The future of languages5. Some problems in the counting of languages6. The genotypes of languages7. The diversity of signed languages8. Conclusion: the unity of human languageReferencesFurther reading