Historical & Comparative

Beginning with the stories of three great decipherments - Egyptian hieroglyphs, Minoan Linear B and Mayan glyphs - Lost Languages moves on to dissect the most well-known and enigmatic undeciphered scripts from around the world. These include the...

Swearing is a fascinating thing. Almost everyone does it, or worries about not doing it, from the two year old who has just discovered the power of the potty mouth to the grandma who wonders why every other word she hears is obscene. But more than its...

Are you curious to know what all languages have in common and how they differ? Do you want to find out how language can be used to trace different peoples and their past? Now in its fourth edition, this fascinating book guides beginners through the rich...

'A writer of genius' - William Dalrymple'Remarkable' - Kwame Anthony Appiah'Utterly captivating' - Anthony DoerrCan anyone really own a culture? This magnificent account argues that the story of global civilisations is one of mixing, sharing, and...

In this fascinating survey of everything from how sounds become speech to how names work, David Crystal answers every question you might ever have had about the nuts and bolts of language in his usual highly illuminating way. Along the way we find out...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781452167763Author Stephen WildishFormat HardbackPage Count 192Imprint Chronicle BooksPublisher Chronicle BooksWeight(grams) 363gDimensions(mm) 180mm *...

"A model of popular-science writing" STEVEN POOLEWho was "the first speaker" and what was their first message?An erudite, tightly woven and beautifully written account of one of humanity's greatest mysteries - the origins of language.Drawing on evidence...

'A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive.' Hobson-Jobson is a unique work of maverick scholarship. Compiled in 1886 by two India enthusiasts, it documents the...

This is the definitive survey of the English language - in all its forms. Crystal writes accessibly about the structure of the language, the uses of English throughout the world and finally he gives a brief history of English. The book has been fully...

A handy guide to the meanings and origins of the many foreign phrases we use every day.English as we know it today is enriched with many borrowings and influences from other languages. Aficionado, chutzpah, pro bono, hoi polloi, ketchup, nous, zeitgeist...

A handy guide to the meanings and origins of the many foreign phrases we use every day.English as we know it today is enriched with many borrowings and influences from other languages. Aficionado, chutzpah, pro bono, hoi polloi, ketchup, nous, zeitgeist...

With over 30,000 entries, Chambers Dictionary of Etymology is a prestigious and scholarly dictionary that explains where English words come from. An important etymological resource for the expert, it is also a useful reference source for the general...

Linguistics falls in the gap between arts and science, on the edges of which the most fascinating discoveries and the most important problems are found. Rather than following the conventional organization of many contemporary introductions to the...

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE ETYMOLOGICON.'Reading The Horologicon in one sitting is very tempting' Roland White, Sunday Times.Mark Forsyth presents a delightfully eccentric day in the life of unusual, beautiful and...

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE ETYMOLOGICON.'Reading The Horologicon in one sitting is very tempting' Roland White, Sunday Times.Mark Forsyth presents a delightfully eccentric day in the life of unusual, beautiful and...

Is English changing? To what degree is it changing? Is this change good or bad? In answering these questions, Is English Changing? provides a lively and concise introduction to language change, refuting commonly held misconceptions about language...

The ultimate gift for wordsmiths and lovers of language: a word for every day of the year; Open the Cabinet to leap back in time, learn about linguistic trivia, follow a curious thread or wonder at the web of connections in the English language.; 1...

What did Greek speakers in the Roman empire do when they wanted to learn Latin? They used Latin-learning materials containing authentic, enjoyable vignettes about daily life in the ancient world - shopping, banking, going to the baths, having fights,...

A fascinating collection of the many unusual and vibrant phrases that adorn our language, looking at their origins and meanings. Don't be down in the dumps if you can't cut the mustard when asked the definition of certain phrases - this down-to-earth...

More than 60 percent of all English words have Greek or Latin roots; in the vocabulary of the sciences and technology, the figure rises to more than 90 percent. Through the study of the Greek and Latin roots of English, students can expand their...

Know someone with an antwacky stem-winder? Heard the Band of Hope Street? Ever been on a vinegar trip? Do you jangle? Ever met a Cunard yank in the Dingle? Could you pay for a dodger with a joey? Have you heard a maccyowler in a jigger? The Liverpool...

What do we mean when we claim affinity with an object or picture, or say affinities exist between such things? Affinities is a critical and personal study of a sensation that is not exactly taste, desire, or allyship, but has aspects of all. Approaching...

An Introduction to Middle English is designed to provide undergraduate students of English historical linguistics with a concise description of the language during the period 1100-1500. Middle English, the language of Chaucer, is discussed in relation to...

The average contemporary English speaker knows 50,000 words. Yet stripped down to its origins, this apparently huge vocabulary is in reality much smaller, derived from Latin, French and the Germanic languages. It is estimated that every year, 800...

'Wonderful. You finish the book more alive than ever to the enduring mystery and miracle of that thing that makes us most human' STEPHEN FRY'Most popular books on language dumb down; Shariatmadari's smartens things up, and is all the more entertaining...

Trask's Historical Linguistics provides an accessible introduction to historical linguistics - the study of language change over time. This engaging book is illustrated with language examples from all six continents, and covers the fundamental concepts...

In this extraordinarily original and profound work, Noam Chomsky discusses themes in the study of language and mind since the end of the sixteenth century in order to explain the motivations and methods that underlie his work in linguistics, the science...

This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and...

'A delightfully quirky sturdy . . . [Flanders] is a meticulour historian with a taste for the offbeat; the story of the alphabet suits her well . . . Fascinating.' Sunday TimesOnce we've learned it as children, few of us think much of the alphabet and...

It is commonly agreed by linguists and anthropologists that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will likely disappear within our lifetime. The phenomenon known as language death has started to accelerate as the world has grown smaller. ...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781935228295Author Harmen Meyndertsz Van Den BogaertFormat PaperbackPage Count 56Imprint Evolution Publishing & ManufacturingPublisher Evolution Publishing...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781683595571Author Adam J. HowellFormat PaperbackPage Count 320Imprint Faithlife CorporationPublisher Faithlife CorporationWeight(grams) 452gDimensions(mm)...

A PULITZER PRIZE FINALISTA riveting, masterfully researched account of the bold innovators who adapted the Chinese language to the modern world, transforming China into a superpower in the processWhat does it take to reinvent the world's oldest living...

The story of how English became American -- and how it became Southern, Bostonian, Californian, African-American, Chicano, elite, working-class, urban, rural, and everything in between By the time of the Revolution, the English that Americans spoke...

The new memoir from prize-winning writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo - playful, provocative and original, it's her deeply personal take on striving for a life of her own'When it comes to spinning light and shadow on the complexities of living, loving and...

'A brilliantly enlightening book . . . at times moving, at others ironic, full of insights and detail'Michael Rosen'A kaleidoscopic portrait of the UK'Irish TimesOur names are so mundane that we barely notice them. Yet each contains countless stories of...

This practical introduction to word history investigates every aspect of where words come from and how they change. Philip Durkin, chief etymologist of the Oxford English Dictionary, shows how different types of evidence can shed light on the myriad ways...

Uncover the Rich Meaning Behind the Hebrew and Greek Words of the Bible Whether you're a pastor, a student, or simply a lover of the Bible, this book helps you get more out of God's Word by revealing the original meanings of key biblical words.The...

What could Greek poets or Roman historians say in their own language that would be lost in translation? After all, different languages have different personalities, and this is especially clear with languages of the ancient and medieval world. This...

Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ('loaf') to cutting edge ('twittersphere') and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ('and', 'what') to the more fanciful ('fopdoodle'), Crystal takes us...