Historical & Comparative

The purpose of this book is to contribute to the appreciation of the linguistic, literary and contextual value of Homeric personal names. This is an old topic, which famously interested Plato, and an object of constant scholarly attention from the time...

'Marvellous . . . I read it with astonished delight . . . It is equally scholarly and entertaining.' - Jan Morris 'Quirky and compelling.' - The Times Once we've learned it as children, few of us think much of the alphabet and its familiar sing-song...

A unique collection of original essays by 21 of the world's leading linguists. The topics discussed focus on some of the most popular myths about language: The Media Are Ruining English; Children Can't Speak or Write Properly Anymore; America is Ruining...

Written by the world-renowned pioneer in the field of modern sociolinguistics, this volume examines the cognitive and cultural factors responsible for linguistic change, tracing the life history of these developments, from triggering events to driving...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9782503518411Author Matthew TownendFormat PaperbackPage Count 248Imprint Brepols N.V.Publisher Brepols N.V.

When he died in 1930 aged 26, Frank Ramsey had already invented one branch of mathematics and two branches of economics, laying the foundations for decision theory and game theory. Keynes deferred to him; he was the only philosopher whom Wittgenstein...

In this book, Noam Chomsky reflects on the history of 'generative enterprise' - his approach to the study of languages that revolutionized our understanding of human languages and other cognitive systems.Book InformationISBN 9780195684469Author Noam...

This fascinating collection investigates the origins of our most intriguing superstitions, many of which we still observe today.Hundreds of the beliefs passed down through the generations have their foundations in our ancestors' efforts to ward off evil,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781907165368Author George McLennanFormat PaperbackPage Count 80Imprint New Argyll PublishingPublisher AkerbeltzWeight(grams) 88gDimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm...

A fascinating cultural and linguistic history of the Slavic languages, exploring the deep connections and distinctions between them Water, whiskey, and vodka are three words that seem to have nothing in common, but each of them comes from the same root...

"An assured guide" (New Scientist) to the relationship between the language we speak and our perception of such fundamentals of experience as time, space, color, and smells. We tend to assume that all languages categorize ideas and objects similarly,...

It's not what you say, it's the way that you say it ... There have long been debates about 'correct' pronunciation in the English language, and Britain's most distinguished linguistic expert, David Crystal, is here to set the record straight. Sounds...

Some people say scohn, while others say schown.He says bath, while she says bahth.You say potayto. I say potahtoAnd--wait a second, no one says potahto. No one's ever said potahto. Have they?From reconstructing Shakespeare's accent to the rise and fall...

Jack D. Forbes's monumental Africans and Native Americans has become a canonical text in the study of relations between the two groups. Forbes explores key issues relating to the evolution of racial terminology and European colonialists' perceptions of...

Ti Alkire and Carol Rosen trace the changes that led from colloquial Latin to five major Romance languages, those which ultimately became national or transnational languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian. Trends in spoken Latin...

It's the most simple, unassuming, innocent-looking verb: 'to be'. Yet it is jam-packed with more different meanings, forms, and uses than any other English word. As he reveals be's multiple incarnations, David Crystal takes us to the heart of our...

Among the most influential figures in the development of modern linguistics, the American scholar Edward Sapir (1884-1939) notably promoted the connection between anthropology and the study of language. His name is also associated with that of his...

A masterfully updated edition of The F-Word which renders a comprehensive portrait of English's most notorious and colorful word. No word has generated more uses, more creative euphemisms, and more strong opinions than fuck. Jesse Sheidlower's...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781592406753Author John PollackFormat PaperbackPage Count 240Imprint Gotham BooksPublisher Penguin Putnam IncWeight(grams) 197g

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781907165399Author George McLennanFormat PaperbackPage Count 184Imprint New Argyll PublishingPublisher AkerbeltzWeight(grams) 186gDimensions(mm) 198mm *...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781250049049Author Jean-Benoit NadeauFormat PaperbackPage Count 448Imprint St. Martin's GriffinPublisher St. Martin's GriffinWeight(grams)...

Lynda Mugglestone's hugely popular The Oxford History of English is now updated and entirely reset in a new edition featuring David Crystal's new take on the future of English in the wider world. In accounts made vivid with examples from a vast range...

Born since the mid-1990s, Generation Z is the first generation never to know the world without the internet, and it is the most diverse generation yet. As Gen Z starts to emerge into adulthood and enter the workforce, what do we really know about them?...

The English language is spoken by more than a billion people throughout the world. But where did English come from? And how has it evolved into the language used today? In this Very Short Introduction Simon Horobin investigates how we have arrived at...

Have you ever wondered whether we are alone in the universe, or if life forms on other planets might exist? If they do exist, how might their languages have evolved? Could we ever understand them, and indeed learn to communicate with them? This highly...

A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR'A brilliantly enlightening book . . . at times moving, at others ironic, full of insights and detail'Michael Rosen'A kaleidoscopic portrait of the UK . . . with insight and compassion'Irish TimesOur names are so mundane...

In Latin Alive, Joseph Solodow tells the story of how Latin developed into modern French, Spanish, and Italian, and deeply affected English as well. Offering a gripping narrative of language change, Solodow charts Latin's course from classical times to...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780425276181Author Mark ForsythFormat PaperbackPage Count 256Imprint Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.Publisher Penguin Putnam IncWeight(grams)...

A dramatic account of the rate of language extinction, and how it endangers the future of biodiversity Few people know that nearly 100 native languages once spoken in what is now California are near extinction, or that most of Australia's 250...

'Quite simply, and quite ridiculously, one of the funniest and most illuminating books I have ever read. I thought I was obsessive, but Keith Kahn-Harris is playing a very different sport. He really has discovered the whole world in an egg.' Simon...

The rapid endangerment and death of many minority languages across the world is a matter of widespread concern, not only among linguists and anthropologists but among all concerned with issues of cultural identity in an increasingly globalized culture...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781907165320Author George McLennanFormat PaperbackPage Count 86Imprint New Argyll PublishingPublisher AkerbeltzWeight(grams) 91gDimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm...

In this brilliant transatlantic survival guide, Erin Moore examines the key differences between the British and the Americans through their language. You'll discover why Americans give - and take - so many bloody compliments and never, ever say 'shall'...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781907165429Author George McLennanFormat PaperbackPage Count 54Imprint New Argyll PublishingPublisher Akerbeltz

'His cornucopia of tellers and tales is a delight, a riveting celebration of a genre that revels in its own hybridity and the imaginative riches produced by the crossing of cultural and literary borders' Financial Times'Like a child after the Pied Piper...

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...

In Amazonian Quichua Language and Life: Introduction to Grammar, Ecology, and Discourse from Pastaza and Upper Napo, Janis B. Nuckolls and Tod D. Swanson discuss two varieties of Quichua, an indigenous Ecuadorian language. Drawing on their linguistic and...

This textbook provides a comprehensive scholarly introduction to Classical Chinese and its texts. Classical Chinese is the language of Confucius and Mencius and their contemporaries, who wrote the seminal texts of Chinese philosophy more than 2,000 years...

This book contains over fifty passages of Latin from 200 BC to AD 900, each with translation and linguistic commentary. It is not intended as an elementary reader (though suitable for university courses), but as an illustrative history of Latin covering...

The book is concerned especially with the debate surrounding the grouping of Germanic languages and with the research history of this controversial question. It discusses the methods applied to past attempts and outlines those aplicable to future...