Historical & Comparative

'The Western Classical Tradition in Linguistics' extends from Ancient Greece to the 21st century and has spread from Europe to the other four inhabited continents. It is a story of successive stages of language study, each building upon, or reacting...

Why do Greek lorries have Metaphores written on the side? Is it grammatically correct to say 'the best team won' after a football match? What is the difference between manly, male, masculine and macho? Bringing together Peter Trudgill's highly popular...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781592409471Author John PollackFormat PaperbackPage Count 256Imprint Gotham BooksPublisher Penguin Putnam IncWeight(grams) 246g

Origins of Language: A Slim Guide offers a concise and accessible overview of what is known about the evolution of the human capacity for language. Non-human animals communicate in simple ways: they may be able to form simple concepts, to feel some...

This book provides a detailed but accessible introduction to the development of the German language from the earliest reconstructable prehistory to the present day. Joe Salmons explores a range of topics in the history of the language, offering answers...

This basic introduction to Old English is an essential guide for students with little or no linguistic knowledge. Unlike other textbooks on the subject, Beginning Old English focuses on the explanation and demonstration of how the language works, using...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780897392068Author Heron BooksFormat PaperbackPage Count 356Imprint Heron BooksPublisher Heron BooksWeight(grams) 703gDimensions(mm) 254mm * 203mm * 19mm

The Romance languages and dialects constitute a treasure trove of linguistic data of profound interest and significance. Data from the Romance languages have contributed extensively to our current empirical and theoretical understanding of phonetics,...

The Indigenous Languages of the Americas takes stock of what is known about the history and classification of these languages and language families. It identifies the gaps in knowledge and puts them into perspective, and it assesses differences of...

Lyle Campbell presents an accessible, hands-on introduction to historical linguistics. The fourth edition has a lucid and engaging style, expert guidance and comprehensive coverage, making it ideal for students coming to historical linguistics for the...

Quotations - or snippets from them - are commonly used in everyday speech, most often without the speaker knowing where they came from. From words of comfort to advice for the lovelorn, you can bet that someone, somewhere has come up with phraseology...

This textbook provides a step-by-step introduction to the history of the English language (HEL), offering a fresh perspective on the process of language change. Aimed at undergraduate students, The Emergence and Development of English is accessibly...

A classic historical excursion through the English language.Owen Barfield's original and thought-provoking works over three-quarters of a century made him a legendary cult figure. This popular book provides a brief, brilliant history of those who have...

Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar is a comprehensive introduction to the syntactical analysis of classical Chinese. Focusing on the language of the high classical period, which ranges from the time of Confucius to the unification of the empire by Qin...

The History of English: An Introduction provides a chronological analysis of the linguistic, social, and cultural development of the English language from before its establishment in Britain around the year 450 to the present. Each chapter represents a...

This book explores the differing ways in which language has been used to try to make sense of the First World War. Offering further developments in an innovative approach to the study of the conflict, it develops a transnational viewpoint of the...

Where do our everyday words come from? The bagel you eat for breakfast, the bumf you have to wade through at the office, and the bus that takes you home again: we use these words without thinking about their origins or how their meanings have changed...

This book provides a thorough yet approachable history of the Scots language, a close relative of Standard English with around 1.5 million speakers in Scotland and several thousand in Ireland, according to the 2011 census. Despite the long history of...

A Linguistic History of Italian offers a clear and concise explanation of why modern Italian grammar has become the way it is. It focuses on the effects of historical changes on the modern structure of Italian, revealing patterns and structures which are...

It comes as a surprise to many that the elemental human impulse to tell stories, far from being the exclusive realm of children's bedtime, long-forgotten civilizations and remote cultures, is also a burgeoning creative art form here, now, in twenty-first...

Based on a rich set of historical data, this book traces the development of pragmatic markers in English, from hwaet in Old English and whilom in Middle English to whatever and I'm just saying in present-day English. Laurel J. Brinton carefully maps the...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781845409517Author Brian J. McVeighFormat PaperbackPage Count 270Imprint Imprint AcademicPublisher Imprint AcademicWeight(grams) 400gDimensions(mm) 234mm *...

The period between 1500 and 1700 was the most decisive one in the formation of standard modern English, yet no really comprehensive account of Early Modern English has been available. Manfred Gorlach's Introduction to Early Modern English fills a very...

In this mind-opening book, Robbins Burling presents the most convincing - and the most readable - account of the origins of language yet published. He sheds new light on how language affects the way we think, behave, and relate to each other, and he...

The History of Early English provides an accessible and student-friendly introduction to the history of the English language from its beginnings until the end of the Early Modern English period. Taking an activity-based approach, this text ensures that...

Slang, however one judges it, shows us at our most human. It is used widely and often, typically associated with the writers of noir fiction, teenagers, and rappers, but also found in the works of Shakespeare and Dickens. It has been recorded since at...

An introduction to Early Modern English, this book helps students of English and linguistics to place the language of the period 1500-1700 in its historical context as a language with a common core but also as one which varies across time, regionally and...

The plural form 'Englishes' conveys the diversity of English as a global language, pinpointing the growth and existence of a large number of national, regional and social forms. The global spread of English and the new varieties that have emerged around...

This practical course book explores the development of the language from Old English to the establishment of Standard English. This third edition has been expanded to provide further background information, with a supplementary website and new sections...

This essential new text provides a comprehensive, modern account of how the English language originated, developed, changed, and continues to morph into new forms in contemporary society. Introducing the History of the English Language first offers a...

This book tells the history of the Oxford English Dictionary from its beginnings in the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. The author, uniquely among historians of the OED, is also a practising lexicographer with nearly thirty years'...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780262547093Author Andrew GarrettFormat PaperbackPage Count 472Imprint MIT PressPublisher MIT Press LtdWeight(grams) 754gDimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 29mm

The Victorians and English Dialect tells the story of the Victorians' discovery of English dialect, and of the revaluation of local language that was brought about by the new, historical philology of the nineteenth century. Regional dialects came to be...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781621377726Author Stefan ScheuermannFormat PaperbackPage Count 264Imprint Virtualbookworm.com PublishingPublisher Virtualbookworm.com...

This book traces the development of Greek from Proto-Indo-European to around the 5th century BC, drawing on all the tools of scientific historical and comparative linguistics. Don Ringe begins by outlining the grammar of Proto-Indo-European, focusing on...

An accessible overview of the first centuries in the history of the English language Combining a wide variety of short texts with a coherent and up-to-date assessment of the forms of language which remain as the foundation of English today, this...

This book describes the earliest reconstructable stages of the prehistory of English, focusing specifically on linguistic structure. It outlines the grammar of Proto-Indo-European, considers the changes by which one dialect of that prehistoric language...

?Por que? 101 Questions about Spanish is for anyone who wants to understand how Spanish really works. Standard textbooks and grammars describe the "what" of Spanish - its vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and pronunciation - but ?Por que? explains...

Born as a Germanic tongue with the arrival in Britain of the Anglo-Saxons in the early medieval period, heavily influenced by Norman French from the 11th century, and finally emerging as modern English from the late Middle Ages, the English language has...

The English Language: A Linguistic History surveys the development of the English language from its Indo-European past to the present day. It covers the entire history of the English language beginning with its prehistoric origins in Proto-Indo-European...