Languages of the World, An Introduction, Fourth Edition

Languages of the World, An Introduction - Asya Pereltsvaig

Fourth Edition

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 diversity of the world's languages. It presupposes no background in linguistics, and introduces key concepts with the help of problem sets, end-of-chapter exercises and an extensive bibliography. It is illustrated with detailed maps and charts of language families throughout, and engaging sidebars and 'food for thought' boxes contextualise and bring the languages to life with demographic, social, historical, and geographical facts. This edition has been extensively updated with a new section on the languages of the Caribbean, new problem sets, and an updated glossary and index. Supplementary online materials includes links to all websites mentioned, and answers to the exercises for instructors.

• All terminology introduced in the book is defined in the text and in the updated glossary at the end of the book
• Chapters have been revised and updated, with additional material on Sign Languages, Creole genesis, deciphering Mayan writing and the languages of Northern Eurasia, and a new section on the languages of the Caribbean
• Fully illustrated throughout with maps showing the locations of the languages described
• Each chapter contains several problem sets designed to teach students with no background in linguistics to analyze data from unfamiliar languages, with numerous new sets added to this edition

Languages of the World, An Introduction - About the Author

Asya Pereltsvaig is an independent scholar, a native speaker of Russian, and a fluent speaker of three other languages. For the last twenty years, she has taught courses in linguistics at Yale, Cornell, Stanford, and several other universities around the world. Her academic interests include languages, history, genetics, and the relationship between the three.