Overview

Covering the political, social and historical background of each language, Dictionary of Languages offers a unique insight into human culture and communication. Every language with official status is included, as well as all those that have a written literature and 175 'minor' languages with special historical or anthropological interest. We see how, with the rapidly increasing uniformity of our culture as media's influence spreads, more languages have become extinct or are under threat of extinction. The text is highlighted by maps and charts of scripts, while proverbs, anecdotes and quotations reveal the features that make a language unique.

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Reviews

'A welcome paperback edition of a wonderfully readable book which transcends its own limits as a super-specialised reference work to become a joyously accessible celebration of the sheer diversity of humankind.' The Scotsman 'Splendid guidebook... an endlessly fascinating achievement.' The Guardian 'A delight, a cornucopia of information, of easy reference, and of rich enjoyment.' The Linguist 'The linguistic waterfront it covers is concomitantly spacious... an astonishing quantity of information... certainly a candidate for any language fan's wishlist.' The Evening Standard

'A welcome paperback edition of a wonderfully readable book which transcends its own limits as a super-specialised reference work to become a joyously accessible celebration of the sheer diversity of humankind.' The Scotsman 'Splendid guidebook an endlessly fascinating achievement.' The Guardian 'A delight, a cornucopia of information, of easy reference, and of rich enjoyment.' The Linguist 'The linguistic waterfront it covers is concomitantly spacious an astonishing quantity of information certainly a candidate for any language fan's wishlist.' The Evening Standard

Author Information

Andrew Dalby is a historian and linguist. His languages include Sanskrit, Pali, Latin, Greek, Portuguese, Romanian, German, and Burmese. He is the author of several books.He studied classics and linguistics at St John's College, Cambridge, and gained a PhD from London University.

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