Languages: A Very Short Introduction

Languages: A Very Short Introduction
ISBN-10
0199590591
ISBN-13
9780199590599
Category
Language Arts & Disciplines
Pages
135
Language
English
Published
2012-06-28
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Author
Stephen R. Anderson

Description

How many languages are there? Are new languages still being discovered? Why are so many languages disappearing? In this Very Short Introduction, eminent linguist Stephen Anderson addresses such questions as he illuminates the science behind languages. Considering a wide range of different languages and linguistic examples, Anderson provides the basic facts about the world's major families of spoken languages and their distribution around the globe. He explores the basis for linguistic classification and raises questions about how we identify a language. Considering signed languages as well as spoken, Anderson also examines the wider social issues of losing languages, and their impact on vanishing cultures and peoples.

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