The Rise and Fall of Languages - Couverture souple

Dixon

 
9780521626545: The Rise and Fall of Languages
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 0521626544 ISBN 13 : 9780521626545
Editeur : Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

This book puts forward a different approach to language change, the punctuated equilibrium model. This is based on the premise that during most of the 100,000 or more years that humans have had language, states of equilibrium have existed during which linguistic features diffused across the languages in a given area so that they gradually converged on a common prototype. From time to time, the state of equilibrium would be punctuated, with expansion and split of peoples and of languages, most recently, as a result of European colonisation and the globalisation of communication which are likely to result in the extinction, within the next hundred years, of 90% of the languages currently spoken. Professor Dixon suggests that every linguist should assume a responsibility for documenting some of these languages before they disappear.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Revue de presse

'I recommend this publication be read by all linguists no matter what their field of interests or specialization are. D's style is witty and to the point, but more relevantly, his previous achievements qualify him to serve as the ideal spokesman on these most significant and sensitive issues, as linguistics enters the new millennium.' Alan S. Kaye, California State University, Fullerton

'It is a work which anyone interested in the prehistory of languages will wish to read. I predict that it will have a significant and healthy influence upon the development of research in this area and in historical linguistics as a whole.' Cambridge Archaeological Journal

'Certainly the most refreshing and stimulating work in the field of historical linguistics I have had the pleasure of reading.' Colin Renfrew, Cambridge Archaeology

'Ground-breaking work in the true sense of the term.' Robert Orr, Diachronica

Présentation de l'éditeur

This book puts forward a different approach to language change, the punctuated equilibrium model. This is based on the premise that during most of the 100,000 or more years that humans have had language, states of equilibrium have existed during which linguistic features diffused across the languages in a given area so that they gradually converged on a common prototype. From time to time, the state of equilibrium would be punctuated, with expansion and split of peoples and of languages, most recently, as a result of European colonisation and the globalisation of communication which are likely to result in the extinction, within the next hundred years, of 90% of the languages currently spoken. Professor Dixon suggests that every linguist should assume a responsibility for documenting some of these languages before they disappear.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Cambridge University Press
Date d'édition
2008
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0521626544
ISBN 13 
9780521626545
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
176
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
Avery
https://www.avery.fr/

chemin des peupliers 27
Dardilly
France

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9780521623100: The Rise and Fall of Languages

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  0521623103 ISBN 13 :  9780521623100
Editeur : Cambridge University Press, 1997
Couverture rigide