Historical & Comparative Linguistics Books

New and Published Books

1. Language Evolution

   Edited by W. Tecumseh Fitch, Gesche Westphal Fitch

   Series: Critical Concepts in Linguistics

   This new four-volume collection, part of Routledge’s Critical Concepts in Linguistics series, assembles the most important scholarly writings concerning the biological evolution of language, particularly those incorporating a Darwinian view of evolution. Including excerpts from ancient sources such...

   Published February 13th 2012 by Routledge
2. Toward a History of American Linguistics

   By E.F.K. Koerner

   Series: Routledge Studies in the History of Linguistics

   Beginning with the anthropological linguistic tradition associated primarily with the names of Franz Boas, Edward Sapir and their students and concluding with the work of Noam Chomsky and William Labov at the end of the century. This book offers a comprehensive account of essential periods and...

   Published December 12th 2011 by Routledge
3. Endangered Languages

   Edited by Peter K. Austin, Stuart McGill

   Series: Critical Concepts in Linguistics

   At least half of the seven thousand or so languages spoken today are in danger of disappearing during the 21st century. Although languages have always come and gone, the current rate of language extinction is unprecedented, a loss which not only affects individual communities but also diminishes...

   Published August 8th 2011 by Routledge
4. Corpus-Based Contrastive Studies of English and Chinese

   By Tony McEnery, Richard Xiao

   Series: Routledge Advances in Corpus Linguistics

   This book is concerned with cross-linguistic contrast of major grammatical categories in English and Chinese, two most important yet genetically different world languages. This genetic difference has resulted in many subsidiary differences that are, among other things, related to grammar. Compared...

   Published June 7th 2010 by Routledge
5. The Linguistic Atlas of Scotland (3 Volumes)

   Scots Section

   Edited by H. H. Speitel, J. Y. Mather

   This work is a reissue of the three volumes of the Linguistic Atlas of Scotland, first published in 1975, 1977 and 1985 respectively. The volumes offer a thorough and comprehensive dialectological study of Lowland Scotland, Orkney and Shetland, Northern Ireland, Northumberland&...

   Published April 27th 2010 by Routledge
6. Jewish and Muslim Dialects of Moroccan Arabic

   By Jeffrey Heath

   Series: Routledge Arabic Linguistics Series

   This is a comprehensive study of the Jewish and Muslim dialect networks of Morocco in its traditional boundaries, covering twenty-two Muslim and some thirty Jewish dialects of Moroccan Arabic....

   Published November 19th 2009 by Routledge
7. Emergent Lingua Francas and World Orders

   The Politics and Place of English as a World Language

   By Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew

   Series: Routledge Studies in Sociolinguistics

   This book presents an alternative paradigm in understanding and appreciating World Englishes (WEs) in the wake of globalization and its accompanying shifting priorities in many dimensions of modern life, including the emergence of the English language as the dominant lingua franca (ELF). Chew...

   Published October 12th 2009 by Routledge
8. Rationality and the Literate Mind

   By Roy Harris

   Series: Routledge Advances in Communication and Linguistic Theory

   This book re-examines the old debate about the relationship between rationality and literacy. Does writing "restructure consciousness?" Do preliterate societies have a different "mind-set" from literate societies? Is reason "built in" to the way we think? How is literacy related to numeracy? Is the...

   Published January 8th 2009 by Routledge
9. Contact Languages

   Edited by John Holm, Susanne Michaelis

   Series: Critical Concepts in Linguistics

   Contact has always been a normal part of the development of languages, from those of ancient empires, those of colonial expansion, and to those of our globalizing planet today. Pidgin and creole studies have merged with the study of other language contact phenomena (adult second-language...

   Published October 26th 2008 by Routledge
10. Language: A Linguistic Introduction to History

    Edited by J. Vendryes

    Originally published between 1920-70,The History of Civilization was a landmark in early twentieth century publishing. It was published at a formative time within the social sciences, and during a period of decisive historical discovery. The aim of the general editor, C.K. Ogden, was to summarize...

    Published October 9th 2008 by Routledge