This book was first published in 1922.
Book 1: History of Linguistic Science
1. Before 1800
2. Beginning of the nineteenth century
3. Middle of the nineteenth century
4. End of the nineteenth century
Book 2: The Child
5. Sounds
6. Words
7. Grammar
8. Some fundamental problems
9. The influence of the child on linguistic development
10. The influence of the child (continued)
Book 3: The Individual and the World
11. The foreigner
12. Pidgin and congeners
13. The woman
14. Causes of change
15. Causes of change (continued)
Book 4: Development of Language
16. Etymology
17. Progress or decay?
18. Progress
19. Origin of grammatical elements
20. Sound symbolism
21. The origin of speech
Biography
Otto Jespersen
