This innovative introduction outlines the structure and distribution of the world’s languages, charting their evolution over the past 200,000 years. Balances

A sweeping account of the global rise of English and the high-stakes politics of languageSpoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingu

This important book proposes a new account of the nature of language, founded upon an original interpretation of Wittgenstein. The authors deny the existence of

A “monumental” account of the rise and fall of languages, with “many fresh insights, useful historical anecdotes, and charming linguistic oddities” (Chi

Language in the Real World challenges traditional approaches to linguistics to provide an innovative introduction to the subject. By first examining the real wo