It is tempting to take the tremendous rate of contemporary linguistic change for granted. What is required, in fact, is a radical reinterpretation of what langu

This classroom-tested volume aspires to be a brief but technically and factually accurate exposition of linguistic description and history. Whether studied as p

The English language in its complex shapes and forms changes fast. This thoroughly revised edition has been refreshed with current examples of change and has be

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

This volume of essays brings together work by social historians of Britain, France and Italy.