Languages in the World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language - Paperback

by Julie Tetel Andresen (Author), Phillip M. Carter (Author)

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

• Balances linguistic analysis with socio-historical and political context, offering a cohesive picture of the relationship between language and society
• Provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of language by drawing not only on the diverse fields of linguistics (structural, linguist anthropology, historical, sociolinguistics), but also on history, biology, genetics, sociology, and more
• Includes nine detailed language profiles on Kurdish, Arabic, Tibetan, Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Tamil, !Xóõ (Taa), Mongolian, and Quiché
• A companion website offers a host of supplementary materials including, sound files, further exercises, and detailed introductory information for students new to linguistics

Back Jacket

Including detailed linguistic analysis of an array of languages, coupled with sociological, historical, and biological insight, Languages in the World provides a uniquely interdisciplinary account of the evolution of language over the past 200,000 years. Tetel Andresen and Carter expertly illustrate the reciprocal nature of the relationship between language and society by balancing detailed discussion of the structure and distribution of specific languages with engaging personal and political narratives. Exercises and questions for further discussion are included at the end of each chapter and a companion website features sound files and a host of additional supplementary material.

From the role of Sanskrit in philology to a detailed analysis of the effects of globalization on world language, this innovative new bookwill be an essential tool for anyone interested in better understanding how language has evolved and where it is going.

Author Biography

Julie Tetel Andresen is Professor of English and former Chair of Linguistic at Duke University. A linguistic historiographer focusing on French, German, British, and American theories of language from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries, she is the author of Linguistics and Evolution: A Developmental Approach (2013) and Linguistics in America 1769-1924: A Critical History (1996).

Phillip M. Carter is Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics at Florida International University. Specializing in immigrant and ethnolinguistic minority communities in the Unites States, his work on the language varieties and cultural practices of U.S. Latinos has been published in leading journals, including Language in Society, English Worldwide, Journal of Sociolinguistics, American Speech, and Language in Linguistics Compass.