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Empires of the word : a language history of the world

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An unusual and authoritative 'natural history of languages' that narrates the ways in which one language has superseded or outlasted another at different times in history.

The story of the world in the last five thousand years is above all the story of its languages.

Some shared language is what binds any community together, and makes possible both the living of a common history and the telling of it.

Yet, the history of the world's great languages has rarely been examined. "Empires of the Word" is the first to bring together the tales in all their glorious variety: the amazing innovations - in education, culture and diplomacy - devised by speakers in the Middle East; the uncanny resilience of Chinese throughout twenty centuries of invasions; the progress of Sanskrit from north India to Java and Japan; the struggle that gave birth to the languages of modern Europe; and the global spread of English.

Besides these epic achievements, language failures are equally fascinating: why did Germany get left behind?

Why did Egyptian, which had survived foreign takeovers for three millennia, succumb to Mohammed's Arabic?Why is Dutch unknown in modern Indonesia, given that the Netherlands had ruled the East Indies for as long as the British ruled India?

As this book engagingly reveals, the language history of the world shows eloquently the real characters of peoples; it also shows that the language of the future will, like the languages of the past, be full of surprises.

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Product Details
HarperPerennial
0007118716 / 9780007118717
Paperback / softback
409
18/09/2006
United Kingdom
English
xxi, 615 p. : ill.
24 cm
general Learn More
Reprint. Originally published: London: HarperCollins, 2005.
An unusual and authoritative 'natural history of languages' that narrates the ways in which one language has superseded or outlasted another at different times in history. / A lively, witty and controversial history of the world viewed through the rise and fall, dissemination and decimation of different languages. / Written without jargon and in a refreshingly unacademic manner, the book is designed to appeal to a wide general readership and anyone interested in the ways in which language is related to local communities and cultures. / Ostler is extremely promotable and will be available for s
An unusual and authoritative 'natural history of languages' that narrates the ways in which one language has superseded or outlasted another at different times in history. / A lively, witty and controversial history of the world viewed through the rise and fall, dissemination and decimation of different languages. / Written without jargon and in a refreshingly unacademic manner, the book is designed to appeal to a wide general readership and anyone interested in the ways in which language is related to local communities and cultures. / Ostler is extremely promotable and will be available for s CFF Historical & comparative linguistics