The World's Major Languages

From the Publisher

'This excellent, thorough resource has an unsurpassed amount of detail for a single-volume survey.' —S. L. Johnson, Eastern Illinois University, Choice Reviews

'Highly recommended. Academic libraries supporting lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.'—S. L. Johnson, Eastern Illinois University, Choice Reviews

'Originally published in 1987, the second edition of this major handbook contains considerable enough amount of revision and new material to warrant its purchase by those libraries which invested in the original edition' — Reference Reviews

'The Volume is well constructed for reference access as well as for more in-depth consultation' — Reference Reviews

Library Journal

This is a treasury of authoritative yet concise information about major languages and language families. The emphasis is on Indo-European, over half the book being devoted to that family. Each of the 50 chapters is written by an expert in that field. Phonology, morphology, and syntax are discussed, and, where appropriate, the writing system. Some chapters, such as that on Chinese, are very lucid and accessible to the non-expert; others are more difficult. This is not a book for beginners, and specialists will have more detailed treatments at their disposal. Its best use would seem to be in an academic reference collection, for the scholar to dip into to refresh his or her memory of a language once studied, or to get a birds-eye view of a language not studied. Includes a language index and bibliographies. Catherine V. von Schon, SUNY at Stonybrook Lib.