- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Hodder Arnold (27 Sep 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340607580
- ISBN-13: 978-0340607589
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.3 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 798,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Larry Trask's introduction to historical linguistics is what I've been wanting for years: an introductory undergraduate textbook which presents the latest developments in historical research in a clear, exciting, and straightforward way. -- Dorothy Disterheft, University of South Carolina,
Product Description
This is a major introduction to historical linguistics, designed for students who have no background in historical linguistics but who have at least some knowledge of phonetics, phonology and morphology. Historical linguistic theory is introduced throughout where appropriate, although the book presupposes no acquaintance with contemporary theories of phonology or syntax. The author introduces all major types of change, consequences of change (dialect and language families), methods in historical linguistics, and later chapters deal with sociolinguistic aspects of change, language contact, birth and death of languages, language and prehistory and finally the issue of very remote relations. The book covers the more recent work on the study of phonological changes in progress, on morphological and syntactic change, and on typological approaches to change, and it addresses such recent controversies as the Nostratic hypothesis and the Greenberg/Cavalli-Sforza work on language, genes and teeth. It also treats etymology and onomastics in some detail. The approach is data oriented throughout. Students are encouraged to confront data, to spot patterns and to construct their own accounts and they are encouraged to consider their own experience of English and other languages.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Larry Trask's wry look at historical linguistics is also a tour of his own (sometimes strident!) opinions of other linguists, of theories, of amateurs and countless others. The personal touch does not, however, detract from his otherwise critically neutral and pretty comprehensive coverage of the basics of historical linguistics. Drawing on examples from mostly (but not exclusively)Indo-European languages, and lavishing plenty of attention on Basque, Trask provides an illustrative account of how and why languages change over time, while also holding the reader's attention!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Paging Mr. Trask....
5 Aug 2003
Format:Paperback
Historical Linguistics is an interesting topic to read about. This book does a pretty good job explaining the tool kit an historical linguist needs to reconstruct proto-languages as well as understand language roots. In some cases it seems to be a little off balance, offering more attention to a particular topic and lacking information on another. But all in all it is a helpful text, providing good examples and practice data at the end of each chapter. It is annoying, however, that they didn't pay much attention to the editing. Often a set of data will be referred to in the text but won't show up until the next page or two and the topic of discussion has already changed.
The author provides a lot of interesting case studies with discussion, mostly in the English language since that's his native language. But they are great examples of the work accomplished by historical linguists and demonstrate clearly the principles he is discussing.
Good book.
The author provides a lot of interesting case studies with discussion, mostly in the English language since that's his native language. But they are great examples of the work accomplished by historical linguists and demonstrate clearly the principles he is discussing.
Good book.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
An excellent presentation of historical linguistics
5 April 2006
Format:Paperback
As a lay reader, I found the coverage of topics to be impressive and detailed. Sometimes a bit too detailed; but you can always skip over anything that falls into the category of "more than I wanted to know about penguins." But this kind of material gives a sense for the kind of problems that a working linguist faces, and the kinds of solutions obtained.
Some readers have complained that there are no solutions given for the homework problems posed. This is true; but in how many non-mathematical books have you seen ANY homework problems posed? I did not stop to do them, myself, but I imagine that a real effort spent on these exercises would pay off in deeper understanding. If the author is willing, I would imagine that there would be a market for a small addendum which would provide discussion of these exercises.
The discussion of "proto-World" is very interesting, as the author presents both the proposed picture of the descent of all languages and the general skepticism about it.
The book is written with a dry sense of humor, rare in a scholarly book.
This is not a quick read, but will repay the diligent reader.
Some readers have complained that there are no solutions given for the homework problems posed. This is true; but in how many non-mathematical books have you seen ANY homework problems posed? I did not stop to do them, myself, but I imagine that a real effort spent on these exercises would pay off in deeper understanding. If the author is willing, I would imagine that there would be a market for a small addendum which would provide discussion of these exercises.
The discussion of "proto-World" is very interesting, as the author presents both the proposed picture of the descent of all languages and the general skepticism about it.
The book is written with a dry sense of humor, rare in a scholarly book.
This is not a quick read, but will repay the diligent reader.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A Fantastic Introductory Text
27 Dec 2005
Format:Paperback
I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in historical linguistics, even those with little background knowledge of the subject (although note that it does assume some basic background knowledge in rudimentary linguistic concepts like "phoneme," "syntax," or "nominative"). One of the largest benefits of the book, in my view, is the fact that Trask, who was one of the foremost experts on the Basque language, frequently uses examples from Basque to illustrate points, very useful additional perspective for those with a knowledge only of Indo-European languages. Trask still, however, uses plenty of examples from the Indo-European field, and does not neglect such famous topics as Grimm's Law or the English Vowel Shift. He provides numerous references for further and more in-depth reading for a given chapter's topic at the end of the chapter, and a brief description of each of these references.
He also, as mentioned by a previous reviewer, approaches the debate on alternatives to the comparative method much more even-handedly than some of his colleagues. Although he does dismiss Merritt Ruhlen's Proto-World proposals (offering a good deal of evidence in support), he nonetheless does his best to be more neutral for other controversies, such as the Nostratic hypothesis (the proposal linking the Indo-European, Altaic, Afro-Asiatic, Dravidian, and Caucasian language families [and sometimes others]). He even asks other linguists to approach the Nostratic hypothesis fairly and with an open mind. Although he ultimately takes a stance against most radical proposals of this type, he nonetheless gives them a much more balanced portrait, and gives enough opposing arguments to allow readers to draw their own conclusions, which, considering the controversies in the world of historical linguistics today, is particularly impressive.
Ultimately, the one significant problem, also touched on by other reviewers, is that the excercizes at the end of each chapter have no solutions, and for those who, like me, study linguistics on their own and not in an academic institution, it is often frustrating to not know if they are doing the problems "right" or not.
He also, as mentioned by a previous reviewer, approaches the debate on alternatives to the comparative method much more even-handedly than some of his colleagues. Although he does dismiss Merritt Ruhlen's Proto-World proposals (offering a good deal of evidence in support), he nonetheless does his best to be more neutral for other controversies, such as the Nostratic hypothesis (the proposal linking the Indo-European, Altaic, Afro-Asiatic, Dravidian, and Caucasian language families [and sometimes others]). He even asks other linguists to approach the Nostratic hypothesis fairly and with an open mind. Although he ultimately takes a stance against most radical proposals of this type, he nonetheless gives them a much more balanced portrait, and gives enough opposing arguments to allow readers to draw their own conclusions, which, considering the controversies in the world of historical linguistics today, is particularly impressive.
Ultimately, the one significant problem, also touched on by other reviewers, is that the excercizes at the end of each chapter have no solutions, and for those who, like me, study linguistics on their own and not in an academic institution, it is often frustrating to not know if they are doing the problems "right" or not.
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