2nd Edition of Languages of the World Coming Out Soon!

The 2nd edition of my textbook, Languages of the World: An Introduction is being published by Cambridge University Press. It is due to be released on September 30, 2017. Pre-order your copy from Amazon today!

  • If you crave to learn about the world’s languages, both seemingly familiar and exotic…
  • If you welcome an opportunity to explore languages without the tiresome process of learning to speak them…
  • If you are curious to know what all human languages have in common and in what ways they differ…
  • If a typical “Introduction to Linguistics” textbook scares you with its technical nature or Anglo-centricity…
  • If academically-oriented grammatical descriptions of languages seem too boring and inaccessible…
  • If you are curious about language relatedness and interactions between languages…
  • If you seek to know how language can be used to trace different peoples and their past…
  • If you want to see a connection between linguistics and other disciplines, such as history or genetics…
  • If you look for an engaging and intellectually stimulating reading that gives you the thrill of discovery…
  • If you wish to travel the world without leaving your cosy armchair…

…Then this book is for you!

Helpful features include 18 charts of family classifications, index of languages and general index, glossary, and bibliography to guide further reading.

The book has been thoroughly revised from the 1st edition:

  • Two new chapters have been added: chapter 3 “Languages of Iran and South Asia” and chapter 4 “Languages of Northern Eurasia”
  • New sections have been added to existing chapters, for example, section 1.4 “Focus on: How do languages diversify?” and section 8.4 “Korean and Japanese”
  • Several new textboxes have been added, for example “Adamorobe Sign Language” and “Indigenous African Writing Systems” in chapter 7
  • Numerous “Did you know?” boxes have been added
  • Some of the harder, more technical linguistic material has been set aside into “Advanced” sections, which can be assigned for more advanced students but omitted with a more beginners audience. Each chapter has one or more “Advanced” sections.
  • Each chapter now has a set of five assignments, including guided projects for online exploration, discussion questions, and problem sets based on data from unfamiliar languages.
  • The text has been fact checked and edited with additional passages added in various places.
  • The bibliography, glossary and indexes have been updated.

The 1st edition can still be purchased at Amazon, directly from Cambridge University Press, or from booksellers worldwide.