Amazon.com
As a sophomore in college, I desperately wanted to major in theoretical linguistics, but I knew only three languages, and I was advised that this was insufficient for the major. Things might have been different if this book were available then: unlike most books about language evolution, Ruhlen's Origin of Language actually gets you involved in applying standard linguistic techniques to carefully chosen examples--by the end of the book, you will have constructed a family tree of the world's languages. And you needn't know any other than your mother tongue when you start, but you'll probably want to go out and learn several more languages by time you are done. Recommended.
From Library Journal
The study of linguistics has always been a good guidepost to research and studies in the other social sciences and humanities. Ruhlen (A Guide to the World's Languages, Stanford Univ. Pr., 1987) is a leader in the new attempt to write a unified theory of language development and diffusion. Starting with a do-it-yourself classification of language, he makes the case for one early language, using Joseph Greenberg's study of Native American languages as the key methodology in the reevaluation. He also cites the evidence in many fields pointing to an African development and then diffusion of Homo sapiens. An argumentative, controversial book but strongly reasoned and presented. Ruhlen explains the relationship among genetics, archaeology, and linguistic classification as an important new development in the study of prehistory and discusses the questions of the dating of early settlements in the Americas and Europe and the Banty Expansion. For informed lay readers.
Gene Shaw, NYPL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Gene Shaw, NYPL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
