It is tempting to take the tremendous rate of contemporary linguistic change for granted. What is required, in fact, is a radical reinterpretation of what langu

This book presents in a single volume a comprehensive history of the language sciences, from ancient times through to the twentieth century. While there has bee

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 ma

This volume of essays brings together work by social historians of Britain, France and Italy.

Theory and history combine in this book to form a coherent narrative of the debates on language and languages in the Western world, from ancient classic philoso