A Dictionary of Language - Softcover

Crystal, David

3.4

5 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226122034 ISBN 13: 9780226122038

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2001

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No ordinary dictionary, David Crystal's Dictionary of Language includes not only descriptions of hundreds of languages literally from A to Z (Abkhaz to Zyryan) and definitions of literary and grammatical concepts, but also explanations of terms used in linguistics, language teaching, and speech pathology. If you are wondering how many people speak Macedonian, Malay, or Makua, or if you're curious about various theories of the origins of language, or if you were always unsure of the difference between structuralism, semiotics, and sociolinguistics, this superbly authoritative dictionary will answer all of your questions and hundred of others.

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Review:

“The kind of dictionary you lose yourself in the moment you open it up. . . . You look up ‘Isogloss’ and get distracted by the fact, on the facing page, that Etruscan, Mohenjo-Daro and Japanese are isolated languages. Then you suddenly notice an entry for ‘felicity conditions,’ find out what the hell that is before you go mad, then forget what you were looking for in the first place, but who cares? You can keep going for hours.”--Nicholas Lezard "The Guardian "

"The kind of dictionary you lose yourself in the moment you open it up. . . . You look up 'Isogloss' and get distracted by the fact, on the facing page, that Etruscan, Mohenjo-Daro and Japanese are isolated languages. Then you suddenly notice an entry for 'felicity conditions, ' find out what the hell that is before you go mad, then forget what you were looking for in the first place, but who cares? You can keep going for hours."--Nicholas Lezard "The Guardian "

The kind of dictionary you lose yourself in the moment you open it up. . . . You look up Isogloss and get distracted by the fact, on the facing page, that Etruscan, Mohenjo-Daro and Japanese are isolated languages. Then you suddenly notice an entry for felicity conditions, find out what the hell that is before you go mad, then forget what you were looking for in the first place, but who cares? You can keep going for hours. --Nicholas Lezard "The Guardian ""

-The kind of dictionary you lose yourself in the moment you open it up. . . . You look up 'Isogloss' and get distracted by the fact, on the facing page, that Etruscan, Mohenjo-Daro and Japanese are isolated languages. Then you suddenly notice an entry for 'felicity conditions, ' find out what the hell that is before you go mad, then forget what you were looking for in the first place, but who cares? You can keep going for hours.---Nicholas Lezard -The Guardian -

About the Author:

David Crystal is the Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. His previous books include The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, English as a Global Language, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Language Death, and Words on Words, the last published by the University of Chicago Press.

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