This volume features over fifty of the worlds languages and language families.The featured languages have been chosen based on the number of speakers theirrole ... » 

This volume features over fifty of the worlds languages and language families.The featured languages have been chosen based on the number of speakers theirrole as official languages and their cultural and historical importance. Eachlanguage is looked at in depth and the chapters provide information on bothgrammatical features and on salient features of the languages history andcultural role. This second edition has been updated and revised. Two newlanguages Amharic and Javanese have been included. This accessible volumewill appeal to anyone with an interest in linguistics.Key features attention is paid to both grammatical and sociolinguistic features attention is concentrated on the worlds major languages designed to be accessible to all readers with an interest in language. «