Unique in scope, An Introduction to the Languages of the World introduces linguistics students to the variety of world's languages. Students will gain familiarity with concepts such as sound change, lexical borrowing, diglossia, and language diffusion, and the rich variety of linguistic structure in word order, morphological types, grammatical relations, gender, inflection, and derivation. It offers the opportunity to explore structures of varying and fascinating languages even with no prior acquaintance. A chapter is devoted to each of the world's continents, with in-depth analyses of representative languages of Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America, and separate chapters cover writing systems and pidgins and creoles. Each chapter contains exercises and recommendations for further reading. New to this edition are eleven original maps as well as sections on sign languages and language death and revitalization. For greater readability, basic language facts are now organized in tables, and language samples follow international standards for phonetic transcription and word-by-word glossing.There is an instructor's manual available for registered instructors on the book's companion website.

List of TablesList of FiguresSymbols and Abbreviations1 Classification of Languages1.1 Genetic classification1.2 Typological classification of languages1.3 Exercises1.4 Suggested readings2 Classification of Writing Systems2.1 Typological classification of writing systems2.2 Genetic classification of writing systems2.3 Exercises2.4 Suggested readings3 Europe3.1 Indo-European3.2 Uralic3.3 Caucasus area3.4 Basque3.5 Sketch of Russian3.6 Sketch of Finnish3.7 Exercises3.8 Suggested readings4 Asia4.1 Altaic area4.2 Paleosiberian area4.3 Sino-Tibetan4.4 Hmong-Mien4.5 Tai-Kadai4.6 Austroasiatic4.7 Dravidian4.8 Burushaski4.9 Other languages in Asia4.10 Sketch of Mandarin Chinese4.11 Sketch of Classical Tibetan4.12 Exercises4.13 Suggested readings5 Africa5.1 Afro-Asiatic5.2 Nilo-Saharan5.3 Niger-Congo5.4 Khoisan area5.5 Other languages in Africa5.6 Sketch of Modern Standard Arabic5.7 Sketch of Swahili5.8 Exercises5.9 Suggested readings6 Oceania6.1 Austronesian6.2 Papuan area6.3 Australian area6.4 Sketch of Hawaiian6.5 Sketch of Dyirbal6.6 Exercises6.7 Suggested readings7 The AmericasNorth American area7.1 Eskimo-Aleut7.2 Na-Dene7.3 Algic7.4 Muskogean7.5 Siouan7.6 Iroquoian7.7 Caddoan7.8 Yuman7.9 Sahaptian7.10 Tsimshianic7.11 Kiowa-Tanoan7.12 Uto-Aztecan7.13 SalishanMesoamerican area7.14 Oto-Manguean7.15 Totonacan7.16 Mixe-Zoquean7.17 MayanSouth American area7.18 Intermediate area7.19 Western Amazonia7.20 Northern foothills7.21 Andes region7.22 Southern foothills7.23 South7.24 Central Amazonia7.25 Northern Amazonia7.26 Sketch of Central Alaskan Yup?ik7.27 Sketch of Ayacucho Quechua7.28 Exercises7.29 Suggested readings8 Language Birth, Death, and Revitalization8.1 Mixed languages8.2 Constructed languages8.3 Pidgins8.4 Creoles8.5 Sign languages8.6 Language endangerment and renewal8.7 Sketch of Tok Pisin8.8 Exercises8.9 Suggested readingsReferencesLanguage IndexSubject Index