Dictionary of Languages: the Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages

This is really not a very academic reference. I am by no means a linguist, but I must say, there was very little of use in this book that I did not already know. With all due respect to the author, most people are really going to get less out of the articles in this book than out of wikipedia articles for the same languages. This is the unfortunate reality of the new information universe---information like this is really inferior when presented within the confines of book form, nowadays. For what it is, though, it is fine. But if you are interested in more than how many people speak a language and where it is spoken, you'll really want to choose a different book. And if you ARE interested in how many people speak a language and where it is spoken, then you know where to find such information---there is no need to buy this book. With all due respect to the author(s) of this book (which I am sure was a terrific effort to compile)---this book would have been great and relevant ten years ago. But with the other options nowadays available for anyone looking for "encyclopedic" knowledge of a subejct, it just falls flat. COVER 1 TITLEPAGE 4 COPYRIGHT 5 PREFACE 6 INTRODUCTION 8 DICTIONARY OF LANGUAGES 18 ABKHAZ AND ABAZA 20 ACHEHNESE 21 AFAR 22 AFRIKAANS 23 AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES 25 AHOM 27 AKAN 28 AKKADIAN 30 ALBANIAN 32 ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES 35 ALTAIC LANGUAGES 37 AMERIND LANGUAGES 38 AMHARIC 42 ARABIC 44 ARAMAIC AND SYRIAC 50 ARAUCANIAN 53 ARDHAMAGADHI 54 ARMENIAN 55 AROMUNIAN 58 ASSAMESE 60 AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGES 62 AUSTROASIATIC LANGUAGES 64 AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES 66 AUSTRO-TAI LANGUAGES 71 AVAR 72 AVESTAN 74 AYMARA 76 AZERI 77 BAI 80 BALINESE 81 BALTIC LANGUAGES 83 BALUCHI 84 BANDA 86 BANTU LANGUAGES 87 BASHKIR 94 BASQUE 95 BATAK LANGUAGES 97 BAULE 99 BEJA 100 BELORUSSIAN 101 BEMBA 103 BENGALI 105 BERIBER LANGUAGES 107 BHOJPURI 109 BIKOL 111 BISLAMA 112 BODO-GARO LANGUAGES 113 BRAHUI 115 BRETON 116 BUGIS 118 BULGARIAN 120 BURMESE 122 BUYI 126 CATALAN 127 CAUCASIAN LANGUAGES 128 CEBUANO 130 CELTIC LANGUAGES 132 CHADIC LANGUAGES 136 CHAM 137 CHAMORRO 139 CHECHEN 140 CHEROKEE 142 CHHATTISGARHI 144 CHINESE 145 CHOKWE 151 CHUVASH 153 CIRCASSIAN 155 COPTIC 156 CREE 158 CRIOULO 160 CUSHITIC LANGUAGES 161 CZECH 163 DANISH 165 DARGWA 167 DINKA 168 DIOLA 169 DIVEHI 171 DOGRI 172 DONG 173 DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES 174 DUALA 176 DUTCH 177 DZONGKHA 180 EDO 181 EFIK AND IBIBIO 183 EGYPTIAN 184 ENGLISH 185 ENGLISH CREOLES AND PIDGINS 194 ESKIMO-ALEUT LANGUAGES 199 ESTONIAN 201 ETHIOPIC 203 EWE AND FON 204 EWONDO, BULU AND FANG 206 FAROESE 209 FIJIAN LANGUAGES 210 FINNISH 212 FORMOSAN LANGUAGES 215 FRENCH 217 FRENCH CREOLES 222 FRISIAN 224 FULANI 225 GA 227 GAELIC 228 GALICIAN 230 GANDA 231 GARHWALl 233 GBAYA 234 GEORGIAN 235 GERMAN 237 GERMANIC LANGUAGES 243 GILAKI 245 GONDI 246 GONGA LANGUAGES 247 GOTHIC 248 GREEK 249 GUARANI 254 GUJARATI 256 GUSII 258 HAITIEN 259 HANI 260 HAUSA 261 HAWAIIAN 263 HEBREW 264 HILIGAYNON 266 HINDI 267 HIRI MOTU 270 HITTITE 271 HUNGARIAN 273 IBAN 276 ICELANDIC 278 IGBO 279 IJO AND KALABARI 281 ILOCANO 283 INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES 284 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES 289 INUIT 295 IRANIAN LANGUAGES 297 IRISH 299 ITALIAN 302 JAMAICAN CREOLE 305 JAPANESE 306 JAVANESE 309 JINGHPAW 311 JUDEZMO 313 KAIBYLE 314 KADA! LANGUAGES 315 KALENJIN 316 KAMIBA 317 KAMTOK 318 KANNADA 319 KANURI 321 KAREN LANGUAGES 323 KASHMIRI 325 KAZAKH 327 KHASI 330 KHMER 332 KHOISAN LANGUAGES 334 KHOTANESE 336 KHOWAR 337 KIKUYU 338 KIRIBATI 340 KITUBA 341 KOMI 342 KONGO 344 KONKANI 346 KOREAN 347 KRIO 350 KRU LANGUAGES 351 KUKL-CHIN AND NAGA LANG UAGES 352 KUMAUNI 355 KUMYK 356 KURDISH 358 KURUKH 360 KYRGYZ 361 LAHU 363 LAMPUNG 364 LANNA THAI, KHUN AND LU 365 LAO 367 LATIAN 369 LATVIAN 372 LEZGHIAN 373 LI 374 LIANGALA AND BANGALA 376 LISU 378 LITHUANIAN 379 LOMWE 381 LOZI 382 LUBA 384 LUNDA 386 LUO LANGUAGES 388 LURI 390 LUVALE 392 LUXEMBURGISH 393 LUYIA 394 MABA 396 MACEDONIAN 397 MADURESE 399 MAGAHI 400 MAGINDANAO 401 MAITHILI 402 MAKASAR 403 MAKONDE 404 MAKUA 405 MALAGASY 406 MALAY, INDONESIAN AND MALAYSIAN 408 MALAYALAM 412 MALTESE 413 MANDEKAN 414 MANIPURI 418 MAORI 419 MARATHI 421 MARI 423 MARSHALLESE 425 MASAI 428 MAYAN LANGUAGES 429 MBUNDU 431 MENDE 433 MERU 434 MIAO 435 MINANGKABAU 437 MINGRELIAN AND LAZ 438 MIXTEC 440 MON 442 MONGOLIAN LANGUAGES 443 MOORE 446 MORDVIN 447 MOZARABIC 449 MUNDARI 450 MUONG 452 NA-DENE LANGUAGES 453 NAHUATL 455 NAVAHO 459 NAXI 460 NDEBELE 462 NEPALI 463 NEWARI 464 NIGER-CONGO LANGUAGES 466 NILO-SAHARAN LANGUAGES 472 NKORE 476 NORWEGIAN 478 NUBIAN LANGUAGES 481 NUPE 483 NYANJA 485 OCCITAN 487 OJIBWA 489 OLD NORSE 490 OLD SLAVONIC 492 OMOTIC LANGUAGES 494 ORIYA 495 OROMO 496 OSSETE 498 PALAEOSIBERIAN LANGUAGES 499 PALI 501 PAMPANGAN 503 PANGASINAN 504 PANJABI 505 PAPIAMENTU 508 PAPUAN LANGUAGES 509 PASHTO 511 PERSIAN, DARI AND TAJIK 513 POLISH 516 PORTUGUESE 519 QUECHUA 524 QUICHE 527 RAJASTHANI 528 REJANG 529 RIFIA 530 ROMANCE LANGUAGES 531 ROMANI 534 ROMANIAN 537 ROMANSCH 539 RUNDI, RWANDA AND HA 541 RUSSIAN 543 SAMI 549 SAMOAN 552 SAMOYEDIC LANGUAGES 553 SANGO 555 SANSKRIT 557 SANTALI 560 SARA 561 SARDINIAN 562 SASAK 564 SEMITIC LANGUAGES 565 SENA 566 SERBIAN, CROATIAN AND BOSNIAN 567 SEYCHELLOIS 570 SHAN 571 SHONA 573 SINDHI 575 SINHALA 577 SINO-TUBETAN LANGUAGES 580 SIRAIKI 582 SLAVONIC LANGUAGES 583 SLOVAK 585 SLOVENE 586 SOGDIAN 588 SOMALI 589 SONGHAY 591 SONINKE 593 SORBIAN 594 SOTHO 595 SPANISH 598 SUKUMA 604 SUMERIAN 606 SUNDANESE 608 SUSU 609 SWAHILI 610 SWAZI 615 SWEDISH 617 TAGALOG 619 TAHITIAN 622 TAI LANGUAGES 624 TAMASHEQ 626 TAMAZIGHT 627 TAMIL 629 TANGUT 632 TASHELHET 633 TATAR 634 TELUGU 636 TEMNE 638 TERNATE 639 TESO 641 THAI 642 THO 644 TIBETAN 645 TIGRINYA 648 TIV 649 TOCHARIAN LANGUAGES 651 TOK PISIN 652 TONGA 653 TONGAN 654 TSONGA 655 TSWANA 656 TULU 658 TUMBUKA 659 TUNGUSIC LANGUAGES 660 TUPI 663 TURKANA 664 TURKIC LANGUAGES 666 TURKISH 670 TURKMEN 674 UDMURT 675 UIGHUR 676 UKRAINIAN 678 URALIC LANGUAGES 680 URDU 682 UZBEK 684 VENDA 686 VIETNAMESE 687 WA 689 WARAY-WARAY 692 WELSH 693 WOLAYTTA 696 WOLOF 697 XHOSA 698 YAKUT 700 YAO (AFRICA) 702 YAO LANGUAGES 704 YI 705 YIDDISH 707 YORUBA 711 YUCATEC 713 ZANDE 715 ZAPOTEC 716 ZHUANG 717 ZULU 719 GLOSSARY 724 INDEX 728 "Covering the political, social and historical background of each language, Dictionary of Languages offers a unique insight into human culture and communication. Every language with official status is included, as well as all those that have a written literature and 175 'minor' languages with special historical or anthropological interest. We see how, with the rapidly increasing uniformity of our culture as media's influence spreads, more languages have become extinct or are under threat of extinction. The text is highlighted by maps and charts of scripts, while proverbs, anecdotes and quotations reveal the features that make a language unique."-- Provided by publisher Covering The Political, Social And Historical Background Of Each Language, This Book Offers An Insight Into Human Culture And Communication. Every Language With Official Status Is Included. This Text Is Highlighted By Maps And Charts Of Scripts, While Proverbs, Anecdotes And Quotations Reveal The Features That Make A Language Unique.