Each volume is devoted to a particular genetic or areal group of languages. The books are published in Russian, among the authors are the leading authorities in respective languages from Russia and some other countries. This ensures the comparability of all language descriptions throughout the encyclopedia. The books of the series provide an in-depth linguistic description but can also be used as reference sources by historians, ethnographers, sociologists, and everyone interested in languages and language studies. Each volume contains descriptions of all ancient and modern languages of the group known to science, as well as a general article on the group as a whole.
All volumes are hard-bound , except the one on Dardic and Nuristani languages.
Click on a title to see the table of contents and sample article. By now 10 volumes have been published.