Professor Breton stresses both the importance of and difficulties in analyzing the vitality of South Asian language groups and examines the similarities and differences in language use and various ethnic traits among similar population groups. Atlas of the Languages and Ethnic Communities of South Asia, Second Edition will be an indispensable reference and resource tool to academics, students, and researchers interested in linguistics, geography, cultural studies, reference, anthropology, ethnology, and political science. This dictionary, written by a linguist, provides an introduction to the world's languages. The subtitle of the book demonstrates its scope. The entries themselves are from two to four pages long.
Some entries also have quotations of proverbs or poetry.
Includes a glossary of more than 1,000 terms and a table of the world's languages. More than 350 illustrations and 30 maps, with encyclopedic coverage over 65 thematic chapters. Very Highly Recommended. While focussing on dialects of English, topics covered include areas as diverse as american creolistics, the relationship between language and sex, african american English, american indian English and sound change in English dialect geography. In this ground-breaking book, Johanna Nichols proposes means of describing, comparing, and interpreting linguistic diversity, both genetic and structural, providing the foundations for a theory of diversity based upon population science.