Cambridge Encyclopedia Of Language, The 3rd Ed.

Description:
This new, thoroughly revised edition of the acclaimed Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language incorporates the major developments in language study which have taken place since the mid 1990s. Two main new areas have been added: the rise of electronic communication in all its current forms from email to texting, and the crisis affecting the world's languages, of which half are thought to be so seriously endangered that they will die out this century. * All language statistics have been updated, and additional information provided about their linguistic affiliation * All topics involving technology have been revised to take account of recent developments, notably in phonetics, language disability, and computing * Maps have been revised to include new countries or country names * Special attention has been paid to fast-moving areas such as language teaching and learning * The text design has been completely updated with many new illustrations throughout

Review:
'... a celebration of language in all its oddity, beauty, fun, astonishing complexity and limitless variety.' London Review of Books 'The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language is a masterpeice of comprehensiveness and clarity.' New Internationalist '... an ingenious tour de force ... stunningly diverse linguistic menu.' Robert Burchfield, The Times '... magnificently demonstrates Professor Crystal's outstanding breadth of knowledge, incisiveness of judgment and superb skills at getting to the heart of highly complex issues in a clear and straightforward manner.' Randolph Quirk, FBA '... David Crystal has a great facility for explaining language issues with plain good sense, wit and admirable brevity.' The Times Educational Supplement

Table of Contents:
Preface to 1st edition; Preface to 2nd edition; Preface to 3rd edition; Part I. Popular Ideas About Language: 1. The prescriptive tradition; 2. The equality of languages; 3. The magic of language; 4. The functions of language; 5. Language and thought; Part II. Language and Identity: 6. Physical identity; 7. Psychological identity; 8. Geographical identity; 9. Ethnic and national identity; 10. Social identity; 11 Contextual identity; 12. Stylistic identity and literature; Part III. The Structure of Language: 13. Linguistic levels; 14. Typology and universals; 15. The statistical structure of language; 16. Grammar; 17. Semantics; 18. Dictionaries; 19. Names; 20. Discourse and text; 21. Pragmatics; Part IV. The Medium of Language: Speaking and Listening: 22. The anatomy and physiology of speech; 23. The acoustics of speech; 24. The instrumental analysis of speech; 25. Speech reception; 26. Speech interaction with machines; 27. The sounds of speech; 28. The linguistic use of sound; 29. Suprasegmentals; 30. Sound symbolism; Part V. The Medium of Language: Writing and Reading: 31. Written and spoken language; 32. Graphic expression; 33. Graphology; 34. The process of reading and writing; Part VI. The Medium of Language: Signing and Seeing: 35. Sign language; 36. Sign language structure; 37. Types of sign language; Part VII. Child Language Acquisition: 38. Investigating children's language; 39. The first year; 40. Phonological development; 41. Grammatical development; 42. Semantic development; 43. Pragmatic development; 44. Language development in school; Part VIII. Language, Brain, and Disability: 45. Language and the brain; 46. Language disability; Part IX. The Languages of the World: 47. How many languages?; 48. How many speakers?; 49. The origins of language; 50. Families of language; 51. The Indo-European family; 52. Other families; 53. Language isolates; 54. Language change; 55. Pidgins and creoles; Part X. Language in the World: 56. The language barrier; 57. Translating and interpreting; 58. Artificial languages; 59. World languages; 60. Multilingualism; 61. Language planning; 62. Foreign language teaching and learning; 63. Language for special purposes; Part XI. Language and Communication: 64. Language and other communication systems; 65. Linguistics; Appendices: I. Glossary; II. Special symbols and abbreviations; III. Table of the world's languages; IV. Further reading; V. Index of languages, families, dialects, and scripts; VI. Index of authors and personalities; VII. Index of topics; Acknowledgements.

Author Biography:
David Crystal is one of the world's foremost authorities on language and works as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster. He is Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor and has published over 100 books. His most recent publications include: Think On My Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Language (2008), Language and the Internet, 2nd Edition (2006) and English as a Global Language, 2nd Edition (2003).