{"product_id":"the-history-of-languages-an-introduction-oxford-textbooks-in-linguistics-9780199604296","title":"The History of Languages: An Introduction (Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is an introduction to the history of languages  from the distant past to a glimpse at what languages may be like in the distant future. It looks at how languages arise  change  and ultimately vanish  and what lies behind their different destinies. What happens to languages  he argues  has to do with what happens to the people who use them  and what happens to people  individually and collectively  is affected by the languages they speak.  The book opens by examining what the languages are the hunter-gatherers might have spoken and the changes to language that took place when agriculture made settled communities possible. It then looks at the effects of the invention of writing  the formation of empires  the spread of religions  and the recent dominance of world powers  and shows how these relate to great changes in the use of languages. Tore Janson discusses the appearance of new languages  the reasons why some languages spread and others die  considers whether similar cyclical processes are found at different times and places  and examines the causes of internal changes in languages and dialects.  The book ranges widely among the worlds languages and mixes thematic chapters on general processes of change with accounts of specific languages  including Chinese  Arabic  Latin  Greek  and English.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647837560885,"sku":"ByrdShop_0199604290","price":35.77,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780199604296.jpg?v=1781697572","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-history-of-languages-an-introduction-oxford-textbooks-in-linguistics-9780199604296","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}