Subject: new books : historical linguistics

new titles from john benjamins publishing historical linguistics : historical linguistics 1993 . selected papers from the 11th international conference on historical linguistics , los angeles , 16-20 august 1993 . henning andersen ( ed . ) 1995 x , 460 pp . current issues in linguistic theory , 124 us / canada : cloth : 1 55619 578 8 price : us $ 110 . 00 rest of the world : cloth : 90 272 3627 5 price : hfl . 190 , - - john benjamins publishing web site : http : / / www . benjamins . com for further information via e-mail : service @ benjamins . com this volume contains a selection of papers from the 11th international conference on historical linguistics ; among them are a few presented at the workshop on typology and parameters organized during the conference . the 34 papers discuss a variety of topics , reflecting the latest developments in research in historical linguistics and covering a wide range of languages . contributions by : andrew allen ; gregory s . anderson ; julie auger ; laurel brinton & dieter stein ; v = edt bubenik ; kate burridge ; concepci = f3n company ; c . jac conradie ; thomas d . cravens & luciano giannelli ; naomi cull ; andrei danchev ; bridget drinka ; richard epstein ; jadranka gvozdanovic ; kaoru horie ; masataka ishikawa ; bernard jacquinod ; dieter kastovsky ; ritva laury ; leena l = f6fstedt , silvia luraghi ; maria manoliu - manea ; jaap van marle ; ana maria martins ; chantal melis ; robert w . murray ; johanna nichols ; jairo nunes ; claudia parodi ; betty s . philips ; susan pintzuk ; pieter van reenen & lene schosler ; elke ronneberger - sibold ; nigel vincent . comparative indo-european linguistics . an introduction robert s . p . beekes 1995 xxii , 376 pp . us / canada : cloth : 1 55619 504 4 price : us $ 75 . 00 paper : 1 55619 505 2 price : $ 24 . 95 rest of the world : cloth : 90 272 2150 2 price : hfl . 125 , - - paper : 90 272 2151 0 price : hfl . 50 , - - john benjamins publishing web site : http : / / www . benjamins . com for further information via e-mail : service @ benjamins . com this book gives a comprehensive introduction to comparative indo - european linguistics , the first to appear in english . it starts with a presentation of the languages of the family ( from english and the other germanic languages , the celtic and slavic languages , latin , greek and sanskrit through armenian and albanian ) and a discussion of the culture and origin of the indo - europeans , the speakers of the indo - european proto-language , who are considered to have lived in what is today the ukraine . the book gives an introduction into the nature of language change and the methods of reconstruction of older language stages , with many examples ( from the indo - european languages ) . a full description is given of the sound changes , which makes it possible to follow the origin of the different indo - european languages step by step . this is followed by a discussion of the development of all the morphological categories of proto - indo - european . the book presents the latest in scholarly insights , like the laryngeal and glottalic theory , accentuation , the ablaut patterns and these are systematically integrated into the treatment . while the book presents a large amount of material and discusses many principles and the relevant terminology , it is written in a very readable and lucid style . use of the book is facilitated by an appendix on phonetics , a glossary , full indexes , and an extensive bibliography . the book can be used as a first introduction to the field , and at the same time brings the reader to the current moment of research . zur geschichte der deutschen sprache . new edition with an introductory article by kurt r . jankowsky wilhelm scherer 1995 lxii , 246 pp . amsterdam classics in linguistics , 16 us / canada : cloth : 1 55619 770 5 price : us $ 97 . 00 rest of the world : cloth : 90 272 1994 x price : hfl . 170 , - - john benjamins publishing web site : http : / / www . benjamins . com for further information via e-mail : service @ benjamins . com wilhelm scherer ( 1841-1886 ) has gained wide recognition for his extraordinary accomplishments in linguistics as well as in literary studies . his first and most important contribution to the development of linguistic science was his monumental work of 508 pages zur geschichte der deutschen sprache , published in 1868 . his stated objective was " to subject all aspects of the germanic grammar to a new treatment . " while such a wording sounds rather modest , the actual implementation in his book , if viewed within the framework of his time , might very appropriately be called revolutionary . he broke with august schleicher 's distinction between 'd evelopment ' ( in prehistorical time ) and 'd ecay ' ( in historical time ) in the history of language and replaced it with his notion of continuous , uninterrupted development . his survey of the relevant literature of his time is almost exhaustive , and his findings serve as the solid stepping stone for his own advances . to facilitate reading , the editor has supplied an index of names ( with life dates ) , a complete listing of the literature referred to by scherer as well as an introduction to scherer 's life and his general scholarly achievements . towards a history of the basque language jose ignacio hualde , joseba a . lakarra & r . l . trask ( eds . ) 1995 365 pp . current issues in linguistic theory , 131 us / canada : cloth : 1 55619 585 0 price : us $ 90 . 00 rest of world : cloth : 90 272 3634 8 price : hfl . 150 , - - john benjamins publishing web site : http : / / www . benjamins . com for further information via e-mail : service @ benjamins . com questions related to the origin and history of the basque language spark considerable interest , since it is the only surviving pre - indo - european language in western europe . however , until now , there was no readily available source in english providing answers to these questions or giving an overview of past and current research in this area . this book is intended to partly fill this void . the book contains both state-of - the-art papers which summarize our knowledge about particular areas of basque historical linguistics , and articles presenting new hypotheses and points of view based on hard evidence and careful analysis . all contributors to this volume have demonstrated expertise in the topic within basque historical linguistics that their chapter addresses . two classical articles by the late luis michelena are included in english translation . in addition , the book includes studies on diachronic phonology , morphology and syntax . the relation of basque to other languages is also investigated in a couple of chapters . english historical linguistics 1994 . papers from the 8th international conference on english historical linguistics ( 8 icehl , edinburgh , 19-23 september 1994 ) 1996 viii , 403 pp . current issues in linguistic theory , 135 us / canada : cloth : 1 55619 590 7 price : us $ 84 . 00 rest of the world : cloth : 90 272 3639 9 price : hfl . 150 , - - john benjamins publishing web site : http : / / www . benjamins . com for further information via e-mail : service @ benjamins . com this volume offers a selection of 19 papers from those read at the 8th international conference on english historical linguistics . the topics discussed span the whole history of english from the common germanic period to the present century . the book also includes , as appropriate to the conference venue , a number of papers on the aspects of the historical development of scots and scottish english . historical pragmatics . pragmatic developments in the history of english andreas h . jucker ( ed . ) 1995 xvi , 624 pp . pragmatics & beyond new series , 35 us / canada : cloth : 1 55619 328 9 price : us $ 97 . 00 rest of the world : cloth : 90 272 5047 2 price : hfl . 170 , - - john benjamins publishing web site : http : / / www . benjamins . com for further information via e-mail : service @ benjamins . com until very recently , pragmatics has been restricted to the analysis of contemporary spoken language while historical linguistics has studied historical texts and language change in a decontextualized way . this has now radically changed and scholars from around the world are trying to build a new theoretical framework that integrates recent advances both in pragmatics and in historical linguistics . this volume , which contains 22 original titles , starts with an introduction that is both a state-of - the-art account of historical pragmatics and a programmatic statement of its future potential and its different subfields . part i contains seven pragmaphilological papers that deal with historical texts and their interpretations by paying close attention to the communicative context of these texts . the second and third parts comprise papers in diachronic pragmatics . the ten papers of part ii take a linguistic form as their starting point , e . g . particular lexical items or syntactic constructions , and study their pragmatic functions at different times ( diachronic form-to - function mappings ) , while the four papers of part iii take a particular pragmatic function as their starting point . e . g . discourse strategies or politeness , and study their linguistic realisation at different times ( diachronic function-to - form mappings ) . contributions by : c . allen ; u . bach ; h . bergrer ; e . bern = e1rdez & p . tejada ; m . fludernik : g . fritz ; w . h = fcllen ; a . jacobs & a . jucker ; r . kopytko ; s . kryk - kastovsky ; j . lennard ; j . de lima ; p . navarro - errasti ; t , nevalainen & h . raumolin - brunberg ; n . onodera ; g . ronberg , s . schwenter & e . traugott ; i . taavistainen ; t . virtanen ; k . wales ; s . w = e5rvik ; r . watts semitic and indo-european : the principal etymologies . with observations on afro-asiatic saul levin 1995 xxii , 514 pp . current issues in linguistic theory , 129 us / canada : cloth : 1 55619 583 4 price : us $ 97 . 00 rest of the world : cloth : 90 272 3632 1 price : hfl . 170 , - - john benjamins publishing web site : http : / / www . benjamins . com for further information via e-mail : service @ benjamins . com this volume presents the key examples of morphological correspondences between indo - european and semitic languages , afforded by nouns , verbal roots , pronouns , prepositions , and numerals . its focus is on shared morphology embodied in the cognate vocabulary . the facts that are brought out in this volume do not fit comfortably within either the indo - europeanists ' or the semitists ' conception of the prehistoric development of their languages . nonetheless they are so fundamental that many would take them for evidence of a single original source , ' proto - nostratic ' . in this book , however , it is considered unsettled whether proto - ie and proto - semitic had a common forerunner . but the ie - semitic combinations testify at least to prehistoric language communities in truly intimate contact . questions ? contact bernie keck email : service @ benjamins . com
