Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World |
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| Title: | Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World |
| Author: | Nicholas Ostler |
| Publisher: | HarperPerennial |
| Type: | Book / Paperback |
| Publication Date: | 18 September, 2006 |
| ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0007118716 / 9780007118717 |
| List Price: | £16.99 |
| You Save: | £6.46 |
| Amazon Price: | £10.53 |
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This book is also available, brand-new, from 3rd-party marketplace sellers at Amazon UK, from £9.63.
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
[ Unable to obtain editorial review or publisher's summary at present ]
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Customer Reviews:
• A Fascinating Study
14 August, 2007
This book seeks to examine the history of the world through the spread of languages and the empires that built those languages. Usually these subjects have been completely seperate. There has always been the history of empires such as Rome or the early Arabian empire of Islam. There has also been linguistical studies of language, such as Languadoc or Mandarin Chinese. Obviously the two are intertwined but no one has ever attempted a complete synthesis of the two.
This book fills this void and in doing so sheds light on why some languages suceed and other fail, why some die out(Coptic, Aramaic and Greek in the East) and others are brilliantly successful and rarely pushed back(Arabic and English). It also does a great deal of comparison, examining Coptic/Egyptian and Chinese as 'triumphs of fertility' and how each coped with foreign invasions differently.
The maps are brilliant and shed light on long forgotten histories such as Christianity in Iraq and Iran.
There is a wonderful chapter on Sanskrit and its development in India and its spread and subsequent decline in South and Southeast Asia. There are chapters on the well known histories of Greek and Latin and lesser known examinations of the role of Greek in Asia. The chapter on Celtic(Run) is fascinating.
The last third of the book examines languages borne by the sea, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and English.
One of the most readable and original books of the year.
Seth J. Frantzman
- Amazon Customer Review
• Not (really) For Linguists
04 December, 2008
Intended to be, as the author states in the last page, a study in diachronic sociolinguistics (that is a study of the varying social ranks and uses of several world languages through time) this ponderous essay will probably bear interest for the non specialists because it is well researched and nearly everywhere clear.
Quite often I found myself thinking about a well written article for a quality magazine aimed at educated readers.
Mr Ostler does not include every language, just those that at some time during their history acquired, for a variety of reasons, the status of world languages (that is languages spoken in many different nations), beginning with Sumerian and concluding with English.
He tries, and nearly always succeeds, to avoid the odious self-congratulary attitude of most western language historians who try to demonstrate that English (or French or whatever) was inevitably bound to acquire its dominating position among the languages of the world due to a vaguely explained superiority in both structure and "spirit".
Proof of this is the sheer number of pages dedicated to exotic languages such as Sumerian, Akkadian and Aramaic, often and unjustly neglected in their role of beacon of a civilisation far more advanced than what we usually think.
Only a rather cursory depiction of Sub-saharian and Turkic languages, possibly the least known to him, spoils this sensible approach.
As an amateur linguist myself I was mildly interested in the chapters about the non Indo-European languages because I lack a comprehensive information about them.
Yet, at the end of each chapter I found myself disappointed: the information provided is seldom more than superficial. Had he been more thorough the book would probably have topped the 1000 pages and probably lost the interest of the general educated reader but this is how I felt.
The chapters about Indo-European languages and, curiously enough, that about modern English were of no use at all to me but I suppose could interest those without previous knowledge of the subject.
Waiting for a second augmented edition that might never come out, this book is better left unread by linguists who will be able to do little more than commend the erudition of its author. The book could also represent a useful tool for undergraduate students of literature, linguistics and history.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Wonderful Book
09 September, 2007
Ok, i bought this at the British Museum so i was expecting heavyweight but its actually REALLY readable- TIP if you get to a paragraph with letters with funny squiggles or lines (apparently its how youre supposed to pronounce it a different way but theres little in the way of glossary to help) just ignore it and skip to the next paragraph- YOU DONT MISS ANYTHING!
Otherwise a REALLY good read, Ive been so caught up in Archaeology/Genetics ive never considered looking at history from a linguistic point of view - Its fascinating, and this is detailed without being too wordy ..Best read ive had in months
- Amazon Customer Review
• Dreadful Paper
24 May, 2008
I don't want to comment on the books contents, mereley the paper it is printed on. My copy, Harper Collins hard back 2005 edition published at £30. Printed on the cheapest paper they could find, after a couple of years looks like it has been dipped in tea. I have 60 year old books which look newer. Shame one them, they have no pride in what they produce.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Audacious Scope, Masterly Execution
17 July, 2007
The subject of the rise and fall of the great world languages embraces by necessity nearly every area of human endeavour, not least political, economic, cultural and social history as well as linguistics. Although such vast scope naturally limits the range and depth of discussion the author handles this by concentrating on several major cases studies of languages which spread successfully or notably failed to do so. Each of these studies is handled with admirable insight and even-handedness. Such balance is particularly appreciated in an area so closely associated with national identity and pride - even the two current global leaders (English and Mandarin Chinese) are examined with a careful eye to the possible causes of their eventual decline and reminders of how even seemingly unstoppable languages before them are now fallen from use (Akkadian, anyone?).
Given the immensity of its subject, such an overview has of course to gloss over much of the detail. It is impressive that you hardly notice this; there are many detailed and useful maps, a delightful selection of literary quotations (given in original language and English translation) and, unusually for such "big idea" books, an aversion to unqualified generalisations. Moreover, in the few subjects discussed where I would consider myself to be more knowledgeable than the average educated layman I found nothing that I could disagree with or that indicated shoddy research. It would be interesting to know if linguists had a similar experience. In summary, a mind-opening book that makes one ashamed to be a monoglot!
- Amazon Customer Review
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