TY - BOOK ID - 1995899 TI - Linguistic reconstruction : an introduction to theory and method PY - 1995 SN - 0198700016 0198700008 9780198700012 9780198700005 PB - Oxford : Oxford University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Historical linguistics KW - Comparative linguistics KW - Reconstruction (Linguistics) KW - Typology (Linguistics) KW - Linguistique comparée KW - Linguistique historique KW - Reconstruction (Linguistique) KW - Typologie (Linguistique) KW - Methodology KW - Méthodologie KW - -Comparative linguistics KW - Grammar, Comparative and general KW - Language and languages KW - Linguistic typology KW - Linguistics KW - Linguistic universals KW - Internal reconstruction (Linguistics) KW - Protolanguages KW - Comparative philology KW - Philology, Comparative KW - Diachronic linguistics KW - Dynamic linguistics KW - Evolutionary linguistics KW - Language and history KW - Typology KW - Classification KW - History KW - Comparative linguistics. KW - Methodology. KW - Reconstruction (Linguistics). KW - Typology (Linguistics). KW - Linguistique comparée KW - Méthodologie KW - Reconstruction linguistique KW - Méthode comparative. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:1995899 AB - How and why are languages constantly changing? Historical lingustics seeks to find out by going beyond the history of individual languages to discover the general principles which underlie language change. But our evidence is severely limited. Most of the world's languages are still unwritten, and even in areas with long written traditions, such as Europe and the Near East, documentary evidence stretches only a little way back along the path of the historical development of languages. How, then, can we uncover our long linguistic prehistory, and what can it tell us about language change? This new textbook is an accessible general guide for students with an elementary knowledge of linguistics to the methods and theoretical bases of linguistic reconstruction, and of newer, less well established principles such as the application of linguistic universals and language typology, and quantitative techniques. Finally he reviews the principles for establishing language relationships and for uncovering information about the homelands and cultures of the prehistoric speakers of reconstructed languages. ER -