The World's Major Languages

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference for linguists of all levels
Review: Ever wondered how a particular language functions? Well, this book is the one to use! It includes grammatical sketches of languages with sizeable amounts of native speakers. Each section generally contains the some of the following about a language: brief historical background, phonology, morphology, syntax, and if it's not written in Roman letters, a chart for that particular alphabet/syllabary. One of the things I particular liked was giving word-for-word translations then giving a free one. This gives me an idea on how languages like German, Japanese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, etc. form their sentences (like SVO, VSO, SOV). And also for some languages, like Polish and Spanish, it lists the allophones for a phoneme. A word of advice, I highly recommend having at least some knowledge in linguistic terminology and in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), since this book uses them extensively. This is one reference work that you should definitely have.

Rating:
Summary: The Tower of Babel of Language Books
Review: One of the best books on languages, "The World's Major Languages," is a must have for all those who want to undertand the complexity and origins of many of the world's major languages. As the title reads, the book discusses the world's major languages in order by their origin groups (e.g. Teutonic/Germanic, Romance, Slavic, etc...) and Comrie in my opinion is the best author when it comes to distinguishing languages.

At 1,025 pages, this book gives an extensive history and study of most of the major languages. While one reviewer on this forum was upset that Native American languages weren't cover, I feel that Mr. Comrie did his best in discussing only those languages with over 10 million present-day speakers.

I feel it would be important for many interested in cultural politics where language places a major role in dividing a nation or region (e.g. Canada/Quebec, Flemish & Walloons in Belgium, Puerto Rico & U.S., Spain's central government and Catalans and Basques) to read this book. I feel that the only lanaguage that wasn;t covered but should have been was Catalan, seeing that over 13 million people speak it and it is the 7th most spoken in the European Union (although it is not officially recognized by the organization). Besides this omission, this is one of the nest books I have read in years! A must-read for anyone interested in languages and culture.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful survey
Review: The only thing I can say negative about this book is that it came out in hardcover first, for nearly $100, and after I bought that, the paperback came out at a third of the price. It is one of only a couple of books for which I was ever willing to pay that much money, and that alone should be a clue as to how much I liked it.

There are chapters on most of the important languages of the world, as well as some of the language families that include these languages. Each chapter is by a different expert (actually, a few people wrote more than one chapter), and so there is some unevenness in the treatment. But in general, each of the single-language chapters gives a relatively detailed summary of the grammar and vocabulary of the language it covers; the language-family chapters describe the common features of languages in the family. The level of detail is not that of a textbook in the language, but rather enough to give someone like myself (interested in linguistics, but not fluent in anything but my own native English) a good feeling for how the language works.

The first book of this type that I ever saw was Mario Pei's "The World's Chief Languages." This book goes into more detail on any individual language than Pei's book did, but covers a smaller number of languages (though more varied ones). It belongs in the library of anyone who wants to know a little bit of how a lot of languages work.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent 1-volume reference
Review: This is a wonderfully thick, dense, wide-ranging piece of work. If you love delving into the complexities and peculiarities of individual languages, you could get lost in this book for hours on end. I checked out every section on a language &/or family that I'm well informed about, and found the info solid and trustworthy throughout.

The contributors are mostly British and American academic linguists, each of whom wrote a section. While there are differences in style--some iron-gray academic, some a bit more lively and colloquial--each author makes sure that each language receives coverage on all its levels. An abundance of examples and explanations ensures that the descriptions, though highly technical and dense, do not lapse into obscurity. This is probably the best 1-volume work of its kind that I have seen. Its only drawback is that some of the world's most interesting languages (such as Basque and other isolates; pidgins & creoles; and some Native American and Australian languages) receive little space due to the avowed focus on languages with large numbers of speakers. A volume which included sections on minor languages / families would more accurately represent the great variety that exists in languages throughout the world.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent survey of the world's languages
Review: This is easily one of the most useful books a student of linguistics, especially one interested in typology and language variation, could possibly have. I have often turned to it to satisfy my curiosity about a particular language or language family, and I have never been disappointed. The articles, all written by specialists in the language in question, are excellent, the typeface is very pleasant, and the binding is highly durable, suitable for constant use. The only complaint I could make would be about the choice of languages. I realize that only "the world's major languages" were supposed to be covered in this volume, but I would have liked to see an article on a Native American language (say, Quechua), or at least one on Native American languages in general. Aside from that, though, this book is wonderfully complete, and I have found it to be unmatched as a quick reference. It's probably my favorite non-fiction book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent survey of the world's languages
Review: This is easily one of the most useful books a student of linguistics, especially one interested in typology and language variation, could possibly have. I have often turned to it to satisfy my curiosity about a particular language or language family, and I have never been disappointed. The articles, all written by specialists in the language in question, are excellent, the typeface is very pleasant, and the binding is highly durable, suitable for constant use. The only complaint I could make would be about the choice of languages. I realize that only "the world's major languages" were supposed to be covered in this volume, but I would have liked to see an article on a Native American language (say, Quechua), or at least one on Native American languages in general. Aside from that, though, this book is wonderfully complete, and I have found it to be unmatched as a quick reference. It's probably my favorite non-fiction book.