Historical Linguistics : An Introduction (Second Edition)

Rating:
Summary: C. is a more lucid writer than other authors in this field.
Review: Campbell is a more lucid writer other authors in historical linguistics (one for example, Theodora Bynon's Historical Linguistics) are, since he describes 'seven steps' of the comparative method and 'four steps' of the method of internal reconstruction. In these steps, technically reductio ad absurdum and ad hominem is employed in 'directionality' to argue for direction of change from a phoneme to another (pp.116, 203-204). Also is employed ex concesso in 'the majority-wins principles' (p. 117) and 'factoring in features held in common' (p. 118) to postulate a phoneme for a proto-language sound. In a word, as a graduate student in linguistics I can unquestionably recommend that a learner of historical linguistics study this book.

Rating:
Summary: An amateur's opinion:
Review: I don't intend to provide the opinion of a professional linguist, though I am a translator, I speak several languages and I sometimes read books on linguistics as a nerdy hobby. Therefore, my perspective is limited to the book's value for other readers like myself, though I realize that the vast majority of people who purchase the book will probably be linguistics students.

In any case, the book is excellent and provides a thorough overview of the subject of historical linguistics. In a very well-organized manner, the book presents each of the concepts, terms and definitions and then provides excellent examples from languages with which the author is familiar. I sometimes felt the explanations to be slightly hard to follow, but of course I am not a linguistics student. The examples provided afterwards cleared up these doubts in most cases. Some of the more in-depth examples are fascinating, such as the closer look at the history of the Gypsies' language over time and space.

Perhaps the only thing I sometimes found annoying was the variety of languages used to provide examples. Campbell often uses Mesoamerican languages and Finnish in his examples, and I don't happen to be familiar with either, which caused me to lose interest at certain points. It would have been nice to have a few more examples from African, Asian and Pacific languages, as well as the many examples from American and European languages.