'Language Empires' is one of the few works that deals with the comprehensive history of languages in the world , through which it helps to visualize human history from the perspective of language.
The book by author Nicholas Ostler - an in-depth researcher of 26 languages in the world, first released to the public in 2005 in England, has been praised by many prestigious newspapers.
The book's content is divided into 4 parts, 14 chapters, with 2 main contents: Drawing a map of the languages being used around the world, pointing out their origins and relationships; Talking about the "rise" and "decline" of popular languages such as Greek, Latin and the causes of those ups and downs.
Ostler argues that linguistic features do make a difference, with the aim of explaining why a language becomes important, can spread far and last long. At the same time, he discusses the relationship between language and politics , religion, commerce, society, culture, etc. He compares languages at a macro level based on historical aspects rather than going into the details of the polity of language such as grammar or phonology.
In the book, the author considers Akkadian, Aramaic, and Arabic, the West Semitic languages that succeeded each other in the civilizations and empires of the Middle East, and considers Chinese and Egyptian, as vehicles of great cultural traditions. In addition, the book also discusses Sanskrit, Greek, Celtic, Roman, German, Slavic, etc.
The two short chapters that transition between parts 1 and 2 of the book deal respectively with the first and second demise of Latin, when it lost its monopoly in Europe in academia and when it remained only in scripture, not used in everyday communication.
In the modern period, the author discusses Spanish in the New World, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and Russian, as a contrast to the history of English.
The book concludes with a survey of the top 20 languages, and a summary of past, present, and potential future factors influencing the spread of languages.
The book's interest lies in its discussion of the history of human language from a broader perspective, including the specific history of individual languages and the relationships between languages, as well as the connection between language and human history.
The book is very suitable for readers who want to have an overview of the history of development and ups and downs of major languages around the world, or want to know about the origin - "family" relationship of popular languages such as: English, Chinese, Spanish.
Phuong Hoa (According to vietnamnet.vn)
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