Words of the World: The Global Language System Hardcover - 2001 - 1st Edition
by De Swaan, A
- Used
- Hardcover
Description
Standard delivery: 7 to 20 days
Details
- Title Words of the World: The Global Language System
- Author De Swaan, A
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition number 1st
- Edition 1
- Pages 272
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Polity Press
- Date 2001
- Bookseller's Inventory # 9169642
- ISBN 9780745627472 / 0745627471
- Weight 1.11 lbs (0.50 kg)
- Dimensions 9.32 x 5.92 x 0.99 in (23.67 x 15.04 x 2.51 cm)
- Library of Congress subjects Language and languages - Philosophy, Language policy
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2001036802
- Dewey Decimal Code 401
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First line
From the rear cover
The human species is divided into more than five thousand language groups that do not understand each other. And yet these groups constitute one coherent world language system, connected by multilingual speakers in a surprisingly powerful way. The chances of a language thriving depend on its position in the system. There are thousands of small, peripheral languages, each connected to one of a hundred central languages. The entire system is held together by one global language: English. A language is a 'hypercollective' good: the more speakers it has, the higher its communication value for each one of them. Thus, when people think that a language is gaining new speakers, that in itself is a reason for them to want to learn it too. That is why, in an age of globalization, only a few languages remain for transnational communication and these often prevail even in national societies.
This important book discusses a number of specific constellations in detail: India, Indonesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and the European Union. De Swaan concludes by providing a sober but illuminating view of language policy in multilingual societies. This book will be essential reading for those studying sociology, communication studies and linguistics.
