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Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World (Paperback)

~ Nicholas Ostler (Author) "From the language point of view, the present population of the world is not six billion, but something over six thousand..." (more)
Key Phrases: lenguas generales, lengua general, language prestige, South-East Asia, Black Sea, North Africa (more...)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ostler's ambitious and accessible book is not a technical linguistic study—i.e., it's not concerned with language structure—but about the "growth, development and collapse of language communities" and their cultures. Chairman of the Foundation of Endangered Languages, Ostler's as fascinated by extinction as he is by survival. He thus traces the fortunes of Sumerian, Akkadian and Aramaic in the flux of ancient Middle Eastern military empires. Ancient Egyptian's three millennia of stability compares with the longevity of similarly pictographic Chinese—and provides a cautionary example: even a populous, well-defined linguistic community can vanish. In all cases, Ostler stresses the role of culture, commerce and conquest in the rise and fall of languages, whether Spanish, Portuguese and French in the Americas or Dutch in Asia and Africa. The rise of English to global status, Ostler argues, owes much to the economic prestige of the Industrial Revolution, but its future as a lingua franca may falter on demographic trends, such as booming birth rates in China. This stimulating book is a history of the world as seen through the spread and demise of languages. Maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Caesar led his legions into battle for the glory of Rome--and the immortality of Greek. In the curious spread of Greek through Roman conquest, Ostler recounts one of the many fascinating episodes in the complex history of languages. The resources of the cultural historian complement those of the comparative linguist in this capacious work, which sets the parameters for a new field of scholarship: "language dynamics." By peering over Ostler's shoulder into this new field, readers learn how languages ancient and modern (Sumerian and Egyptian; Spanish and English) spread and how they dwindle. The raw force of armies counts, of course, in determining language fortunes but for far less than the historically naive might suppose: military might failed to translate into lasting linguistic conquest for the Mongols, Turks, or Russians. Surprisingly, trade likewise proves weak in spreading a language--as the Phoenician and Dutch experiences both show. In contrast, immigration and fertility powerfully affect the fate of languages, as illustrated by the parallel histories of Egyptian and Chinese. Ostler explores the ways modern technologies of travel and communication shape language fortunes, but he also highlights the power of ancient faiths--Christian and Moslem, Buddhist and Hindu--to anchor language traditions against rapid change. Of particular interest will be Ostler's provocative conjectures about a future in which Mandarin or Arabic take the lead or in which English fractures into several tongues. Few books bring more intellectual excitement to the study of language. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

Paperback: 640 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial (June 27, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060935723
ISBN-13: 978-0060935726
Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #43,422 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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First Sentence:
From the language point of view, the present population of the world is not six billion, but something over six thousand. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
lenguas generales, lengua general, language prestige, linguistic impact, language spread, prestige language, linguistic effects

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
South-East Asia, Black Sea, North Africa, North America, East Indies, Fertile Crescent, Indian Ocean, Middle East, Near East, Sri Lanka, British Isles, East India Company, Red Sea, Norman French, Silk Road, Old English, Sri Vijaya, New England, South Africa, Asia Minor, Bay of Bengal, First World War, Hindu Kush, Mandarin Chinese, Second World War

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 100 books:

English as a Global Language by David Crystal on page 543, and Back Matter
Linguistic Imperialism (Oxford Applied Linguistics) by Robert Phillipson in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Noctes atticae by Aulus Gellius in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Literature and Dogma by Arnold Arnold on page 516
The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People by Tim Flannery in Back Matter

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Sociolinguistics by Peter Stockwell

Discusses:

Analyzing English in a Global Context by Anne Burns

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The Oxford History of English by Lynda Mugglestone

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English by David Graddol

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	7% buy Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English 4.2 out of 5 stars (27) $8.78
	4% buy The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention 4.6 out of 5 stars (31) $11.56

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Customer Reviews

39 Reviews

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151 of 153 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History speaks!, August 1, 2005

By	Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World (Hardcover)

This impressive work is a study of language dynamics over five millennia. Ostler deals with the birth, rise and decline of those languages that spread most widely through history, and the factors that played a part, like trade, conquest and culture. Of course the book is also by definition a history of civilization. The narrative begins in Sumeria and ends with English as the most important international language of today. The author rightly observes that the study of language history and historical linguistics will be mutually rewarding. He also attempts to indirectly capture the inward history of languages & the subtle mindsets that characterize individual ones, especially as regards the abandonment of mother tongues for new languages.

Part Two: Languages by Land, looks at the Middle & Far East: Sumerian, Akkadian, Phoenician, Aramaic, Arabic, Turkish & Persian, Egyptian & Chinese whilst chapters 5 & 6 considers Sanskrit & Greek respectively. The last two chapters deal with Celtic, Latin, German & Slavic. Part Three: Languages by Sea, explores the spread of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and the remarkable career of English. Part Four deals with the current Top 20 languages and reflects on the meaning and implications of the global survey.

The life-spans of languages differ greatly; if one compares Latin with Greek, for instance, Greek continued to thrive under Roman hegemony alongside Latin and eventually supplanted Latin again in the Byzantine Empire. Some significant civilizational languages like Latin and Sanskrit have all but died as spoken tongues, but they gave birth to rich families of related languages, whilst Old Chinese's pictographic script still serves its daughter languages very well.

A major change occurred around the 16th century when the European voyages of discovery spread the languages of Europe far and wide to the Americas, Africa and Asia. Launched by trade, these languages became tongues of empire through conquest. In that way Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and English spread around the globe. Dutch gave rise to the vibrant Afrikaans in Southern Africa and lingers on in some form or other in Suriname and on some tiny Caribbean islands but has disappeared from Indonesia. French & Russian are in decline, having lost much prestige and many speakers the last few decades.

Ostler differentiates between languages that grew organically (like Chinese) and those that grew by "merger and acquisition". Of the former, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more than a billion people whilst English with around 500 million, is in second place. Hindi (derived from Sanskrit) is third with about 490 million, followed by Spanish in 4th place with 418 million speakers. Of course as a second language, English is of greater global importance than Mandarin. The book is full of fascinating facts and stuff that will appeal to linguists and hobbyists alike. For example: There are an estimated 7000 linguistic communities today, but at least half of them are on the verge of extinction with fewer than 5000 speakers. Within one generation many of these languages will disappear.

Migration was the primary cause of language spread. Global navigation arrived later and today we have electronic communication. There is an interesting passage of speculation on the future of English. Ostler identifies prestige & learnability as the two main growth factors in creating a larger human community. The first might offer wealth, wisdom or literary enjoyment to attract speakers. The ability to learn a new language depends on structural similarities between the population group's existing language & the new one. Owing to structural correspondences, Arabic took root where Afro-Asiatic languages like Egyptian & Aramaic were spoken but it could not displace Persian or Spanish. It is well known that speakers of Japanese learn Turkish easily but battle with English for the same reason.

For those interested in the many facets of language, I also recommend: On the Origin of Languages and A Guide to the World's Languages by Merritt Ruhlen, The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher, Genes, Peoples, and Languages & The Great Human Diasporas by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza plus The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language by John McWhorter. As a linguistic history of the world, Empires Of The Word is unique, highly readable and a valuable reference source. It contains many tables & figures as well as beautiful and informative maps. This well-researched and absorbing work concludes with notes, an index and a bibliography.

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82 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History and languages, July 3, 2005

By	C�sar Gonz�lez Rouco (Madrid, Madrid Spain) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World (Hardcover)

This book tells the history of the world through the rise and decline of languages. Nicholas Ostler has confined himself to languages that have been written down and which have spread geographically. They include Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Chinese, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and the main European languages.

Of the approximately 7,000 language communities in the world today, more than half have fewer than 5,000 speakers, and 1,000 fewer than a dozen: many will be extinct within a generation. At the top of the 20 global languages is Mandarin Chinese, which has 1.052 billion speakers, more than twice as many as the next highest, English, with 508 million. Third is Hindi with 487 million and fourth Spanish, with 417 million. How have these linguistic communities been created? Why have some flourished while others languished?

From the author's picture, it is clear that there is no single model. The most important factors in the spread of languages have generally been conquest, migration, economic might and religion. But to succeed, what a language needs above all is prestige, or the ability to attract speakers.

Besides looking back to the origins of the written word, Ostler speculates about the future. In 50 years, he argues, Chinese will probably still be the most widely spoken language, while English, at least as a native language, might have stagnated.

Ostler's writing is easily readible and he keeps things going with plenty of anecdotes and interesting facts. So I daresay that this is a book that can be savoured by the professional historian and educated layperson alike. Besides, the book is not a difficult read (content: 5 starts; pleasure: 4 to 5).

Additionally, as a complement to "Empires of the Word", I would also suggest reading the following works, whose scope is as amazingly global as Ostler's: 1. Agrarian cultures: "Pre-industrial societies" by Patricia Crone; 2. Economy: "The world economy. A millennial perspective" (2001) plus "The world economy: Historical Statistics" (2003) by Angus Maddison (a combined edition of these two volumes is to appear on December 2007); 3. Government: "The History of Government" by S.E. Finer; 4 Ideas: "Ideas, a History from Fire to Freud", by Peter Watson; 5. Religion: "The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach" by Moojan Momen; and 6. War: "War in Human Civilization" by Azar Gat.

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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars who wrote what when & where... & why?, July 25, 2005

By	Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World (Hardcover)

Rebeccasreads highly recommends EMPIRES OF THE WORD as a dense, fascinating, informative & accessible read.

At 640 pages with Notes, Bibliography & Index, it will certainly get the world of words talking, in all their various tongues.

What were the origins of language, & where & when did they start?
Why did Latin die when the Roman Empire collapsed & Greek survive?
Outside of the Middle East why is Arabic primarily the language of liturgy?
How did Chinese thrive even after millenia of conquests from outsiders?
How far from home did Sanskrit roam?
What languages did the Spanish conquistadors kill off?
How did European languages stay alive despite constant oppression?
What is the real career of English?
What are the Current Top Twenty languages of the world today, & is their future secured?

EMPIRES OF THE WORD is the way I love to learn history, telling the stories of our mother tongues. Sure there are armies marching across the globe bringing with them, besides war & pestilence, commerce, language & interpreters. There are explorers sailing the seven seas making landfall in strange places among stranger peoples, taking home unknown commodities & new words for them. There were also merchants who travelled overland, exchanging goods, customs & translations. All took their languages with them, becoming multi-lingual & creating new ones with which to barter & carry on diplomacy.

Just one question: were the Fertile Crescent writers predominantly left-handed, & when & where did we start writing left to right?

Outstanding!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars should be "A Language history of the WEST"
first of all, i admit that it is a magnificent book with decent introduction to Western language history, and i did learn a lot from this book. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Sai Li

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring!
this book is really boring I bought it for a class and I totally hate reading it. I'm half way through and I'm only on ch.5! The chapters are soooooooooo!!!! long! Read more

Published 5 months ago by D. Cossio

1.0 out of 5 stars Unreadable
This book is very advanced and I feel I should caution anyone purchasing this book at an undergraduate level. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Jacqueline

5.0 out of 5 stars Magisterial but fresh view of human history
Ostler has created a history of all of humanity, in so much as such a thing can be achieved in a single volume, on a basis unlike any other I have encountered. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Elliott Bignell

4.0 out of 5 stars Following the roads out of Babel
This is a heavy book, with about 600 dense pages, that give a thorough background into the history of the languages we speak. Read more

Published 7 months ago by T. Rodgers

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique perspective on language
A great book looking at languages from a very unique perspective: who spoke them and how did they travel throughout the world? Read more

Published 12 months ago by I. Holder

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written and suited for hardcore history buffs
I agree 100% with the other reviewers who gave this book a low rating. The topic of how cultures have affected language is an interesting one, but Ostler managed to suck any... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Freymur

1.0 out of 5 stars The guy can't write
The author is apparently unable to distinguish between important, significant ideas and sheer trivia. It's nice (for the author) to know all those minute little facts. Read more

Published 13 months ago by GilP

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific survey of world history through a linguists eyes
This book will be far more interesting to the intelligent student of history than the student of linguistics, for the simple reason that Ostler uses the evolution of language as a... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Jim McCabe

5.0 out of 5 stars One Piece Missing
Great book but missing one key element. Had Ostler started this book with his discussion of communications technologies, now on p. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Francis McInerney

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