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From the earliest surviving glossaries and translations to nineteenth-century academic philology and the growth of linguistics during the twentieth century, language has been the subject both of scholarly investigation and of practical handbooks produced for the upwardly mobile, as well as for travellers, traders, soldiers, missionaries and explorers. This collection will reissue a wide range of texts pertaining to language, including the work of Latin grammarians, groundbreaking early publications in Indo-European studies, accounts of indigenous languages, many of them now extinct, and texts by pioneering figures such as Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Ferdinand de Saussure.

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171 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Linguistics

Page 7 of 9

Indogermanische Grammatik
  • Volume 1, Einleitung. I. Etymologie. II Konsonantismus
  • Hermann Alfred Hirt
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1927
  • Hermann Alfred Hirt (1865–1936) taught Greek, Latin and early Germanic languages at Leipzig University from 1892 to 1912 before moving to the chair of Sanskrit and comparative linguistics at Giessen. Born around the time when Bopp and Schleicher were publishing their ground-breaking work on Indo-European, and a young man when Brugmann published his monumental comparative grammar (all available in this series), Hirt began this seven-volume grammar in the 1920s soon after the exciting discovery of Tocharian and the decipherment of Hittite. The project arose out of his extensive research on the historical phonology of Indo-European vowels, which led him to consider much wider issues. Volume 1 (1927) introduces the Indo-European language family, its origins and subgroups, discusses etymology, roots and semantic shift, and analyses the Indo-European consonant system.

Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia
  • Baldwin Spencer
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    16 September 2010
    First published in:
    1914
  • Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer (1860–1929) was a British Australian biologist and anthropologist, best known for his work amongst the indigenous Aboriginal tribes of Australia. After graduating from Exeter College, Oxford in 1884 Spencer was elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford in 1886 before being appointed the Professor of Biology at the University of Melbourne. In 1911 Spencer was appointed Special Commissioner for Aborigines and undertook fieldwork in the Northern Territories between 1911–1912. This volume, first published in 1914, is the result of his fieldwork. Spencer describes in detail the social customs, kinship structures, marriage ceremonies and religious beliefs of thirteen tribes he encountered in the Northern Territories. Spencer also compares differences and similarities in the religious and social structures of different tribes and includes copious illustrations of religious and political monuments. This volume was the first ethnography of these tribes and provides valuable insights into these societies.

Native Tribes of Central Australia
  • Baldwin Spencer, F. J. Gillen
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    30 September 2010
    First published in:
    1899
  • Sir Baldwin Spencer (1860–1929) was a British/Australian biologist and anthropologist, best known for his work amongst the indigenous Aboriginal tribes of Australia. After graduating from Exeter College, Oxford in 1884, Spencer was elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, before being appointed the Professor of Biology at the University of Melbourne. In 1896 Spencer joined his friend and co-author Francis James Gillen (1855–1912) to undertake fieldwork during the Aboriginal tribal gathering known as the Engwura. This pioneering volume, first published in 1899, is the result of this fieldwork. Spencer and Gillen were initiated as members of the Arunta tribe and became the first Europeans to witness many tribal customs and social structures. The kinship structures, marriage and burial ceremonies and religious beliefs of several tribes are described. This fascinating volume influenced contemporary ideas concerning palaeolithic society and the origins of art and religion.

A Grammar of the Somali Language
  • With Examples in Prose and Verse, and an Account of the Yibir and Midgan Dialects
  • J. W. C. Kirk
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1905
  • Somali is one of the Cushitic family of languages spoken in the horn of Africa and the official language of Somalia. This practical grammar, published in 1905, was prepared by J. W. C. Kirk, who first learnt to speak the language during his service with Somali troops during the British Empire's failed attempt in 1902–1904 to wrest control of the region from the Dervish state under Muhammad Abdullah Hassan. His unique knowledge of the interior of the country and the different tribes making up the population meant that Kirk's insights were invaluable in advancing scholarly knowledge in the West. Perhaps as importantly, Kirk also records a number of literary examples with his translations of Somali stories and songs. Another appendix explores the dialects of the Midgan (or Madhiban) and Yibir, both minority tribes who kept their languages secret from mainstream Somali society.

Grammatici Latini
  • Volume 1, Flavii Sosipatri Charisii Artis Grammaticae Libri V, Diomedis Artis Grammaticae Libri III, ex Charisii Arte Grammatica excerpta
  • Edited by Heinrich Keil
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1857
  • The eight volumes of the Grammatici Latini, published by Teubner between 1855 and 1880 under the general editorship of Heinrich Keil (1822–1894), are an outstanding monument of nineteenth-century German philology. Keil published editions of Propertius and of Pliny's letters before turning to the works of the Latin grammarians, whose attempts to define and describe their own language have influenced the way in which modern researchers in language and linguistics have approached their discipline. Keil's only predecessor in this field was Helias Putsch, who in 1605 published Grammaticae Latinae auctores antiqui; Keil uses the same order in which to present his versions of the texts. The first volume contains the work of Charisius and Diomedes.

Grammatici Latini
  • Volume 5, Artium scriptores minores
  • Edited by Heinrich Keil
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1868
  • The eight volumes of the Grammatici Latini, published by Teubner between 1855 and 1880 under the general editorship of Heinrich Keil (1822–1894), are an outstanding monument of nineteenth-century German philology. Keil published editions of Propertius and of Pliny's letters before turning to the works of the Latin grammarians, whose attempts to define and describe their own language have influenced the way in which modern researchers in language and linguistics have approached their discipline. Keil's only predecessor in this field was Helias Putsch, who in 1605 published Grammaticae Latinae auctores antiqui; Keil uses the same order in which to present his versions of the texts. The fifth volume contains works by Cledonius, Phocas and Eutychus and Macrobius among others.

A Comparative Grammar of the Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, German, and Sclavonic Languages
  • Volume 3
  • Franz Bopp
  • Edited by H.H. Wilson
  • Translated by Edward B. Eastwick
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1850
  • A founding text of comparative philology, Franz Bopp's Vergleichende Grammatik was originally published in parts, beginning in 1833, and by the 1870s had appeared in three editions in German, as well as in English and French translations. Bopp (1791–1867), Professor of Sanskrit at Berlin, set out to prove the relationships between Indo-European languages through detailed description of the grammatical features of Sanskrit compared to those of Zend (Avestan), Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic and German. This translation (1845–50) of Bopp's first edition gave English-speaking scholars access to his important findings. Translated by Edward Backhouse Eastwick (1814–1883), the multi-lingual diplomat and scholar, and edited by Horace Hayman Wilson (1786–1860), Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, this work testifies both to Bopp's magisterial research and to Eastwick's extraordinary skill in translation. This volume continues Bopp's treatment of the verb, and discusses word formation.

Grammatici Latini
  • Volume 8, Anecdota Helvetica quae ad grammaticam Latinam spectant
  • Edited by Heinrich Keil
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1870
  • The eight volumes of the Grammatici Latini, published by Teubner between 1855 and 1880 under the general editorship of Heinrich Keil (1822–1894), are an outstanding monument of nineteenth-century German philology. Keil published editions of Propertius and of Pliny's letters before turning to the works of the Latin grammarians, whose attempts to define and describe their own language have influenced the way in which modern researchers in language and linguistics have approached their discipline. Keil's only predecessor in this field was Helias Putsch, who in 1605 published Grammaticae Latinae auctores antiqui; Keil uses the same order in which to present his versions of the texts. The final volume contains the Anecdota Helvetica, a collection of writings on Latin grammar from the library of the Benedictine abbey at Einsiedeln in Switzerland.

Vom Roroima zum Orinoco
  • Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nordbrasilien und Venezuela in den Jahren 1911–1913
  • Volume 3, Ethnographie
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg
  • Published online:
    03 May 2011
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1923
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg (1872–1924) was a noted German ethnologist and explorer whose work on the indigenous peoples of Brazil and Venezuela is still referred to by anthropologists, ethnologists and linguists today. His most important publication was this five-volume account of his expedition of 1911–1913 from the sandstone mountains bordering Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana through uncharted territory westwards to the Orinoco. Volume 3 describes the material and spiritual culture of a number of tribes, focusing mainly on the Taulipáng (Taurepan) but also covering the Shirianá, Waika, Yekuaná and Guinaú. Topics covered include family life, health, clothing, hunting and fishing, crafts, warfare, belief in spirits, magic and ritual. The book contains an appendix on music, with descriptions of instruments, consideration of musical form and style, and transcriptions of melodies and songs taken from audio recordings. It is illustrated by numerous photographs and sketches.

Vom Roroima zum Orinoco
  • Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nordbrasilien und Venezuela in den Jahren 1911–1913
  • Volume 1, Schilderung der Reise
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg
  • Published online:
    03 May 2011
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1917
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg (1872–1924) was a noted German ethnologist and explorer whose work on the indigenous peoples of Brazil and Venezuela is still consulted by anthropologists, ethnologists and linguists. His most important publication was this five-volume account of his 1911–1913 expedition from the sandstone mountains bordering Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana through uncharted territory westwards to the Orinoco. Volume 1 is a description of the journey, based on the diaries in which Koch-Grünberg recorded his immediate impressions. This entertaining informal travelogue covers a huge variety of topics including insect life, illness, gambling, theft, food supply and hunting, myths and shamanic rituals, as well as the practical difficulties of covering the terrain. Koch-Grünberg vividly describes the individuals he meets, and his reactions to his experiences, ranging from fury and frustration to amusement, admiration, and gratitude. The book has over fifty illustrations, mostly the author's own photographs.

Vom Roroima zum Orinoco
  • Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nordbrasilien und Venezuela in den Jahren 1911–1913
  • Volume 4, Sprachen
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg
  • Published online:
    03 May 2011
    Print publication:
    28 January 2010
    First published in:
    1928
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg (1872–1924) was a noted German ethnologist and explorer whose work on the indigenous peoples of Brazil and Venezuela is still consulted by anthropologists, ethnologists and linguists. His most important book is this five-volume account of his expedition of 1911–1913 from the sandstone mountains bordering Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana through uncharted territory westwards to the Orinoco. Volume 4 contains the linguistic data collected on the expedition, including a grammatical description of Taulipáng (Taurepan) with word lists and texts. Eighteen further languages and dialects, seven of them previously unknown, are also represented, mostly by word lists with phonetic transcriptions using the 'Anthropos' system. Three languages were already facing extinction, four were language isolates, and several had previously been described only briefly. This truly ground-breaking work provided a linguistic overview of the greater part of a large geographical area, and a foundation for much future research.

Vom Roroima zum Orinoco
  • Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nordbrasilien und Venezuela in den Jahren 1911–1913
  • Volume 5, Typen-Atlas
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg
  • Published online:
    03 May 2011
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1923
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg (1872–1924) was a noted German ethnologist and explorer whose work on the indigenous peoples of Brazil and Venezuela is still consulted by anthropologists, ethnologists and linguists today. His most important publication was this five-volume account of his expedition of 1911–1913 from the sandstone mountains bordering Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana through uncharted territory westwards to the Orinoco. Volume 5 contains 185 photographs of individuals and groups selected from around 350 taken by the author. His intention was to provide data on the physical characteristics of the tribes he encountered before the distinctions between them became blurred or vanished. Exact measurements and precise ages are not provided, but the author explains how individuals are related, gives their indigenous and 'Christian' names and social status, and provides a 'pen-portrait' for people he came to know personally. A short introduction provides contextualising information about geography and population.

Across Australia
  • Volume 2
  • Baldwin Spencer, F. J. Gillen
  • Published online:
    26 April 2011
    Print publication:
    30 September 2010
    First published in:
    1912
  • Eminent biologist Sir Baldwin Spencer (1860–1929) was born in Lancashire but moved to Australia to take up the chair in biology at the University of Melbourne in 1887. As a member of the 1894 Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia, Spencer made the acquaintance of F. J. Gillen, an advocate of Aboriginal rights, with whom he later formed a working partnership. Spencer and Gillen returned to Alice Springs in Central Australia in 1896–1897, to carry out observations on the local Aboriginal tribe, the Arunta. These observations were published in 1899, in The Native Tribes of Central Australia (also reissued in this series), which represented the most comprehensive study of Aboriginal customs. Gillen and Spencer continued to undertake fieldwork until 1903. Volume 2 of Across Australia (published in two volumes in 1912) describes Aboriginal tribes of the present-day Northern Territory, between Alice Springs and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Across Australia
  • Volume 1
  • Baldwin Spencer, F. J. Gillen
  • Published online:
    26 April 2011
    Print publication:
    30 September 2010
    First published in:
    1912
  • Eminent biologist Sir Baldwin Spencer (1860–1929) was born in Lancashire but moved to Australia to take up the chair in biology at the University of Melbourne in 1887. As a member of the 1894 Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia, Spencer made the acquaintance of F. J. Gillen, an advocate of Aboriginal rights, with whom he later formed a working partnership. Spencer and Gillen returned to Alice Springs in Central Australia in 1896–1897, to carry out observations on the local Aboriginal tribe, the Arunta. These observations were published in 1899, in The Native Tribes of Central Australia (also reissued in this series), which represented the most comprehensive study of Aboriginal customs and habits. Gillen and Spencer continued to undertake fieldwork until 1903. Volume 1 of Across Australia (published in two volumes in 1912) describes the region's topography, and the customs and beliefs of the Arunta.

Vergleichungstafeln der europaïschen Stamm-Sprachen und Süd-, West- Asiatischer
  • Edited by Johann Severin Vater
  • Rasmus Rask, Christian Wilhelm Ahlwardt
  • Published online:
    04 April 2011
    Print publication:
    02 November 2010
    First published in:
    1822
  • Johann Severin Vater (1771–1826) was professor of theology and Oriental languages at Halle, but his linguistic interests also included Slavonic and Native North American languages. This book, first published in 1822, was a landmark publication of the first generation of Indo-European comparative philology, and was intended as a resource for future comparative study. It includes a substantial contribution by Rasmus Rask, the influential and prolific early Danish linguist, comparing members of the 'Thracian' family of languages, as he called Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Slavonic and Germanic (including Old Norse), which he had proved to be related. Vater translated this so as to make it available to linguists who could not access the original Danish edition. In addition there are chapters on Albanian, Gaelic, and Georgian (which later research showed to be a Caucasian language), and the book includes numerous comparative tables for easy reference.

Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einflu§ auf die geistige Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechts
  • Wilhelm von Humboldt
  • Published online:
    04 April 2011
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1836
  • Wilhelm von Humboldt's classic study of human language was first published posthumously in 1836 and influenced generations of scholars of language including Boas, Sapir and Chomsky. In the later twentieth century, Humboldt's pioneering philosophical and linguistic works began once again to attract scholarly attention in their own right, and in the context of Humboldt's lively communication with other leading scholars of his day. This book, now reissued, summarises the author's theoretical views of language, its universal structures and its relation to mind, education and culture. It ranges far beyond the Indo-European languages and explores the ways in which the grammatical structures of languages make them more or less suitable as instruments of thought and cultural development. Humboldt also addresses the relationship between written and spoken language. To this day, this landmark publication remains one of the most significant attempts to draw philosophical conclusions from comparative linguistics.

Versuch einer Allegemeinen Sprachlehre
  • Mit einer Einleitung über den Begriff und Ursprung der Sprache und einem Anhange über die Anwendung der allgemeinen Sprachlehre auf die Grammatik einzelner Sprachen und auf die Pasigraphie
  • Johann Severin Vater
  • Published online:
    04 April 2011
    Print publication:
    02 November 2010
    First published in:
    1801
  • Johann Severin Vater (1771–1826) was professor of theology and Oriental languages at Halle, but his linguistic interests ranged far more widely. This 1801 publication is the thirty-year-old scholar's ambitious attempt to outline a universal theory of language. Vater begins with a short definition of language, and two chapters speculating on the origins of human language and mechanisms for language change. These theoretical chapters, Vater says, were intended to be accessible to students making the transition from classics to philosophy. Vater then proposes the possibility of an overarching theory that could accommodate the different sounds, structures and vocabularies used to encode language functions, and which could be used by scholars to describe the grammar of different languages. He goes a stage further in suggesting that this could be the basis of a universal language. The book ends with a fascinating bibliography of early modern writings on language.

A Comparative Grammar of the Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, German, and Sclavonic Languages
  • Volume 1
  • Franz Bopp
  • Edited by H.H. Wilson
  • Translated by Edward B. Eastwick
  • Published online:
    04 April 2011
    Print publication:
    11 February 2010
    First published in:
    1843
  • A founding text of comparative philology, Franz Bopp's Vergleichende Grammatik was originally published in parts, beginning in 1833, and by the 1870s had appeared in three editions in German, as well as in English and French translations. Bopp (1791–1867), Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Grammar at Berlin, set out to prove the relationships between Indo-European languages through detailed description of the grammatical features of Sanskrit compared to those of Zend (Avestan), Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic and German. This translation (1845–50) of Bopp's first edition gave English-speaking scholars access to his important findings. Translated by Edward Backhouse Eastwick (1814–1883), the multi-lingual diplomat and scholar, and edited by Horace Hayman Wilson (1786–1860), Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, this work testifies both to Bopp's magisterial research and to Eastwick's extraordinary skill in translation. This volume covers phonology, nominal inflection, adjectives and numerals.

Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 2, Wortbildungslehre (Stammbildungs-und Flexionslehre), Part 3
  • Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    01 March 2011
    Print publication:
    14 January 2010
    First published in:
    1892
  • The monumental, multi-volume comparative grammar of the Indo-European languages by Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) provided a synthesis of the first 70 years of research in a rapidly-developing academic subject, and identified areas for future investigation. Volume 2, split into three parts, covers morphology, roots and inflection, beginning with nouns and continuing with pronouns and verbs. It begins with a substantial introduction that includes bibliographic information, and then focuses in turn on each Proto-Indo-European feature and its reflexes in the earliest attested languages of each language family (Sanskrit, Avestan, Armenian, Greek, Italic, Germanic, Old Irish, Balto-Slavic). Comparisons are also made within families, for example between Gothic and Old English. Owing to its length, the original publisher bound this volume in two parts, paginated as a single sequence; in this reissue, it is divided into three parts, maintaining the same pagination.

The Central Arawaks
  • William Curtis Farabee
  • Published online:
    06 December 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1918
  • In 1913, ethnologist and explorer William Curtis Farabee set out to document the Arawak tribes of northern Brazil and southern British Guiana, a three-year journey that led him far into the unmapped regions of the Amazon River basin. His meticulous observations comprise The Central Arawaks, first published in 1918 and still one of the most comprehensive accounts of the peoples living along the northern tributaries of the Amazon River. The Wapisiana, Ataroi, Taruma, and Mapidian tribes numbered fewer than 1,500 at the time of Farabee's voyage; his detailed record of their daily life preserves a vision of these vulnerable cultures at a crucial point in their history, offering insight into their languages, social structures, and cosmologies. A testament to an ethnologist whose achievements were once hailed as 'monumental', this reissued edition also brings renewed attention to William Farabee, whose influence on Anglo-American anthropological exploration is still felt today.

Page 7 of 9