Empires of the Word - A Language History of the World Description:

Empires of the Word : A Language History of the World review:
5 stars ("The Tongue is a Sword" ) - This is a history of the rise and fall of languages from the time of the Sumerians to the present day. The author is fascinated with why some languages became more important and widely-spoken than others and the relationship of language to empire. He asserts quickly that history offers no pattern or pat solution to this question.



Among the language histories that Ostler examines are the very-wide ranging Afro-Asiatic group, which encompasses Arabic, Aramaic, and Coptic among others, Turkish, Persian, Chinese, Sanskrit, Greek, and the major European languages. He focuses mostly on the literate Old World languages, although he has a chapter on Quechua and Nahuatl, the languages of the Incas and Aztecs respectively. As could be expected in a wide-ranging book, I found some chapters to be more interesting and informative than others. Scattered amongst the chapters are plenty of good maps and a large number of quotations and reproductions of inscriptions from a large number of languages. This is a well-produced book.



I'll give this book the highest rating, but I must comment that I was a bit disappointed with the cautious conclusions of the author. One of his more interesting statements was that Arabic, an Afro-Asiatic language, became established only in "territories that had previously spoken an Afro-Asiatic language" That suggests that the conquest of one language over another may have something to do with the similarity in structure of the language -- or, in other words, English is not likely to supplant Chinese or the reverse. This point is not really developed to its fullest extent. Also, the section of the book I most look forward to was "What makes a language learnable?" but it is very brief. I would liked to have seen a lot more discussion of his point that "the essence of a language, its structure, can play a role in its viability." That's a dangerous and intriguing statement in that it implies that some languages are "better' than others, a point that deserves more examination.



Smallchief
5 stars (Wideranging and Enjoyable) - Nicholas Ostler has created a history of the world through its languages. Other historians have touched on the importance of language in the development of human civilization, but few have provided so thorough a study as this one. Ostler wanders through fascinating stories of the rise and fall of various tongues, pointing out and explaining the reasons for many conundrums such as the successful career of Chinese and the failure of Latin to survive as a living language.



Ostler refers back and forth to various chapters throughout this work, which can be somewhat confusing and distracting, but with so vast a subject he had no other choice. This is a book which deserves a place beside such standard world histories as McNeill and McNeill's The Human Web.
5 stars (Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World) - This book is a must for language lovers everywhere. It was reccomended by my Honors English professor who also loves languages and language history. It is intriguing, and enlightening, though not an easy read. Intersperse with something light, like Harry Potter and have a blast!