Table of Contents

To the reader
To the teacher
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
List of figures
List of tables
1 The fact of language change
2 Lexical and semantic change
3 Phonological change I: change in pronunciation
4 Phonological change II: change in phonological systems
5 Morphological change
6 Syntactic change
7 Relatedness between languages
8 The comparative method
9 Internal reconstruction
10 The origin and propagation of change
11 Contact and the birth and death of languages
12 Language and prehistory
13 Very remote relations
Appendix The Swadesh 200-word list
Bibliography
Index

Reviews

Larry Trask's introduction to historical linguistics is what I've been wanting for years: an introductory undergraduate textbook which presents the latest developments in historical research in a clear, exciting, and straightforward way.
Dorothy Disterheft, University of South Carolina,