Linguistic change by E. H. Sturtevant.
An introduction to the historical study of language.
This distinguished linguist established the foundations upon which we can build our understanding of how language is formed and transformed through the mechanics of phonetics, usage and the introduction of technology. Written in 1917, it reads well 100 years later his aerodite references describing in some detail the formation of hieroglyphs, the evolution of Greek and Latin, the mixing of French, English, German, the samples of native "writing" all hold up. Occasional references to new words such as "helium" and "apendicitis" only endear the author to me and made me reflect on our own enchantment with novel words such as "to google" and "Internet". Not a trip through history but through how western culture is evolving. Steve
