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The Routledge Concise Compendium of the World's Languages

Gareth King author George L Campbell author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:30th Jun '20

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This paperback is available in another edition too:

The Routledge Concise Compendium of the World's Languages cover

This second edition of The Routledge Concise Compendium of the World’s Languages has been completely revised to provide up-to-date and accurate descriptions of a wide cross-section of natural-language systems. All cultural and historical notes as well as statistical data for each language have been checked, updated and in many cases expanded.

Now offering an even broader range of languages including a greater number of the lesser-known ones, such as Cree, Maltese and Haitian Creole, this new edition of The Routledge Concise Compendium covers a total of 111 languages.

Key features include:



  • complete rewriting and systematization of the phonology sections for all languages


  • provision of IPA symbol grids arranged by articulatory feature and by alphabetic resemblance to facilitate use of the new phonology sections


  • expansion of morphology descriptions for all languages


  • provision of new illustrative text samples


  • addition of a glossary of technical terms


  • comparative tables of the numerals 1-10 in all languages covered, and also grouped by family


  • classification by genetic relationship of all languages covered.

Using the wealth of recent developments and research in language typology and broadened availability of descriptive data, this new incarnation of The Routledge Concise Compendium brings a much-loved survey emphatically into the twenty-first century for a new generation of readers.

The Routledge Concise Compendium of the World’s Languages remains the ideal compact reference for all interested linguists and professionals alike.

Gary King is Series Advisor for the Roultedge Colloquials and the author of numerous books on language and linguistics. He is also UCAS co-ordinator and a lecturer at a large sixth-form college.

George L. Campbell worked for the BBC World Service and was a polyglot linguist and translator.

'If you need to know whether a language has gender, or marks definiteness, its [the book's] uniform structure will lead you to the answer instantly.' - Geoffrey S. Nathan, Department of English, Wayne State University

'This is a curious, but entertaining book [...] It's based on an even more curious book, the first edition, which was put together by George Campbell: "Campbell, who was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records during the 1980s as one of the world's greatest living linguists, could speak and write fluently in at least 44 languages and had a working knowledge of about 20 others." (LA Times Obituary, Dec. 21, 2004)' - Geoffrey S. Nathan, Department of English, Wayne State University

ISBN: 9780367581251

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 1256g

912 pages

2nd edition