Dictionary of Languages The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages

Author(s): Andrew Dalby
Date: February 20, 2006
Format: PDF
Language: English
ISBN10: 0713678410

This is such a cool book!
I've always been fascinated by languages and how their unique structures and sounds and vocabularies reflect whole histories of interactions with each other, and how each one still uniquely reflects the situations and traditions of a specific culture. And I've long hoped to find a reference listing every the languages of the world along with articles and maps and sidebars delving into who speaks what where when and for how long with whom.
And then I stumbled across Mr. Dalby's work here, and I cannot express how impressed I am. The thing followed me around from room to room for a solid month, eating up my free time. The thing even includes minor and disappearing languages. I had no idea Irish Gaelic (my forefathers' tongue) was spoken by so few, or that literally dozens of third-world languages I had never heard of were spoken by so many.