Weltgeschichte der Sprachen

Harald Haarmann presents a modern universal history of languages for the first time with this book. He describes what we know about the language abilities of the earliest humans, the stages through which the complex language of Homo sapiens developed, and how different language families and languages emerged and branched out. A look at current developments concludes the volume.

With rich information and many figures that correct some prejudices, Haarmann takes us to the present era of the global language, English. For those who want to understand how the world map of language has come to be as it is today, this book provides a good overview.