This book is a classic work of linguistics, created by one of the most prominent scholars, Otto Jaspersen. The linguistic importance of this book is attributed to the fact that it underlines the importance of the role of the speaker in the natural development of the language. The topics presented in this book include the history of linguistics pre and during the 19th century, the development of child language, the role of the speaker on language development, causes for the linguistic change, etymology, and language development.

Reproduction of the original: Language by Otto Jespersen

Pacific Pidgins and Creoles discusses the complex and fascinating history of English-based pidgins in the Pacific, especially the three closely related Melanesian pidgins: Tok Pisin, Pijin, and Bislama. The book details the central role of the port of Sydney and the linguistic synergies between Australia and the Pacific islands in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the role of Pacific islander plantation labor overseas, and the differentiation which has taken place in the pidgins spoken in the Melanesian island states in the 20th century. It also looks at the future of Pacific pidgins at a time of increasing vernacular language endangerment.

An introduction both to languages themselves and to their social role, Languages and Their Status gives insight into the meaning, value, and function of language within culture and into the ways language behavior varies and changes. It examines the part languages play in the evolution and structure of communities and, in turn, the ways languages are shaped by the social forces impinging on their speakers. Each chapter discusses what it means to be a speaker of a particular language and puts that language in context among the languages of the world. This volume is complemented by a second volume entitled Languages and Their Speakers, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.