A publication of the Mediterranean Consortium for the 32nd International Geological Congress

This accessible, hands-on text not only introduces students to the important topicsin historical linguistics but also shows them how to apply the methods described and how to thinkabout the issues; abundant examples and exercises allow students to focus on how to do historicallinguistics. Distinctive to this text is its integration of the standard topics with others nowconsidered important to the field, including syntactic change, grammaticalization, sociolinguisticcontributions to linguistic change, distant genetic relationships, areal linguistics, and linguisticprehistory. Examples are taken from a broad range of languages; those from the more familiarEnglish, French, German, and Spanish make the topics more accessible, while those fromnon-Indo-European languages show the depth and range of the concepts they illustrate.This secondedition features expanded explanations and examples as well as updates in light of recent work inlinguistics, including a defense of the family tree model, a response to recent claims on lexicaldiffusion/frequency, and a section on why languages diversify and spread.

Historical linguistics, the oldest field in linguistics, has been traditionally dominated by phonological and etymological investigations. Only in the late twentieth century have linguists begun to focus their interest and research on the area of syntactic change and the insight it provides on the nature of language. This volume represents the first major contribution on the mechanisms of syntactic change. The fourteen articles that make up this volume were selected from the Symposium on the Mechanisms of Syntactic Change held at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1976, one of a series of three conferences sponsored by the National Science Foundation. These papers clearly demonstrate that the generative approach to the study of language does not explain diachronic processes in syntax. This collection is enlightening, provocative, and carefully documented with data drawn from a great variety of language families.

The era of chemical and biological megadeath is upon us, and the potential of deadly biowarfare attacks from governments, militant independent groups, and even individuals is far greater than it has been at any time in the past. At this time, more than twenty-five countries are developing, or have stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, in many cases in sufficient quantities to wipe out the entire population of the world. So far the danger of chemical and biological aggression has been little acknowledged, and, at least in America, little prepared for by federal and local government. Most terrorist threats and attacks are not widely reported in the mainstream media. Although information about the proliferation of man-made diseases is carefully suppressed by governments and the media they will be covered in the pages of this book. Not only is America unprepared and ignorant of what is happening, but the people in government and scientific professions who do know, who should be warning the American public about the dangers of chemical and biological terrorism, are instead doing their utmost to hide this information from us; information that is vital for our survival.The information that is contained in the pages of this book will not be measured or calculated to reassure people that everything is fine, when reassurance is the exact opposite of what is needed at this time. It may even give you nightmares when you realise the real circumstance that we are in. The information in the pages that follow will be the truth about the biowarfare threat to America.

This book provides a jargon-free guide to the forms and structures of French as it is spoken and written in France. It represents a combination of reference grammar and a manual of current usage.