TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.

This book deeply analyses the little-known tradition of oral heroic epic poetry of the Khanty, an indigenous people of Siberia.

The Oxford Critical Guide to Homer's Iliad investigates each of the Iliad's twenty-four books, proceeding in order from book 1 to book 24 and devoting one chapter to each one. Contributors summarize the plot of a book and then explore its themes and poetics, providing both close readings of individual passages and synthetic reviews of current scholarship. This format allows readers to study the poem in the same manner in which they read it: book by book. Differing from other introductions to the Iliad that comprise chapters on specific topics and themes, the volume offers accessible and actionable discussions of concepts pertinent to each book of the poem. Differing from other introductory volumes that are written by a single author, this volume allows for a polyphony of critical voices and showcases the diversity of approaches to the Iliad. Finally, differing from commentaries keyed to the Greek text, this volume is completely accessible to those who do not read Homeric Greek. These features make the volume an essential resource for those studying the Iliad in translation and in the original Greek, for those in classical studies and in other disciplines, and for teachers and students, both those at the undergraduate level and those at the graduate level.

This book consists of 22 papers originally presented during the conference on ancient historical writing held in May 2007 in Wrocław, Poland. The authors are classical historians and philologists from academic institutions in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The collection responds to a growing interest among classical scholars in historiography and such related genres as ethnography and biography. The focus of the volume is, on the one hand, on the ancient historians’ methods of approaching the external world, especially a non-Greek (or non-Roman) world, and, on the other, on the political dimension of historical writing, especially of Roman imperial historiography. There are also papers devoted to pointing and defining links between historiography and other literary genres such as epic or novel. Much attention is given to classical Greek historiography (Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon), but other authors and periods are also discussed. The book is addressed to classical scholars, historians of historiography and anyone interested in ancient world. With a view to a non-specialist reader, all Greek and most Latin quotations are translated.

A Companion to Ancient Epic presents for the first time a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of ancient Near Eastern, Greek and Roman epic. It offers a multi-disciplinary discussion of both longstanding ideas and newer perspectives. A Companion to the Near Eastern, Greek, and Roman epic traditions Considers the interrelation between these different traditions Provides a balanced overview of longstanding ideas and newer perspectives in the study of epic Shows how scholarship over the last forty years has transformed the ways that we conceive of and understand the genre Covers recently introduced topics, such as the role of women, the history of reception, and comparison with living analogues from oral tradition The editor and contributors are leading scholars in the field Includes a detailed index of poems, poets, technical terms, and important figures and events