Reddit reviews Historical Linguistics: An Introduction

Now: how did I learn how to do this? Well, I had some really good teachers.

But if you're looking just to do it yourself, I would recommend Lyle Campbell's book Historical Linguistics. The only caveat is that, while it has tons of problem sets, there is no answer key (and some of the problem sets are not solvable with the data given). This is going to be corrected in a future edition, but I don't know when Campbell is planning to come out with the next edition. "Soon" is probably the only answer here.

Lyle Campbell's textbook Historical Linguistics is IMO the best introduction to that branch of linguistics if you're not yet sure what languages you want to concentrate on, or even if you aren't sure you want to work with more than the basics of historical linguistics. See my Amazon review.

Also, don't buy any of the Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics if you're still at an undergraduate level in a place without a dedicated linguistics department. They are extremely rigorous, and you might order one only to realize you've spent a lot of money on something you're still over your head in.

As far as I know, the most popular introductory textbook is Fromkin's. You can get an older edition for cheaper. I studied with the 5th edition less than 3 years ago and it was fine. For something less unwieldy and more practical to carry around with you, Barry Blake's All About Language is really good. Less than 300 pages and manages to cover a huge amount of stuff clearly.

Personally, I think that historical linguistics is a really fun and relatively easy way to get into Linguistics as a whole so I'd recommend Trask's Historical Linguistics. I know that the Campbell and Crowley textbooks are also very popular, but I don't have personal experience with them. Maybe somebody else can weigh in on which is easiest for a beginner?

I have to plug my professor Kate Burridge here who has written some excellent pop-linguistics books: Gifts of the Gob, Weeds in the Garden of Words and Blooming English. Her more serious books are also written in a highly accessible manner and she is probably one of the world's experts on Euphemism and taboo. Here's a clip of her in action.

Some fun linguistics-related videos:

TED - The Uncanny Science of Linguistic Reconstruction

Pinker on Swearing

David Crystal on British tv

Another fun way to learn would be to listen to this song and look up all the terms used in it.

Sorry, sorry. Let me rephrase a bit.

'Phonotactics' just refers to the structure of syllables in a language, and the associated rules for constructing them. So when I say that the maximal syllable in Korean is /CGVC/, that means that the most you can have is something like 형 hyeong. We have a consonant h, a glide y, a vowel eo (which is just the romanization of what's actually a single vowel), and a final consonant ng. You couldn't have something like tbap, because /CCVC/ is not allowed—that's too many consonants before the vowel. Now, keep in mind that /CGVC/ is the maximal syllable, so you can have smaller syllables that are fully allowed. So 부 bu, a /CV/ syllable, is totally okay. And then there can be deeper rules, like, say, only certain consonants are allowed at the beginning or end of a syllable, stuff like that.

As for stuff to read, you may want to take a look at the /r/linguistics FAQ and see if those threads cover any books or resources you might want to read.

For historical linguistics and language families specifically, you may want to see if you can get your hands on a copy of Campbell's Historical Linguistics. A library nearby might have it, or it looks like you can pick up a used copy for twenty bucks of so. You can also peruse this thread and this thread for similar questions on determining language families.

And, in general, always feel free to come over to r/linguistics. The linguists there are very nice people and are always willing to answer questions.

I can only speak for hist ling, but I've loved Trask's - detailed and the exercises can be challenging. I used Crowley/Bowern's in a class and found it a bit slower with not all the information you might want, though there are tons of examples from non-IE languages which is nice. Judging by Amazon another favorite seems to be Campbell's, though I don't have experience with it. I think all of these books would require some prior work in phonology/phonetics, though nothing you couldn't pick soon enough (they might even have a refresher sections, I can't recall).

I'm currently reading a really excellent collection of articles by Elizabeth Gordon called Living Language: Exploring Kiwitalk. It's (obviously) heavily focused on New Zealand English, but there's a lot of general English stuff there too (For example, one article outlines all the different countries of origin of different food words).

Letter Perfect is an easy read about the history of the written alphabet.

I'm seconding Mother Tongue already mentioned, though be warned he gets a few things wrong.

In that vein (of people being wrong) , Word Myths is a collection of dubunked language myths (such as "Eskimos have 1000 words for snow") that still persevere through culture.

If you're interested in anything about how language works in development/the mind, I urge you to check out any of Steven Pinker's books on the subject. They are among the most accessible linguistic work I've ever read. (I highly recommend starting with The Language Instinct. The Blank Slate is by far my favourite but quite removed from language proper).

Advanced/Reference/Kinda boring:

The Dictionary of Word Origins is an excellent reference, if not actually something you can just sit down and read.

A Short History of Linguistics is pretty dry, but it sheds some light on why we adopt so many Greek and Latin word forms. I'd call it advanced because you need a pretty firm grasp of grammar. This book is also great for dealing with some of the interesting theory oppositions through history. Technically this is a short history of Western/Germanic linguistics, but still very good.

If you're interested in the how along with the actual histories, I really have to recommend Lyle Campbell's Historical Linguistics, especially the chapters on semantic change (skip the whole part on sound change. It's tedious and unnecessary). His examples are numerous, clear and usually entertaining. But be aware there are a lot of errors in special character printing.

Finally, some Links!!

The Language Log

A walk in the woRds

The Eggcorn database (sound change in action!)


I wish this hadn't been posted when I was in the middle of a move. I went to check my (ridiculous) bookshelf for other titles on the subject only to be greeted by a pile of boxes.

TLDR; I love language