This accessible, hands-on introduction to historical linguistics - the study of language change - does not just talk about topics. With abundant examples and exercises, it helps students learn for themselves how to do historical linguistics. Distinctive to the book is its integration of the standard traditional topics with others now considered vital to historical linguistics: explanation of 'why' languages change; sociolinguistic aspects of linguistic change; syntactic change and grammaticalization; distant genetic relationships (how to show that languages are related); areal linguistics; and.
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