International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (2nd edition)

In his introduction to the first edition of the International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (IEL), in 1992, the then editor‐in‐chief, William Bright, stated that it was designed “to provide a comprehensive source of up‐to‐date information on all branches of linguistics, aimed primarily at an audience of students and professional scholars in linguistics and adjacent fields”. This introduction is reprinted (Vol. 1, pp. xvii‐xx) in the new edition, as an essential guide to the structure, motivation and methodology of the work as originally conceived and as substantially maintained by Bright’s successor William J. Frawley a decade later. Frawley, in his...