“These are the major languages of the 21st century – their history, their geography and the way they interact. Astonishingly, no other book in English brings them together in this way”. That might seem a presumptuous, over‐ambitious claim, but if anybody is going to perform this task for the English‐speaking general reader it will probably be Andrew Dalby. Linguist and historian, his name will be known to many reference librarians for other reference and language works. Put simply, his aims are well achieved in this comprehensive but accessible dictionary.
More than 400 languages are arranged A‐Z: the whole globe is encompassed and languages of all continents are given appropriate coverage – the appropriateness derived primarily from the number and geographical spread of speakers. Nobody need be surprised that English warrants just over eight pages, Chinese, French, German and Spanish five each, Panjabi and Polish two. “Minority” languages are of particular interest, to this reviewer at any rate, so that especially welcome are entries on the likes of Basque, Faroese, Galician, Inuit, Occitan, and the surviving forms of the “Celtic” languages: Breton, Gaelic, Irish and Welsh; sadly, Cornish and Manx are only mentioned as sub‐paragraphs in the generic Celtic Languages entry. Far from decrying the omission of any significant language I find myself humbled by the revelation of so many previously unfamiliar languages around the world. Seven major languages are identified under Chinese and many more in the Indian sub‐continent; a similar pattern is followed throughout Africa, and for the indigenous non‐Spanish languages of Central and South America.
Each language is placed in its geographical, historical, social, political and linguistic contexts. To give the linguistic contexts there are fairly substantial entries for the various language families, from Indo European through Old Norse, Old Slavonian, Germanic, Austronesian and many more families. Ancient languages also have entries, including Latin and Gothic. Greek is covered in its entire 5,000‐year history from Linear B, but remains of course very much a living language. Some languages have brief extracts by way of illustration and at least the first numerals are quoted for many more. This is not, however, in any way a compendium of grammar or vocabulary: the contents are concise descriptions of the range and status of each language within its geographical and historical context. There are some 200 maps, which prove very useful in locating languages and make in themselves effective indexes to the contents. Over and above the factual descriptions of each language there are various appropriate stories which add interest as well as instruction: such as the Basque whalers taking their language to the natives of the West coast of Canada. It is worth stressing that this whole book is accessible to the general reader: where technical linguistic terms have to be used they are explained in a glossary.
While the simply factual content of this book will prove invaluable to many readers, there is another underlying theme. The numbers of speakers of each language are quoted and the fate of declining or dying languages recurs, specifically in a clear, concise and well‐informed introduction, and by implication at least in many of the entries. Not that all is doom and gloom, despite the threats and dangers, and possible means of preserving dying (or even resurrecting dead) languages are discussed. And who knows what can be achieved? I live in a distinctly lowland area of Scotland, but the other day my four‐year‐old granddaughter suddenly began to sing a song in Gaelic from the back seat of my car. It transpired she had been taught it at her nursery and that “Mrs Walker's song” was her way of defining its English translation. Even so, the very figures are sobering: 80,000 Gaelic speakers as against 500,000 speakers of Breton, another 500,000 of Welsh, and 80,000 of Irish: that, too, a sobering statistic given the official support of the language.
I see that another reviewer, quoted on the cover, uses the description “rich yet concise”: I could not put it better myself. There is an enormous amount of material gathered in this single nicely produced volume, and all of it clearly and consistently presented in terms the general reader can understand. There is a good index of languages and places, which helps locate material which might be scattered by the alphabetical arrangement: that arrangement is entirely appropriate, especially in a work calling itself “dictionary”. This is a very accessible piece of work on a fascinating and literally worldwide subject. At under £20 for the new and revised (pretty robust) paperback, this is some kind of bargain and is a book that will serve any educational or general reference collection.
