The Blackwell History of the Latin Language (eBook)

James Clackson is University Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of The Linguistic Relationship between Armenian and Greek (1994), Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction (2007), as well as articles on classical and Indo-European philology. Geoffrey Horrocks is Professor of Comparative Philology at Cambridge. He is the author of Space and Time in Homer (1981), Generative Grammar (1987), Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers (1997), as well as of many articles on the history and structure of Greek from antiquity to the present day; he is also co-editor of Themes in Greek Linguistics (1998) and Studies in Greek Syntax (1999).

Preface.

1 Latin and Indo-European.

2 The Languages of Italy.

3 The Background to Standardization.

4 'Old' Latin and its Varieties in the Period c.400--150 BC.

5 The Road to Standardization: Roman Latin of the Third and
Second Centuries BC.

6 Elite Latin in the Late Republic and Early Empire.

7 Sub-Elite Latin in the Empire.

8 Latin in Late Antiquity and Beyond.

Glossary.

Appendix: The International Phonetic Alphabet.

Bibliography of Reference and Other Works.

Index.

"The stated goal of this welcome new survey is to overcome
some of the shortcomings of L. R. Palmer's classic handbook The
Latin Language, unrevised since its publication in 1954. The
goal is worthy, and the execution is in many ways a success."
(Bryn Mawr Classical Review, March 2009)

"Clackson and Horrocks have produced a wide-ranging,
theoretically sophisticated, and still thoroughly manageable book
that will not easily be superseded." (New England
Classical Journal, February 2009)

"James Clackson and Geoffrey Horrocks have ... Succeeded
admirably in their aim, presenting a mass of data within persuasive
narrative." (Times Literary Supplement, December 2008)

"The...hefty Blackwell History of the Latin
Language...The authors focus on the evolution of the sounds,
vocabulary, word and sentence structure...over the
centuries." (Chicago Tribune)

"[The authors] set the tone ... with an honesty that
is ... appreciated ... .Marvelous treatment of ...
understudied languages ... .Carefully, admirably, proofread
... .Recommended." (Choice)

"This book is the best single volume work on the Latin
language. A comprehensive survey of the major topics in Latin
linguistics, it is valuable not only to specialists in that field
but also to Latin literary scholars, and to students of
Indo-European and Romance historical linguistics
generally."

-Philip Burton, University of Birmingham