Speak

Roger Wright, University of Liverpool, Diachronica [Janson's] English style is neat and clear, and overall, this book can hardly be praised too highly.

Roger Wright, University of Liverpool, Diachronica ... new ideas and insights are constantly emerging even in the narrative of well-estabished facts ... controversial topics are often presented from both sides, and when [Janson] makes a decision to come down on one side of an argument it is the result of careful thought.

Roger Wright, University of Liverpool, Diachronica [Janson] is particularly good at seeing what the most important and relevant questions are, and then presenting them clearly.

Roger Wright, University of Liverpool, Diachronica A synthesis of the whole of linguistic history is remarkable enough in itself, but to have made it generally accessible to an educated non-specialist public is a real achievement.

Roger Wright, University of Liverpool, Diachronica I like Tore Janson's book very much, and can see why the original Swedish version has been a best-seller. He has translated it himself, and writes with authority and clarity on a topic which has rarely, if ever, been presented in such a wide and coherent perspective.

(Oxford)

1. Languages before History; 2. The Large Language Groups; 3. Writing and the Egyptians; 4. Greek and the Greeks; 5. Latin and the Romans; 6. Did Dante Write in Italian?; 7. From Germanic to Modern English; 8. The Era of National Languages; 9. Languages of Europe and of the World; 10. How Languages are Born--or Made; 11. How Languages Disappear; 12. The Heyday of English; 13. And Then?

(Oxford)