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The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World (Oxford Linguistics) 1st Edition

by J. P. Mallory (Author), D. Q. Adams
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 67 ratings
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This book introduces Proto-Indo-European, describes how it was reconstructed from its descendant languages, and shows what it reveals about the people who spoke it between 5,500 and 8,000 years ago. Using related evidence from archaeology and natural history the authors explore the lives, thoughts, passions, culture, society, economy, history, and environment of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. They include chapters on fauna, flora, family and kinship, clothing and textiles, food and drink, space and time, emotions, mythology, and religion, and describe the quest to discover the Proto-Indo-European homeland.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0199296685
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199296682
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    November 9, 2006
  6. Part of series
    Oxford Linguistics
  7. Language
    English
  8. Dimensions
    9.02 x 5.98 x 0.44 inches
  9. Print length
    731 pages
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Provides a complete account of Proto-Indo-European by subject and location

About the Author

J. P. Mallory is Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the Queen's University of Belfast. He holds a PhD in Indo-European Studies (1975) from the University of California. His books include In Search of the Indo-Europeans (1989) and, with Victor Mair, The Tarim Mummies: The Mystery of the First Westerners in Ancient China (2000). He is currently the editor of the Journal of Indo-European Studies and was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 1996.

D. Q. Adams is Professor of English at the University of Idaho. He holds a PhD in Linguistics (1972) from the University of Chicago (1972). His published work includes An Introduction to Tocharian Historical Morphology (1988), A Dictionary of Tocharian B (1999), and numerous articles on Indo-European and especially Tocharian topics.
J. P. Mallory and D. Q. Adams are the co-editors of the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (1997).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (November 9, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 731 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199296685
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199296682
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.02 x 5.98 x 0.44 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 67 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
67 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Martin R. Crim
5.0 out of 5 stars Big nerdy book for big nerds
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2008
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It's hard to understand what audience a book like this is aimed toward. Yes, it's from a university press, so one assumes an academic audience of some kind. But the level of writing is much too light, fun, and enjoyable to be aimed at only people earning credit toward degrees or trying to make tenure. I'm doing neither of those actions but enjoyed the hell out of this book. But I wonder whether the authors were being mischievous or dismissive when they write something like, "In addition to standard indexes, the book also contains two word lists: a Proto-Indo-European English list and a list of the Proto-Indo-European vocabulary arranged by its English meaning (which should at least facilitate those who delight in such tasks as translating Hamlet into Klingon)." Eh, anyway, it's a fun book if you embrace your love of learning and shut away the voices of anti-intellectualism.
53 people found this helpful
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DE
5.0 out of 5 stars thorough survey of whole field of PIE studies
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2006
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In 26 chapters, each with a helpful "Further Reading" section, Mallory and Adams offer a thorough survey of the current status of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) studies. In their introduction they acknowledge the example of Buck's A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages, asserting that they "have indeed aimed to do for Proto-Indo-European something of what Buck did for the individual Indo-European languages," and they succeed. Therefore, readers looking for detailed analyses of - for instance - the current state of knowledge about the PIE verb, the most complex part of the language, will find themselves disappointed. But then such readers already know which journals to read to follow current debates at the cutting edge, and the ample bibliographies here will also serve them well. Glottalic theory, to pick another favorite sticking point, likewise receives brief treatment, but with a balanced observation typical of the book's treatment of differing theories as a whole: "Fortunately, one can interchange the reconstructed forms between the traditional system and the variety of newly proposed systems in a relatively mechanical fashion. The traditional system is understood by all, and until the weight of scholarly opinion dismisses it for a single new system ... it remains the one most often cited." Nineteen chapters, the heart of the text, focus on the larger PIE world, with word lists, helpful summary charts and detailed discussion of semantic fields for clothing, religion, physical actions, relationships, food and drink, speech and sound, anatomy, and so on. The over 250 pages of appendices and indices, including a lexicon of some 2000 Proto-Indo-European roots (with both English-PIE and PIE-English sections), alone make this volume worth owning. As a challenging text for undergrad linguistics majors, or an excellent and readable survey for grad students in other fields, as well for as the general reader interested in linguistic and cultural reconstruction, this text will serve admirably.
92 people found this helpful
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S. Pactor
5.0 out of 5 stars Sober introduction to a topic in need of sobriety
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2009
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I shelled out 50 for this tomb because I wanted to read just one book about proto indo european. I'm not a linguistic, I'm really not even interested in indo european but I just felt like I needed to know what was going on in this field. Well, mission accomplished. At times dryly funny, often dry and unfunny, this Introduction left me satisfied that I had the bare outlines of this field of linguistics covered. Much of the book is broken into topics "plants" "animals." These chapters were occasionally illuminating but often just boring and at times I skimmed through. The real pay off is the end when they do a chapter on comparative mythology and tackle the "home land" problem of indo european studies. I suppose I would have liked less... well... linguistics, and more commentary on the foibles of the indo european academic community, but hey, Oxford knows what it's doing. I very much doubt I will be reading another book on linguistics in the next five to ten years, but I'm glad I read this one.
18 people found this helpful
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Abeer A. E. Alkhamees
4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Survey of the PIE and IE Cultures
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2009
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The first thing I want to say about this book is if you don't want a detailed discussion of Language as opposed to history then this book is not for you. However, since this was one of the things I was looking to study it was perfect for me.

The book covers the following main ideas:

(1) Concise introductions to the discovery and composition of the Indo-European language family.
(2) The way the proto-language has been reconstructed.
(3) Its most basic grammar
(4) The interrelationships between the different language groups
(5) The temporal position of the Indo-European languages
(6) Some of the difficulties in reconstructing a proto-language.
(7) Semantic field of the Proto-Indo-European lexicon.
(8) An examination of mythology and possible homelands of the Proto-Indo-Europeans.

For me the most interesting chapters were the last two, as they talked about the mythology and religion and how they can be reconstructed, and the possible homelands of the Proto-Indo Europeans. Its amazing what you can get from the words of a language!
24 people found this helpful
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Ferenc
5.0 out of 5 stars Most intelligible explanation
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2020
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The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European is not only the most comprehensive review of the subject but also the clearest and most nuanced discussion I have read.
3 people found this helpful
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janie
5.0 out of 5 stars Great service
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2020
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Ordered this book for my 11 th grade Gradaughter. She was thrilled with it. Arrived in perfect shape.
One person found this helpful
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Elwood Dowd
2.0 out of 5 stars misspelinks aB ownd.
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2020
the downloaded sample revealed numerous gross misspellings throughout, quite distracting and amateurish.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Julian Cable
5.0 out of 5 stars A delight.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 2, 2020
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I bought this to get an overview of thinking on the subject. I didn't expect it to be such a fine read. Of course is is heavy going but there are far more beautifully crafted sentences in this book than I had any reason to expect. There are even places I laughed out loud (but I'm probably weird).

The author has a precise understanding of the different audiences who might come to the book and has structured it to meet their needs. It is a model for such endeavours.
3 people found this helpful
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Alessandro P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Libro
Reviewed in Italy on December 16, 2019
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Libro per mio figlio, appassionato di lingue, è l’ideale per chi conosce l’inglese
Spedizione Amazon semplicemente perfetta!
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Fernando López
5.0 out of 5 stars La enciclopedia del indoeuropeismo.
Reviewed in Spain on June 8, 2019
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Una obra magistral para conocer el protoindoeuropeo y las lenguas indoeuropeas. Una verdadera enciclopedia del saber acumulado en los dos siglos de estudios indogermánicos. Redactado de una forma amena y accesible para el público general.
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Amanda
5.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't work on Kindle
Reviewed in France on March 2, 2017
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Wonderful book but be warned I bought this on Kindle (France) in 2016 and it has stopped uploading onto my Kindle so have had to read using my computer instead. The problem has been flagged but I understand it is down to the publisher to reformat for Kindle. I think the problem is with the huge amount of tables in it. Amazon customer help - French - was fantastic and spent a long time helping with this but the problem persists until the publisher acts.
2 people found this helpful
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虎衛門
5.0 out of 5 stars The Oxford introduction to Proto-indo-european and the Proto-indo-european world
Reviewed in Japan on June 6, 2014
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本書を読んで，よくぞここまで精緻に書けるものとほとほと感心する思いを持った．しかし印欧語の一つである英語を母語としている著者たちならこれほどまでに書けるのは不思議ではないかもしれないとも思った．小子は長らく英語にかかわってきた者だが，こういう専門書を手にしたことがなかった．価格６千円台の本だが内容たるやお金で換算できないほどの価値があることはまちがいないだろう．さまざまな分野ごとに印欧祖語に相当する各国語の単語が列挙されていて比較検討に寄与するところは極めて大である．大きな特徴として巻末の種々の付録が挙げられる．印欧語単語集とでも呼ぶべきものがあり，これに相応する各言語の単語と比較対照できるようになっている．本書は語源研究にも大いに役立とうと思える．語源に関してはシプリー本もあるのでいつか読んでみたく思っている．
3 people found this helpful
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