Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe (review)

This superb book contains everything its title suggests plus several unexpected bonuses. With 60 contributors, many the leading experts in their respective fields, the encyclopedia is an authoritative introductory reference to over 300 language forms. It includes modern languages, recently extinct ones such as Manx and Cornish, and ancient languages known mainly from inscriptional or toponymic evidence, such as Gaulish, Etruscan, Rhaetic, and Messapic. And it discusses early forms of writing that remain undeciphered, such as Linear A and the Cretan pictographic script. Several short entries on Europe’s mixed languages (notably Basque-Icelandic pidgin and Russenorsk) deserve the reader’s attention. Geographically significant dialects such as Channel Islands French and Scots English receive individual entries. A special section on ‘community languages’ describes the sociolinguistic importance of languages spoken by some of the continent’s larger émigré communities of non-European origin such as Bengali and Panjabi in Great Britain and Berber and Arabic in France. In general, however, the book covers language forms rather than individual language communities. Multilingual countries such as Switzerland and Belgium receive separate entries as do the continent’s major Indo-European branches: Germanic, Romance, Slavonic, and Celtic. There are also entries on sign language and artificial languages.

Another praiseworthy feature of the encyclopedia is its comprehensive coverage of lesser-known languages from Europe’s geographic fringes. The dozens of languages of the Caucasus, including those spoken in the newly independent countries of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, are masterfully described by George Hewitt in a single, multisectioned entry. Each of the often ignored smaller Finnic and Turkic languages of the northern part of European Russia, such as Mari, Veps, Komi, and Chuvash has a separate entry. Cyprus, though technically part of Asia, is also covered, with entries on Cypriot Arabic and the island’s ancient writing systems. As one would expect, no languages east of the Urals or beyond Russia’s border with Kazakhstan are included.

Each alphabetically arranged entry is a separate article with its own list of references and author byline (short entries without a byline are the work of the editor). The references suggest further reading rather than identify the source of the material included. The editor defines the general scope of the book’s entries as encompassing ‘the external history and sociolinguistic aspects of the language or languages covered’ (xiii). This includes their origins and genetic affiliations, earliest attestations, literary use, standardization, scripts and orthography, and all major aspects of their importance in contemporary society or history. Entries are conveniently cross-referenced by using bold-faced type and asterisks whenever the title of one entry appears in the text of another. The entry format was left intentionally fluid since the topics covered differ greatly in their inherent complexity. Twelve figures illustrate the various alphabets, scripts, and sign language forms discussed, and 21 maps show such points of interest as the maintenance of Scots-Gaelic, traditional dialect areas of England, major linguistic areas of France, and the languages of Switzerland. I have one quibble with the Caucasus map (58), which shows only modern political divisions and a few language groupings. It would also have been useful to indicate the location of each individual language since this area still amply deserves the name ‘mountain of languages’ two and a half millennia after Herodotus.

One fact the user will immediately derive from this encyclopedia is that Europe, too, is rich in linguistic diversity. This affordably priced reference should be on the shelf of every library.