Re: Diachronic linguistics readings

I apologize if this is too elementary a book for the
original purpose of the post, but for others
interested in diachronic linguistics....One of my
personal favorites is The Unfolding of Language: An
Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention by
Guy Deutscher (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2005, now
available in paperback). Deutscher provides an
entertaining and informative text which explains the
evolution of language from prehistoric days to the
present. He gives fascinating accounts of the rise of
the "template" system of Semitic, the use of metaphors
for basic building blocks, and, most importantly, from
a conlanger's perspective, a way to build a language
from the "Me Tarzan" stage (his words) to a full-blown
evocative and complex language. I would be interested
to hear anyone else's experience with this book. IMHO,
it's a fun read and full of useful information.



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