The present dictionary differs fundamentally from these monumental works. In its scope and format, it fills a gap which, in spite of David Crystal’s Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (Oxford 19852), has existed up until now: in a handy one-volume format, this dictionary provides a thorough overview of all areas of linguistics. Not restricted to specific theories, it encompasses descriptive and historical, comparative and typological linguistics, as well as the applied subdisciplines. Along with the traditional core areas (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics), interdisciplinary fields (such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics and ethnolinguistics), as well as stylistics, rhetoric and philosophy of language are represented. In addition, the dictionary includes basic terminology from logic, mathematical and computational linguistics as well as applied linguistics; finally, descriptions of individual languages and language families are provided. With this broad range of content and its succinctly written articles, this dictionary is meant for both students and professional scholars in linguistics and allied fields.This book is the result of over twenty years of development, in which numerous scholars from Germany and other countries were involved. The first German edition appeared in 1983 as the result of this author’s ten-year efforts. Owing to the rapid development of linguistics, a second, completely revised edition became necessary.
Seventeen scholars revised, corrected and extended the texts of the first edition. Their work was based on dozens of peer reviews and, no less importantly, on their own research.
