Reviewed by Katrin Hiietam, Manchester,UK

Harald Hammarström’s volume is a compilation of published references for attested languages, including those for a wealth of lesser-known languages.

Typologically oriented, this volume presents facts without arguing for or against any theoretical views. H notes that this volume is an attempt to present the languages of the world ‘without undue bias towards European languages’ (1) and to provide a well-balanced, systematic, and complete handbook that contains sufficient references. To my mind, this aim has been met.

Although H suggests the introductory chapter might not be of great importance to what follows, it provides insight into the organization of the volume. It should be read before studying the rest of the book.

The references contain word lists, phonology, sketches, short grammars, full grammars, and also the so-called Holy Trinity of a full length grammar, texts, and a dictionary. Almost 4000 languages are reported on; however, H states there are more than 1300 references to relevant publications that he has not yet read, for various reasons (18). He hypothesizes that there are as many as 4729 documented languages (19), and, as such, H does not imply his list is complete.

The languages are arranged according to geographic region and language family. H does not include an index of language names: he considers it unnecessary because the Internet can be used to deduce which family a language belongs to. References to individual grammatical descriptions are indexed by genetic language unit—that is, a language, or set of languages that has been demonstrated to stem from a common ancestor by orthodox comparative methodology (Lyle Campbell, Historical linguistics: An introduction, 2nd ed., Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004). Occasionally, H adds comments about the sources (e.g. a canonical source, a thesis, a sketch) and links to Web sites.

H emphasizes that this book is not a substitute for the actual works: he encourages the reader to consult the original references if more information is required. This book is systematic and well organized. It will provide a good starting point for anyone interested in languages.