TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.

This monograph presents a groundbreaking exploration into the Nostratic macrofamily, a concept that proposes a common ancestral language for several of the world's foremost language families. The study delves deep into the roots of Altaic, Afro-Asiatic, Dravidian, Eskimo-Aleut, Indo-European, Kartvelian, and Uralic languages, offering a unique perspective on their interconnections and evolutionary paths. The authors examine five pivotal Nostratic etymons from the Swadesh index to illustrate the shared cognitive frameworks of these diverse linguistic groups. This research challenges conventional perspectives on language evolution and introduces new methodologies in cognitive macro-comparative studies. Key to the work is the hypothesis of divergent-convergent and convergent-divergent evolutionary patterns stemming from a common Nostratic origin. Beyond linguistics, this study offers insights into human cognitive development, language formation, and change mechanisms.

Do all or most languages in the world descend from a single proto-language ? And if so what can we tell from linguistic analysis about the speakers of this ancient tongue ? These are the two questions at the heart of this controversial book and the themes clearly outlined by Colin Renfrew in his introduction. The theory of a Nostratic proto-language is not new, but the extremely detailed presentation of historical linguistic evidence provided here is. The lists of possible linguistic roots are not for the faint-hearted, but for serious linguists they provide real meat on which to chew, and, the publishers hope, provide a solid basis for debate.

The "Nostratic" hypothesis -- positing a common linguistic ancestor for a wide range of language families including Indo-European, Uralic, and Afro-Asiatic -- has produced one of the most enduring and often intense controversies in linguistics. Overwhelmingly, though, both supporters of the hypothesis and those who reject it have not dealt directly with one another's arguments. This volume brings together selected representatives of both sides, as well as a number of agnostic historical linguists, with the aim of examining the evidence for this particular hypothesis in the context of distant genetic relationships generally.The volume contains discussion of variants of the Nostratic hypothesis (A. Bomhard; J. Greenberg; A. Manaster-Ramer, K. Baertsch, K. Adams, & P. Michalove), the mathematics of chance in determining the relationships posited for Nostratic (R. Oswa< D. Ringe), and the evidence from particular branches posited in Nostratic (L. Campbell; C. Hodge; A. Vovin), with responses and additional discussion by E. Hamp, B. Vine, W. Baxter and B. Comrie.

Setting out the historical national and religious characteristics of the Italians as they impact on the integration within the European Union, this study makes note of the two characteristics that have an adverse effect on Italian national identity: cleavages between north and south and the dominant role of family. It discusses how for Italians family loyalty is stronger than any other allegiance, including feelings towards their country, their nation, or the EU. Due to such subnational allegiances and values, this book notes that Italian civic society is weaker and engagement at the grass roots is less robust than one finds in other democracies, leaving politics in Italy largely in the hands of political parties. The work concludes by noting that EU membership, however, provides no magic bullet for Italy: it cannot change internal cleavages, the Italian worldview, and family values or the country’s mafia-dominated power matrix, and as a result, the underlying absence of fidelity to a shared polity—Italian or European—leave the country as ungovernable as ever.

The Celts, a vast group of Indo-European tribes, whose settlement territory in the second half of the first millennium BC stretched from the British Isles to Asia Minor. The Celts already lived in the 2nd half of 1 thousand BC in the territory of modern Western Europe. They were from the ancient Indo-European community, which earlier than other Indo-Europeans moved west – to Europe. Brief data in Scots Gaelic and Welsh.

The book talks about the ancient migratory movements of the Romanic peoples after they left their original Indo-European home, the southern region of the Ural steppe, the Black Sea.

Why do some languages wither and die, while others prosper and spread? Around the turn of the millennium a number of archaeologists such as Colin Renfrew and Peter Bellwood made the controversial claim that many of the world’s major language families owe their dispersal to the adoption of agriculture by their early speakers. In this volume, their proposal is reassessed by linguists, investigating to what extent the economic dependence on plant cultivation really impacted language spread in various parts of the world. Special attention is paid to "tricky" language families such as Eskimo-Aleut, Quechua, Aymara, Bantu, Indo-European, Transeurasian, Turkic, Japano-Koreanic, Hmong-Mien and Trans-New Guinea, that cannot unequivocally be regarded as instances of Farming/Language Dispersal, even if subsistence played a role in their expansion.

This book presents the basic principles of modern colour semantics and discusses the crucial differences between modern and historical colour studies.