Chapters in this book

1. Prelim pages i
2. Table of contents v
3. Preface ix
4. Figures xiii
5. Maps xv
6. Tables xvii
7. Part I. The comparative method
8. 1. Explaining similarities 3
9. 2. Explaining sound change 23
10. 3. Classification and subclassification techniques 59
11. 4. Morphosyntactic changes 93
12. 5. Semantic change 115
13. 6. Internal reconstruction 141
14. 7. Language-internal variation 153
15. Part II. The linguistic manifestation of contact
16. 8. Borrowing 179
17. 9. Pidginisation and creolisation 213
18. 10. Syncretic languages 237
19. 11. Language contraction and language shift 253
20. 12. Language contact phenomena and genetic classification 265
21. Part III. Studying language change in a wider contex
22. 13. Language typology and reconstruction 283
23. 14. Remote relationships and genetic diversity on the African continent 307
24. 15. Language and history 333
25. 16. Some ecological properties of language development 347
26. References 373
27. Appendix 407
28. Language and language family index 409
29. Subject index 419