Books by Jean (University of Oxford) Aitchison

How and why do languages change? Where does the evidence of language change come from? How do languages begin and end? This introduction to language change explores these and other questions, considering changes through time. This updated edition remains non-technical and accessible to readers with no previous knowledge of linguistics.

A revealing insight into journalism, showing news writers to be skilled 'word-weavers' whose work should in no way be regarded as inferior to that of literary writers. Tracing the profession's history, it shows how journalism originated from an age-old oral tradition. Illustrated with a range of historical and modern news articles.

Human language is a weird communication system: it has more in common with birdsong than with the calls of other primates. In this wide-ranging and accessible overview, first published in 2000, Jean Aitchison explores the reasons why language is so strange, outlines recent theories about its origin, and discusses possible paths of evolution.

Language is like a vast spider's web. In this volume Jean Aitchison explores the different facets of this web, ranging from its biological nature and the way in which language is acquired by children to the way the web has aided language evolution. This is the text of the 1996 BBC Reith lectures, with illustrations, notes, and an afterword which looks at the reception of the lectures.