This is an encyclopedia of writing systems, scripts and orthographies of all the world's major languages, past and present. It provides both a fully illustrated description of over 400 writing systems and an account of the study of writing in many different disciplines, from anthropology to psychology. Entries in this encyclopedia describe how writing systems evolved, how they work, and how they differ from each other. They deal with technical aspects such as handwriting, printing, word processing; with practical problems of decipherment, alphabet making and spelling reform; and with theoretical questions such as the functions of writing and the typology of writing systems.

Florian Coulmas starts from the view that writing reflects a process of linguistic analysis. Yet he ranges widely among different scientific disciplines. He draws on historical and paleographic research into fundamental structural options of representing language by means of a graphic code, on psychological investigation into the social conditions and consequences of literacy.

Entries vary between short explanations of terms and concepts, brief accounts of individual writing systems and longer theoretical articles. The encyclopedia contains an exceptional array of visual examples and is supported by a comprehensive bibliography.

In 28 newly commissioned chapters distinguished contributors provide an up-to-date overview of sociolinguistics. This invaluable work of reference identifies the most important issues of sociolinguistics, makes primary sources more accessible, and provides orientation for future research. Reflecting the main division within the discipline, the two key sections deal with the social dimensions of language and the linguistic dimensions of society. In addition, there is an introductory section taking issue with theoretical and methodological foundations of sociolinguistics. The final part introduces four areas in which the application of sociolinguistic knowledge has proved to be especially fruitful in recent years; education, bilingual education, the legal profession, and language planning. The Handbook is equipped with a comprehensive bibliography which can be used as a research tool in its own right.

This book is an account of the writing systems of the world from earliest times to the present. Its aim is to explore the complex ways in which writing systems relate to the language they depict. Writing, Coulmas contends, is not only the guide or garment of spoken language, but has a deep and lasting effect on the development of language itself.
His study takes in Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuneiform system of the ancient Near East; he describes Chinese writing, discussing why an apparently cumbersome system has been used continuously for more than 3,000 years; he ranges across the writing systems of western Asia and the Middle East, the Indian families and the various alphabetic traditions which had its origins in the multifarious world of Semitic writing and came to full bloom in pre-Classical Greece.