ORIENTAL AND LINGUISTIC STUDIES - THE VEDA; THE AVESTA; THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE
Book Details + Condition: Scribner, Armstrong and Company (New York). First Edition, 1873. Hardcover. 411 pages with Index. This is author William Dwight Whitney's signature work, which offered a profound new approach in the study of languages. Until the mid-19th century, the most prevalent school of thought was that language was defined through arbitrary and conventional signs. Whitney argues here, that language should be studied though a "social institution" concept instead of a "conventional" one. This approach revolutionized linguistic studies - as evident though his metrical translations of the Vedas and the Avestas.
From the massive collection of King Lawrence Parker - academic, dissertation author, and book collector extraordinaire. Firm binding; rubbed corners and edges; light wear to boards, with a slight lean to the book; scuffing and chipping to spine ends; Parker's bookplate to inside front board and info to ffep; interior is clean and free of markings.
