Voyage into language

the long version

"In this new study, author David B. Paxman demonstrates that ordinary spatial concepts, together with the changing sense of the earth's space brought about by exploration, navigation, and mapping, exerted a strong influence on linguistic thought. Paxman illuminates how our thinking about language as a whole, as well as our exploration of languages, developed in ways parallel to our thinking about and exploration of the space we live in, our planet." "While Voyage into Language does contribute to the history of linguistics, more broadly it is a treatment of intellectual and cultural history, and an application of cognitive science to language study of the past. As such, it holds appeal for historians and literary scholars as well as linguists." --Book Jacket.