Linguistics Collection

The Penn Libraries linguistics collection is located among several physical libraries: the bulk of the collection is housed in the Van Pelt Library, with Mesoamerican language materials and anthropological linguistics held in the Penn Museum Library. Reflecting the age and preeminence of Penn's academic program, the library collection has considerable breadth and depth. The collection is strongest in those particular areas where the academic program has had its greatest emphases since its inception -- historical linguistics, formal linguistics, sociolinguistics, descriptive linguistics, and phonetics. Journals, the proceedings of major societies, runs of many working papers series, and some report literature form an important part of the collection. Basic tools such as grammars, dictionaries and thesauri are available especially in those areas where Penn has historical strengths or research is ongoing. In general, coverage is more comprehensive for a language than for its dialects. South and East Asia and the Near East are strongest in traditional descriptive and historical linguistics.