Of the origin and progress of language

Edinburgh: J. Balfour, 1774. Mixed ed. Vols. 1-3 only (of 6). Vol. 1 second edition "with large additions and corrections"; the ESTC states that Vol. 1 was reprinted as a "second" edition in 1774 as the publishers discovered they had not printed a sufficient number. Library buckram, spines faded. Burnett's work, a landmark of historical linguistics, analyzes the structure of primitive and modern languages, arguing that mankind had evolved language skills in response to his changing environment and altering social structures. Burnett was the first to discover that primitive languages create unnecessarily lengthy words for rather simple concepts. He also traced the origin of modern European languages.