Endangered Languages: Some Concerns (original) (raw)
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Attitudes to Endangered Languages: Identities and Policies
2013
Attitudes to endangered languages is the result of more than ten years of research into language endangerment based on fieldwork on Britain's periphery-the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Although the title and subtitle suggest a broad treatment, the book is not in fact a general overview of or theoretical approach to the topic. Its focus is on three separate case studies, which are discussed in the second part of the book. The book starts with a comprehensive introduction to the field of study in Ch. 1; Ch. 2 then gives the sociocultural and political background of the islands studied, and Ch. 3 is devoted to the study of language attitudes and ideologies. After these three introductory chapters, the book shifts its focus to language endangerment and revitalization efforts on the Isle of Man, Guernsey, and Jersey. Ch. 4 discusses language practices, Ch. 5 language attitudes and language ideologies, and Ch. 6 language planning and policy. Chs. 4 to 6 are thus an application of Spolsky's (e.g. 2004) well-known and useful tripartite division of language policy. Investigating how practices, beliefs, and management of languages interact constitutes an important heuristic means to understand trajectories of languages and their speakers in the dynamic setting of changing language ecologies. The sociopolitical setting of the three case studies deserves attention. All three islands feature their own distinct languages and enjoy far-reaching autonomy, being self-governed dependencies of the British Crown. In Guernsey and Jersey, the Oïl languages Jèrriais and Guernesiais, respectively, are spoken. On the Isle of Man, the Celtic language Manx is spoken. The level of endangerment differs between the three cases. Jèrriais and Guernesiais are considered severely endangered today, whereas Manx is considered critically endangered after having been dormant (or 'extinct') for three decades (Moseley 2010). There are a number of important lessons to be learned from Ch. 2, most notably from the discussion of small islands and 'imagined communities'(41-42). This is largely uncharted territory in language endangerment studies, and the discussion of a number of factors impacting on language vitality, such as war, evacuation, and repatriation on some of the islands, is also very instructive. The fact that all three languages are endangered despite the political autonomy of the three islands is not fully discussed. I would have liked to know more details about how negative views of the indigenous languages have entered these islands, how they were spread and reproduced, and by whom, when, and why. Ch. 3 is dedicated to the study of language ideology and language attitudes. It focuses by and large on what publications on language endangerment have to say. In particular, expanding the approach of language ideology for the study of language endangerment would have been desirable. The study of language ideology engages not only in ideas about language structure and use, but also in the background from which ideology emerges in the first place, and the processes concerning how ideology is normalized and spread as being 'commonsensical'. In fact, the entire book could have benefited from including more consideration from neighboring disciplines such as sociology or political science. Chs. 4 to 6 constitute the core of the book. They relate Sallabank's fieldwork results to other cases of language endangerment. Her discussions of language shift and language revitalization refer mainly to the theoretical work done by Fishman (1991, 2001). In these chapters, S demonstrates detailed knowledge of her field of study, gained though numerous visits, during which she conducted surveys and interviews and also learned to speak Guernesiais fluently. Her observations of and participation in these language ecologies enable her to give detailed accounts of language use, ideology, and management. There are too many insights to cover in a brief review, but the following examples can be listed: phatic communication plays an important role in grassroots language revitalization efforts (85); among some speakers, fear of language change appears to be greater than that of language extinction (137); language loss (loss of proficiency) in speakers deepens over the course of language shift (96)-loss is not just between generations but is within individual speakers as well; there is playful language use of endangered languages, which places 964 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 91, NUMBER 4 (2015)
Review of New Perspectives on Endangered Languages
2013
1. OVERVIEW. This volume establishes a new perspective by bringing together scholars with a range of approaches to endangered languages, thus living up to its name: the very act of bringing these authors together provides a new perspective on the connections between documentation, sociolinguistics, and language revitalization. Specifically, it illustrates how language documentation can and should be informed by sociolinguistic considerations if it is to help promote language revitalization. The question, then, is what should documentation consist of? While the authors propose different answers to this question, there is a certain amount of consistency among them, and a picture emerges from this volume of the factors that are considered most relevant. summarizes the factors mentioned in each chapter. ('Mentioning' may consist of actual reporting on that factor for the community in question, or of recommendations that such factors should be considered.)
Endangered Languages: A Survey Through Sociological Perspectives by David Minor
The last speakers of probably half of the world's languages are alive today. As they grow old and die, their voices will fall silent. Their children and grandchildren -by overwhelming majority -will either choose not to learn or will be deprived of the opportunity to learn the ancestral languages. Most of the world's languages have never been written down anywhere or scientifically described. We do not even know what exactly we stand to lose -for science, for humanity, for posterity -when languages die. An immense edifice of human knowledge, painstakingly assembled over millennia by countless minds is eroding, vanishing into oblivion.
Endangered Languages.:Endangered Languages
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 1995
lems, which arise more from availability than from lack of oversight, Genre and the New Rhetoric is a significant contribution to our understanding of a multiplicity of issues related to genre, such as rhetoric, philosophy of language, speech act theory, literacy, and language education. Endangered Languages. Robert H. Robins and Eugenius M. Uhlenbeck, eds. Berg Oxford, 1991.273 pp.
Thinking on Endangered Languages
Th e wo r ld is a p e rp e tu a l c a r ic a tu re o f it se lf ; a t e ve r y m o m e n t it i s th e m o c ke r y a n d th e c o n t ra d ic ti o n o f wh a t it i s p re t e n d i n g to b e. G eor g e San tay an a ____________________________________________________________________________ Özet Tarih boyunca toplumsal, dilsel ve kültürel süreçlerde çeşitli olumsuz pratikler izlenmiş olsa da, gelecek için umut besleyebilmemiz mümkün gözükmekte. Bu kısa yazının amacı da, farklı düzeylerde tehlike içinde olduğu düşünülen dillerin durumuna ve bu dillerin durumunu olumsuz yönde etkileyen politik, ekonomik ve toplumsal etmenlere karşın, iyi niyetli çabalarla yürütülen çalışmaların başarıya ulaşabileceğine vurgu yapmak. Çok kolay olmasa da, bu ütopyayı sağlayabilmek tarihsel olarak dilsel ve kültürel haklara ve değerlere ilişkin yerleşiklik kazanmış olumsuz tutumları ve uygulamaları değiştirebilmekten, ciddi ve samimi politik kararları yerel ve küresel olarak uygulamaya koyabilmekten; dolayısıyla yeni bir bilinci 'güç' olarak belirleyerek, bu anlayışı evrensel olarak paylaşılan bir 'bilgi' birimi biçimine getirebilmekten geçiyor. Bunun ne ölçüde gerçekçi olabileceği ise zaman içinde görülebilecek. Abstract No matter what different ideology-based negative practices might have been observed on a variety of social, linguistic and cultural issues so far, the future seems not to be without hope. This short piece of writing aims to put an emphasis on the fact that, despite the negative phenomena observed in different parts of the world concerning the languages at various degrees of endangerement, a series of conscious attempts can work out once the well-intended attempts are seriously supported by sincere and well-planned local and global political decisions. Only then can the historically established negative attitudes towards the local linguistic and cultural rights and values be inverted and become part of a collective human truth globally shared.
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 1995
Endangered Languages. Robert H. Robins and Eugenius M. Uhlenbeck. eds. Berg: Oxford, 1991. 273 pp.
Ethnographic contributions to the study of endangered languages
Choice Reviews Online, 2012
Reviewed by Craig Soderberg Foundation for Endangered Languages This book will help the reader understand why languages die or become endangered and some possible ways of reviving dying languages or preventing their death. If you are interested in learning about language endangerment and/or language preservation, consider buying this book. This book is an edited volume of chapters contributed by multiple authors. There are three chapters devoted to studying the effects of educational policies (chapters 2-4). There are three chapters devoted to studying the effects of revitalization (chapters 5-7). Finally there are five chapters devoted to studying the effects of sociohistorical processes (chapters 8-12). Chapter One is an introduction and summary of the rest of the book.