The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Biocultural Diversity ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Reference Volume ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Comprehensive Reference

The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages, in thirty-nine chapters, provides a comprehensive overview of the efforts that are being undertaken to deal with this crisis. Its purposes are (1) to provide a reasonably comprehensive reference volume, with the scope of the volume as a whole representing the breadth of the field; (2) to highlight both the range of thinking about language endangerment and the variety of responses to it; and (3) to broaden understanding of language endangerment, language documentation, and language revitalization, and, in so doing, to encourage and contribute to fresh thinking and new findings in support of endangered languages. The handbook is organized into five parts. Part I, Endangered Languages, addresses some of the fundamental issues that are essential to understanding the nature of the endangered languages crisis. Part II, Language Documentation provides an overview of the issues and activities of concern to linguists and others in their efforts to record and document endangered languages. Part III, Language Revitalization encompasses a diverse range of topics, including approaches, practices, and strategies for revitalizing endangered and sleeping (“dormant”) languages. Part IV, Endangered Languages and Biocultural Diversity, extends the discussion of language endangerment beyond its conventional boundaries to consider the interrelationship of language, culture, and environment. Part V, Looking to the Future, addresses a variety of topics that are certain to be of consequence in future efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. xxviii-18
Author(s):  
Lyle Campbell ◽  
Kenneth L. Rehg
Keyword(s):  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Reference Volume ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Comprehensive Reference

The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages’ purposes are (1) to provide a reasonably comprehensive reference volume for endangered languages, with the scope of the volume as a whole representing the breadth of the field; (2) to highlight both the range of thinking about language endangerment and the variety of responses to it; and (3) to broaden understanding of language endangerment, language documentation, and language revitalization, and, in so doing, to encourage and contribute to fresh thinking and new findings in support of endangered languages. This chapter introduces the thirty-nine chapters of this Handbook, which are addressed to the themes and approaches in scholarship on endangered language and to these objectives of the book. The authors introduce the criteria for determining whether a language is endangered and just how endangered it is, address the causes of language endangerment, review the reasons for why the language endangerment crisis matters, and discuss the variety of responses to it.

Language Documentation in Diaspora Communities

2018 ◽  
pp. 398-418
Author(s):  
Daniel Kaufman ◽  
Ross Perlin
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Endangered Language

Due to environmental, economic, and social factors, cities are increasingly absorbing speakers of endangered languages. In this chapter, the authors examine some of the ways that organizations can work with communities in an urban setting to further language documentation, conservation, and revitalization. They base their discussion on their experience at the Endangered Language Alliance, a non-profit organization based in New York City that facilitates collaboration between linguists, students, speakers of endangered languages, and other relevant parties. While ex-situ language documentation has not been given much attention in the literature, they argue that it has its own unique advantages and that diaspora communities need to be taken seriously, both to fully understand language endangerment and to better counteract it.

Language Revitalization

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenore A. Grenoble
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Hebrew Language

Linguists have become increasingly engaged in language documentation, working to record languages while they are still spoken. Speaker communities often turn to revitalization programs, attempting to strengthen the speaker base of their ancestral languages and make them vital again. This chapter addresses the factors that enter into the decision of what kind of revitalization to pursue and then discusses different kinds of models for language revitalization. It examines revitalization as a response to language endangerment, language attitudes, language domains and social networks, the role of the external linguist, and a successful revitalization in the case of the Hebrew language.

scholarly journals A Program for the Preservation and Revitalization of the Languages of Russia

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 507-527
Author(s):  
Andrej A. Kibrik
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
National Language ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Language Preservation ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

This article presents the Program for the Preservation and Revitalization of the Languages of Russia proposed by the Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences (the Program). The Program is based on knowledge accumulated in linguistics in domains such as linguistic diversity, language endangerment, and language preservation methods. According to a recent assessment, there are 150 to 160 languages of Russia. This number of languages, even though quite high, is manageable for a national language preservation Program. Languages are rapidly becoming extinct worldwide, and Russia is no exception to this trend. The following terms are used to categorize languages according to risk of extinction: safe languages, endangered languages, severely endangered languages, and nearly extinct languages. There are several important humanitarian and scientific reasons for engaging in language preservation. The central idea of the Program is to boost intergenerational language transmission wherever feasible. Various approaches to different language situations are envisaged, including enlightenment campaigns, language nests, and language documentation. Three necessary conditions for language revitalization include engaging local activists, administrative and financial support, and the scientific validity of the methodology. The Programs 12-year roadmap is split into three stages. There are a number of favorable factors making the Program feasible, as well as a number of potential obstacles. We have a historic opportunity to preserve languages spoken in Russia, and this is an opportunity that must be used.

Endangered Languages

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
National Languages

Over the few past centuries, and the last 65 years in particular, there has been a remarkable reduction in global linguistic diversity, as people abandon minority language varieties and switch to larger, and what they perceive to be more economically, socially and politically powerful, regional or national languages. In addition, governments have been promoting standardised official languages for use in schooling, media, and bureaucracy, often under a rubric of linguistic unity supporting national unity. The last two decades have seen a significant increase in interest in minority languages and language shift, endangerment, and loss, in academia and among language speakers and the wider public. There has also been growing interest from anthropological linguists and sociolinguists in the study of language ideologies and beliefs about languages. This volume brings together chapters on theoretical and practical issues in these two areas, especially the views of linguists and communities about support for and revitalization of endangered languages. The chapters thus go straight to the heart of ideological bases of reactions to language endangerment among those most closely involved, drawing their discussions from case studies of how language ideologies and beliefs affect language practices (and vice versa). Most of the authors conduct collaborative community-based research and take a reflective engagement stance to investigate (potential) clashes in ideological perspectives. This is one of the key theoretical and practical issues in research on endangered languages, and so has important implications for language documentation, support and revitalization, as well as language policy at local, national and international levels.

Language revitalization and community initiatives

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-254
Author(s):  
Bidisha Bhattacharjee
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
World Language ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Community Initiatives ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Linguistic Communities

Abstract Language is an integral part of the social identity and ethnicity of a community apart from being its mode of communication. Language plays a key role to preserve the history, culture and identity of a community. In this era of globalization, cultural and linguistic homogenization is a common trend. The state and dominant linguistic communities expect ‘others’ or the minority groups to assimilate into the dominant culture and language. Arguments for the maintenance and revitalization of minority and endangered languages have been made by many linguists around the world. Language rights, language planning and language documentation programmes are some steps taken by government and externally-funded organizations to protect endangered and indigenous languages. Besides the initiatives taken by the non-members of the community, the future of an endangered language and culture has been decided by the role and attitude of the community towards its community-specific linguistic and cultural identity. India is a very diverse country as far as its linguistic and cultural heritage is concerned. This project is enriched with insights from field experience in various districts of West Bengal, a state in India, where the speakers of endangered linguistic communities are aware of their linguistic rights and are highly engaged in the language and cultural revitalization, and in that their degree of progress and success is commendable. This paper aims at demonstrating the major role played by the communities themselves in language-revitalization programmes.

scholarly journals Review Article

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Kruijt ◽  
Mark Turin
Keyword(s):  
Steady Increase ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Philanthropic Organizations ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Seminal Article ◽  
Research Councils

In response to a crescendo of public and scholarly interest, over the last two decades there has been a noticeable and mostly welcome surge in publications that focus on language documentation, conservation, and revitalization. Early and high impact contributions in Hale et al. (1992) included a now seminal article by Michael Krauss which called for urgent action to prevent linguistics from going down in history as the ‘only science that presided obliviously over the disappearance of 90% of the very field to which it is dedicated’ (Krauss 1992:10). There then followed a discussion on the topic by Ladefoged (1992) and a prompt reply by Dorian (1993) that situated the issue of language endangerment as one deserving of sustained academic attention. Alongside swelling bookshelves that speak to the urgency of this work, major research programs funded by private philanthropic organizations and research councils were also being established at this time. The Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL) was founded in 1995, followed a year later by the Endangered Language Fund (ELF). With the establishment of the Dokumentation Bedrohter Sprachen program (DoBeS) in 2000, the Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project (HRELP) in 2002, and the Documenting Endangered Languages (DEL) program funded by the US government in 2005, the last two decades bear witness to a steady increase in support, funding, and visibility for the documentation and preservation of endangered languages.

Language Revitalization in Africa

2018 ◽  
pp. 612-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonny Sands
Keyword(s):  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Small Populations ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Large Populations

Africa is home to almost a third of the world’s languages. Only about 400 of these languages are widely considered to be endangered but many more are vulnerable given the small populations who use them. Even minority languages spoken by fairly large populations face challenges. Language endangerment on the continent is widespread, affecting a majority of African languages, including ones spoken in small geographical areas as well as cross-border languages. While linguists have generally focused on documentation and revitalization of the most endangered languages, grassroots efforts have targeted both large and small languages. The success of language revitalization efforts remains to be seen as many of these programs are still in their infancy.

Revitalizing and Sustaining Endangered Languages

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa L. McCarty
Keyword(s):  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Multilingual Education ◽  
Political Work ◽  
Linguistic Human Rights ◽  
Global Movements ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Key Terms

This chapter explores the processes and prospects for revitalizing endangered and minoritized languages, drawing on international language policy and planning research and practice. These processes are framed as sustaining, rather than preserving or maintaining, to emphasize their dynamic, heteroglossic, and multi-sited character. A key assumption is that revitalizing and sustaining endangered languages is political work that challenges dominant language ideologies and linguistic inequalities. The chapter begins with definitions of key terms, followed by a discussion of endangerment classificatory schemes. Three language-in-education movements are then examined across a diverse range of national and regional contexts: the new speaker movement, Indigenous revitalization immersion, and bi/multilingual education through endangered/minoritized languages and languages of wider communication. The chapter concludes by considering how language endangerment can be disrupted, the relationship of local revitalization efforts to global movements, and the implications for linguistic human rights.

scholarly journals Language Revitalization: A Case Study of the Khoisan Languages

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Xinyi Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Language Death ◽  
Language Preservation ◽  
Language Endangerment ◽  
Language Revival ◽  
Effective Option

This paper introduces the concept of endangered languages and the corresponding solution of language revitalization. It first illustrates the importance of language preservation and the process of language endangerment and death. The two principal strategies of thwarting language death are discussed, with an emphasis on the language revitalization as the more effective option due to the difficulties that language revival faces. The most commonly successful approaches to language preservation are discussed such as establishing cultural pride and identity, education, and utilizing modern technology. These strategies are discussed in detail through the presentation of a case study: the Khoisan language family.

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