Endangered Languages, (4 Volume Set)

At least half of the seven thousand or so languages spoken today are in danger of disappearing during the 21st century. Although languages have always come and gone, the current rate of language extinction is unprecedented, a loss which not only affects individual communities but also diminishes the world's linguistic heritage. This crisis has stimulated a variety of responses from linguists: sociolinguists have been concerned with the study of language revitalisation - how the tendency to shift away from minority languages can be reversed - while general linguists have paid more attention to the structural aspects of language endangerment - how languages change as they fall into disuse. In recent years linguists have been particularly concerned with language documentation - the activity of recording, annotating, translating and archiving audiovisual materials of languages before they are lost. In addition, all linguists working on endangered languages face the ethical question of how much effort they should devote to non-academic activities in support of the communities with whom they work.

The study of language endangerment has only really become a concern of mainstream linguistics in the past twenty years, and this four-volume collection is the first of its kind, bringing together research on language endangerment from leading scholars. Theoretical and practical responses by linguists have led to the emergence of the linguistic sub-fields of language documentation and language revitalisation, and most of the publications within them date from just the last ten years. There has however been a veritable flood of books and articles during this time, and an enormous flowering of interest both within academia and in the wider community as well. Twenty years ago an extensive collection on this topic could not have been put together.

A general introduction by the editors gives an overview of the history of research on endangered languages and the main issues faced by scholars of language endangerment today, while specific volume introductions detail the research context for the individual articles. Endangered Languages is an essential one-stop work of reference and will be appreciated by researchers and students of language endangerment and related disciplines.

Volume I : Beginnings

Part 1 : Language Obsolescence and Death
Chapter 1 : Sociologic Notes on Obsolescent Languages : International Journal of American Linguistics
Chapter 2 : Language Maintenance and Language Shift as a Field of Inquiry : Linguistics
Chapter 3 : Who Speaks What Language to Whom and When? : La Linguistique
Chapter 4 : The Problem of The Semi-Speaker in Language Death : International Journal of The Sociology of Language
Chapter 5 : Language Death or Language Suicide? : International Journal of The Sociology of Language
Chapter 6 : Language Preservation and Language Death in Brittany : International Journal of The Sociology of Language
Chapter 7 : Theory of Language Death, Language Death : Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa
Chapter 8 : Language Birth and Death : Annual Review of Anthropology

Part 2 : Structural Changes
Chapter 9 : Grammatical Change in a Dying Dialect : Language
Chapter 10 : Language Death and Relexification in Tlaxcalan Nahuatl : Linguistics
Chapter 11 : Language Death in Uto-Aztecan : International Journal of American Linguistics
Chapter 12 : The Fate of Ergativity in Dying Dyirbal : Language
Chapter 13 : Structural Change in Language Obsolescence : Some Eastern Australian Examples : Australian Journal of Linguistics
Chapter 14 : The Structural Consequences of Language Death, Investigating Obsolescence : Studies in Language Contraction and Death
Chapter 15 : Lexicalization Versus Lexical Loss in Wasco-Wishram Language Obsolescence : International Journal of American Linguistics
Chapter 16 : Lexical Innovation and Loss : The Use and Value of Restricted Hungarian, Investigating Obsolescence : Studies in Language Contraction and Death

Part 3 : Implications of Language Loss
Chapter 17 : Endangered Languages
Chapter 18 : AnoTher View of Endangered Languages
Chapter 19 : A Response to Ladefoged’s OTher View of Endangered Languages
Chapter 20 : Some Observations on The Contributions of Local Languages to Linguistic Science
Chapter 21 : The Significance of Diversity in Language Endangerment and Preservation, Endangered Languages : Current Issues and Future Prospects
Chapter 22 : Documenting Rhetorical, AesThetic, and Expressive Loss in Language Shift, Endangered Languages : Current Issues and Future Prospects
Chapter 23 : Let Them Die : Prospect
Chapter 24 : Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Diversity : Annual Review of Anthropology
Chapter 25 : Contact Languages as "Endangered" Languages : What is There to Lose? : Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages

Volume II : Language Documentation

Part 1 : Defining Language Documentation
Chapter 26 : A Discourse-Centered Approach to Language and Culture : American Anthropologist
Chapter 27 : Documentary and Descriptive Linguistics, Lectures on Endangered Languages
Chapter 28 : Seven Dimensions of Portability for Language Documentation and Description : Language

Part 2 : Data in Language Documentation
Chapter 29 : Language Documentation and Archiving, or How to Build a Better Corpus, Language Documentation and Description
Chapter 30 : Data in Linguistics : Linguistic Review
Chapter 31 : Reconceiving Metadata : Language Documentation through Thick and Thin, Language Documentation and Description

Part 3 : Documentation Methods
Chapter 32 : Genre, Register, and Language Documentation in Literate and Preliterate Communities, Language Documentation and Description
Chapter 33 : Dictionary-Making in Endangered Speech Communities, Language Documentation and Description
Chapter 34 : A Musicologist’s Wish List : Some Issues, Practices and Practicalities in Musical Aspects of Language Documentation, Language Documentation and Description
Chapter 35 : Documentary Linguistics and Ethical Issues, Language Documentation and Description
Chapter 36 : Searching for Meaning in The Library of Babel : Field Semantics and The Problems of Digital Archiving, Language Documentation and Description
Chapter 37 : What is a Language? Documentation for Diverse and Evolving Audiences : Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung
Chapter 38 : Data Collection Methods for Field-Based Language Documentation, Language Documentation and Description
Chapter 39 : Dying to be Counted : The Commodification of Endangered Languages in Documentary Linguistics, Language Documentation and Description

Volume III : Language Planning and Case Studies in Revitalization

Part 1 : Language Planning Models
Chapter 40 : What is Reversing Language Shift (RLS) and How Can it Succeed? : Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Chapter 41 : Planning for The Survival of Linguistic Diversity : Language Policy
Chapter 42 : The Ecology of Language : The Linguistic Reporter
Chapter 43 : Language Planning in The Light of a General Theory of Language : A Methodological Framework : International Journal of The Sociology of Language
Chapter 44 : Sociopolitical Aspects of Language Maintenance and Loss : Towards a Typology of Minority Language Situations, Maintenance and Loss of Minority Languages
Chapter 45 : Language Planning and Language Ecology : Current Issues in Language Planning
Chapter 46 : A Political Sociology of The World Language System : Language Problems and Language Planning

Part 2 : Case Studies in Revitalization
Chapter 47 : Maori Bilingual Education and Language Revitalisation : Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Chapter 48 : Conditions for Language Revitalization : A Comparison of The Cases of Hebrew and Maori : Current Issues in Language and Society
Chapter 49 : Death of a Language, Birth of an Identity : Brittany and The Bretons : Language Problems and Language Planning
Chapter 50 : Language Policy and The Loss of Tungusic Languages : Language and Communication
Chapter 51 : Small Languages and Small Language Communities : Survival of Endangered Languages : The California Master-Apprentice Program : International Journal of The Sociology of Language
Chapter 52 : Language Revitalisation in The Andes : Can The Schools Reverse Language Shift? : Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Chapter 53 : Language Documentation and Maintenance Programs for Moluccan Languages in The NeTherlands : International Journal of The Sociology of Language
Chapter 54 : Technical, Emotional, and Ideological Issues in Reversing Language Shift : Examples from SouTheast Alaska, Endangered Languages : Current Issues and Future Prospects
Chapter 55 : Prestige from The Bottom Up : A Review of Language Planning in Guernsey : Current Issues in Language Planning
Chapter 56 : The Impact of Language Policy on Endangered Languages : International Journal on Multicultural Societies

Volume IV : Issues in Revitalization and Challenges for Linguists

Part 1 : General Issues in Revitalization
Chapter 57 : Language Revival : Restoration or Transformation? : Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Chapter 58 : The Value of Language-Maintenance Efforts Which are Unlikely to Succeed : International Journal of The Sociology of Language
Chapter 59 : Language Maintenance : Why BoTher? : Multilingua
Chapter 60 : Rearticulating The Case for Minority Language Rights : Current Issues in Language Planning
Chapter 61 : Purism vs : Compromise in Language Revitalization and Language Revival : Language in Society
Chapter 62 : Countering Purism : Confronting The Emergence of New Varieties in a Training Program for Community Language Workers, Language Documentation and Description
Chapter 63 : Language Awareness and Correct Speech Among The Tariana of NorTheast Amazonia : Anthropological Linguistics
Chapter 64 : If Threatened Languages can be Saved, Then can Dead Languages be Revived? : Current Issues in Language Planning

Part 2 : Challenges for Linguists
Chapter 65 : From Linguistic Elicitation to Eliciting The Linguist : Lessons in Community Empowerment from Melanesia : Language
Chapter 66 : Some Questions about Anthropological Linguistics : The Role of Native Knowledge, Reinventing Anthropology
Chapter 67 : We has Seen The Enemy and it is Us : The Endangered Languages Issue as a Hopeless Cause : Studies in The Linguistic Sciences
Chapter 68 : Even with The Best Intentions : Some Pitfalls in The Fight for Linguistic and Cultural Survival, As Linguas Amazônicas Hoje
Chapter 69 : Colonisation, Globalisation, and The Future of Languages in The Twenty-First Century : International Journal on Multicultural Societies
Chapter 70 : "Expert Rhetorics" in Advocacy for Endangered Languages : Who is Listening, and What do They Hear? : Journal of Linguistic Anthropology
Chapter 71 : Commentary on Hill : Journal of Linguistic Anthropology
Chapter 72 : Shared Expertise and Experiences in Support of Small Languages : International Journal of The Sociology of Language
Chapter 73 : Reproduction and Preservation of Linguistic Knowledge : Linguistics’ Response to Language Endangerment : Annual Review of Anthropology

Part 3 : Endangered Languages in The Future
Chapter 74 : WhiTher The Deaf Community? Population, Genetics, and The Future of Australian Sign Language : Sign Language Studies
Chapter 75 : Will Indigenous Languages Survive? : Annual Review of Anthropology