Towards an Ecology of World Languages

Towards an Ecology of World Languages PDF Author: Louis-Jean Calvet
Publisher: Polity
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
There are around 5,000 languages spoken across the world today, but the languages that coexist in our multilingual world have varied functions and fulfil various roles. Some are spoken by small groups, a village or a tribe; others, much less numerous, are spoken by hundreds of millions of speakers. Certain languages, like English, French and Chinese, are highly valued, while others are largely ignored. Even if all languages are equal in the eyes of the linguist, the world’s languages are in fact fundamentally unequal. All languages do not have the same value, and their inequality is at the heart of the way they are organized across the world. In this major book Louis-Jean Calvet, one of the foremost sociolinguists working today, develops an ecological approach to language in order to analyse the changing structure of the world language system. The ecological approach to language begins from actual linguistic practices and studies the relations between these practices and their social, political and economic environment. The practices which constitute languages, on the one hand, and their environment, on the other, form a linguistic ecosystem in which languages coexist, multiply and influence one another. Using a rich panoply of examples from across the world, Calvet elaborates the ecological approach and shows how it can shed light on the changing forms of language use in the world today. This path-breaking book will be of great value to students and scholars in linguistics and sociolinguistics and to anyone concerned with the fate of languages in our increasingly globalized world.

Towards an Ecology of World Languages

Towards an Ecology of World Languages PDF Author: Louis-Jean Calvet
Publisher: Polity
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description
There are around 5,000 languages spoken across the world today, but the languages that coexist in our multilingual world have varied functions and fulfil various roles. Some are spoken by small groups, a village or a tribe; others, much less numerous, are spoken by hundreds of millions of speakers. Certain languages, like English, French and Chinese, are highly valued, while others are largely ignored. Even if all languages are equal in the eyes of the linguist, the world’s languages are in fact fundamentally unequal. All languages do not have the same value, and their inequality is at the heart of the way they are organized across the world. In this major book Louis-Jean Calvet, one of the foremost sociolinguists working today, develops an ecological approach to language in order to analyse the changing structure of the world language system. The ecological approach to language begins from actual linguistic practices and studies the relations between these practices and their social, political and economic environment. The practices which constitute languages, on the one hand, and their environment, on the other, form a linguistic ecosystem in which languages coexist, multiply and influence one another. Using a rich panoply of examples from across the world, Calvet elaborates the ecological approach and shows how it can shed light on the changing forms of language use in the world today. This path-breaking book will be of great value to students and scholars in linguistics and sociolinguistics and to anyone concerned with the fate of languages in our increasingly globalized world.

Towards an Ecology of World Languages

Towards an Ecology of World Languages PDF Author: Louis-Jean Calvet
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 0745629563
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
There are around 5,000 languages spoken across the world today, but the languages that coexist in our multilingual world have varied functions and fulfil various roles. Some are spoken by small groups, a village or a tribe; others, much less numerous, are spoken by hundreds of millions of speakers. Certain languages, like English, French and Chinese, are highly valued, while others are largely ignored. Even if all languages are equal in the eyes of the linguist, the world’s languages are in fact fundamentally unequal. All languages do not have the same value, and their inequality is at the heart of the way they are organized across the world. In this major book Louis-Jean Calvet, one of the foremost sociolinguists working today, develops an ecological approach to language in order to analyse the changing structure of the world language system. The ecological approach to language begins from actual linguistic practices and studies the relations between these practices and their social, political and economic environment. The practices which constitute languages, on the one hand, and their environment, on the other, form a linguistic ecosystem in which languages coexist, multiply and influence one another. Using a rich panoply of examples from across the world, Calvet elaborates the ecological approach and shows how it can shed light on the changing forms of language use in the world today. This path-breaking book will be of great value to students and scholars in linguistics and sociolinguistics and to anyone concerned with the fate of languages in our increasingly globalized world.

Knowledge & Discourse

Knowledge & Discourse PDF Author: Colin Barron
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317881273
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
Knowledge and Discourse presents an ecological approach to the study of discourse in social, academic and professional practices. It brings together distinguished scholars from diverse cultures - India, China, Australia, Canada among others - and disciplines - linguistics, anthropology, sociology, philosophy. The chapters collectively illustrate the ecological approach by exploring how language makes connections between subjective experiences as people construct meaning and action. This book offers the reader a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to the study of language as discourse, questioning traditional views of disciplinary knowledge and the role of discourse in the pursuit, construction and compartmentalisation of such knowledge. Through the variety of disciplines, experiences and approaches, the contributors show how the world and word are contingent on each other. The notions of connectivity, contingency and change are themes that run through the book, and in the interweaving of these themes readers will find persuasive illustrations of an ecological approach to applied linguistics.

The Ecology of Language Evolution

The Ecology of Language Evolution PDF Author: Salikoko S. Mufwene
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521791380
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
This major new work explores the development of creoles and other new languages, focusing on the conceptual and methodological issues they raise for genetic linguistics. Written by an internationally renowned linguist, the book surveys a wide range of examples of changes in the structure, function and vitality of languages, and suggests that similar ecologies have played the same kinds of roles in all cases of language evolution. The Ecology of Language Evolution will be welcomed by students and researchers in sociolinguistics, creolistics, theoretical linguistics and theories of evolution.

The Sociolinguistics of Globalization

The Sociolinguistics of Globalization PDF Author: Jan Blommaert
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139487426
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Human language has changed in the age of globalization: no longer tied to stable and resident communities, it moves across the globe, and it changes in the process. The world has become a complex 'web' of villages, towns, neighbourhoods and settlements connected by material and symbolic ties in often unpredictable ways. This phenomenon requires us to revise our understanding of linguistic communication. In The Sociolinguistics of Globalization Jan Blommaert constructs a theory of changing language in a changing society, reconsidering locality, repertoires, competence, history and sociolinguistic inequality.

Ecology of Language Acquisition

Ecology of Language Acquisition PDF Author: J.H. Leather
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401703418
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This volume emphasizes the emergence of linguistic development through children's and learners' interactions with their environment - spatial, social, cultural, educational - bringing to light commonalities between primary language development, child and adult second-language learning, and language acquisition by robots. The studies presented here challenge a number of dominant ideas in language acquisition theory. It is of interest to language acquisition researchers and professionals.

Knowledge and Discourse

Knowledge and Discourse PDF Author: Colin Barron Staff
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780582328792
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Ecolinguistics

Ecolinguistics PDF Author: Arran Stibbe
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317511905
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
The increasingly rapid destruction of the ecological systems that support life is calling into question some of the fundamental stories that we live by: stories of unlimited economic growth, of consumerism, progress, individualism, success, and the human domination of nature. Ecolinguistics shows how linguistic analysis can help reveal the stories we live by, open them up to question, and contribute to the search for new stories. Bringing together the latest ecolinguistic studies with new theoretical insights and practical analyses, this book charts a new course for ecolinguistics as an engaged form of critical enquiry. Featuring: A framework for understanding the theory of ecolinguistics and applying it practically in real life; Exploration of diverse topics from consumerism in lifestyle magazines to Japanese nature haiku; A comprehensive glossary giving concise descriptions of the linguistic terms used in the book; Discourse analysis of a wide range of texts including newspapers, magazines, advertisements, films, nonfiction books, and visual images. This is essential reading for undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers working in the areas of Discourse Analysis and Language and Ecology.

The Routledge Handbook of Ecolinguistics

The Routledge Handbook of Ecolinguistics PDF Author: Alwin F. Fill
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131741800X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
The Routledge Handbook of Ecolinguistics is the first comprehensive exploration into the field of ecolinguistics, also known as language ecology. Organized into three sections that treat the different topic areas of ecolinguistics, the Handbook begins with chapters on language diversity, language minorities and language endangerment, with authors providing insight into the link between the loss of languages and the loss of species. It continues with an overview of the role of language and discourse in describing, concealing, and helping to solve environmental problems. With discussions on new orientations and topics for further exploration in the field, chapters in the last section show ecolinguistics as a pacesetter into a new scientific age. This Handbook is an excellent resource for students and researchers interested in language and the environment, language contact, and beyond.

Linguistic Ecology and Language Contact

Linguistic Ecology and Language Contact PDF Author: Ralph Ludwig
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110704135X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
This book revisits and updates the concept of linguistic ecology, outlining applications to a variety of contact situations worldwide.