Language Decline and Death in Africa

Language Decline and Death in Africa PDF Author: Herman Batibo
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 9781853598081
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
The aim of this book is to inform both scholars and the public about the nature and extent of the problem of language decline and death in Africa. It resourcefully traces the main causes and circumstances of language endangerment, the processes and extent of language shift and death, and the consequences of language loss to the continent's rich linguistic and cultural heritage. The book outlines some of the challenges that have emerged out of the situation.

Language Decline and Death in Africa

Language Decline and Death in Africa PDF Author: Herman Batibo
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 9781853598081
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
The aim of this book is to inform both scholars and the public about the nature and extent of the problem of language decline and death in Africa. It resourcefully traces the main causes and circumstances of language endangerment, the processes and extent of language shift and death, and the consequences of language loss to the continent's rich linguistic and cultural heritage. The book outlines some of the challenges that have emerged out of the situation.

Language Death

Language Death PDF Author: David Crystal
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521012713
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
The rapid endangerment and death of many minority languages across the world is a matter of widespread concern, not only among linguists and anthropologists but among all concerned with issues of cultural identity in an increasingly globalized culture. By some counts, only 600 of the 6,000 or so languages in the world are 'safe' from the threat of extinction. A leading commentator and popular writer on language issues, David Crystal asks the fundamental question, 'Why is language death so important?', reviews the reasons for the current crisis, and investigates what is being done to reduce its impact. This 2002 book contains not only intelligent argument, but moving descriptions of the decline and demise of particular languages, and practical advice for anyone interested in pursuing the subject further.

Africa's Endangered Languages

Africa's Endangered Languages PDF Author: Jason Kandybowicz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190256354
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
Relatively little is known about Africa's endangered languages. Unlike indigenous languages in Australia, North Asia, and the Americas, which are predominantly threatened by colonizers, African languages are threatened most immediately by other local languages. As a result, the threat of language extinction is perceived as lower in Africa than in other parts of the globe, and a disproportionate amount of research is devoted to the study of endangered African languages when compared to any other linguistically threatened region in the world. There are approximately 308 highly endangered languages spoken in Africa (roughly 12% of all African languages) and at least 201 extinct African languages. This volume hopes to illuminate and challenge this trend. Chapters offer both documentary and theoretical perspectives, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between the two approaches and its implications for the preservation of endangered languages, both in the African context and more broadly. Documentary-oriented chapters deal with key issues in African language documentation including language preservation and revitalization, community activism, and data collection and dissemination methodologies, among others. Theoretically-oriented chapters provide detailed descriptions and analyses of phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic phenomena, and connect these to current theoretical issues and debates. Africa's Endangered Languages provides thorough coverage of a continent's neglected languages that will spur linguists and Africanists alike to work to protect them.

Africa's Endangered Languages

Africa's Endangered Languages PDF Author: Jason Kandybowicz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190256346
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
This book examines the endangered languages of Africa from both documentary and theoretical perspectives, highlighting the threats of extinction many of them face and the challenges and implications each bring to bear on linguistic theory. It focuses on the symbiosis between documentary and theoretical methodologies, and its consequences for the preservation of endangered languages, both in the African context and more broadly.

Language Death

Language Death PDF Author: Nancy C. Dorian
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512815586
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.

When Languages Die

When Languages Die PDF Author: K. David Harrison
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195372069
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
It is commonly agreed by linguists and anthropologists that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will likely disappear within our lifetime. This text focuses on the question: what is lost when a language dies?

Endangered Languages and Languages in Danger

Endangered Languages and Languages in Danger PDF Author: Luna Filipović
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027266441
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
This peer-reviewed collection brings together the latest research on language endangerment and language rights. It creates a vibrant, interdisciplinary platform for the discussion of the most pertinent and urgent topics central to vitality and equality of languages in today’s globalised world. The novelty of the volume lies in the multifaceted view on the variety of dangers that languages face today, such as extinction through dwindling speaker populations and lack of adequate preservation policies or inequality in different social contexts (e.g. access to justice, education and research resources). There are examples of both loss and survival, and discussion of multiple factors that condition these two different outcomes. We pose and answer difficult questions such as whether forced interventions in preventing loss are always warranted or indeed viable. The emerging shared perspective is that of hope to inspire action towards improving the position of different languages and their speakers through research of this kind.

Language Endangerment

Language Endangerment PDF Author: David Bradley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107041139
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
Investigates the endangerment of languages and the loss of traditional cultural diversity, and how to respond.

Language and Poverty

Language and Poverty PDF Author: Wayne Harbert
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1847691196
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
This volume explores the complex interactions of language with economic resources. How does poverty affect language survival? How is the economic status of individuals affected by the languages they do or do not speak? The authors address these questions from multiple perspectives, drawing on linguistics, language policy and planning, economics, anthropology, and sociology.

The Languages of Africa and the Diaspora

The Languages of Africa and the Diaspora PDF Author: Jo Anne Kleifgen
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1847691331
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
This book takes a fresh look at subordinated vernacular languages in the context of African, Caribbean, and US educational landscapes, highlighting the social cost of linguistic exceptionalism for speakers of these languages. Chapters describe contravening movements toward various forms of linguistic diversity and offer a comprehensive approach to language awareness in educative settings.