Endangered Languages - An Introduction

An introduction to language endangerment. What is it? How and why does it happen? Why should we care?

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Why and how languages become endangered; 3. Sliding into dormancy: social processes and linguistic effects; 4. What a community loses: language loss as cultural loss; 5. What science loses: language loss as a threat to our understanding of human history, human cognition, and the natural world; 6. Field research on endangered languages; 7. Language preservation and revitalization.

About the author

Sarah G. Thomason is William J. Gedney Collegiate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Michigan. Her previous publications include Language Contact: An Introduction (2001).

Summary

An introduction to the topic of language endangerment, answering questions such as: what is it? How and why does it happen? Wy should we care? The book outlines the causes of language endangerment, explaining what makes a language 'safe', and highlighting the danger signs that threaten a minority language.

Product details

• Authors: Veronica Grondona, Sarah Thomason, Sarah G Thomason, Sarah G. Thomason, Sarah Grey Thomason, Sarah Grey Grondona Thomason
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 23.04.2015
• EAN: 9780521684538
• ISBN: 978-0-521-68453-8
• No. of pages: 242
• Series: Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures