Language Death and Language Maintenance: Theoretical, Practical and Descriptive Approaches

✍ Scribed by Mark Janse, Sijmen Tol (Eds.)

• Publisher: John Benjamins
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 263
• Series: Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 240
• Edition: 1st
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Languages are dying at an alarming rate all over the world. Estimates range from 50 per cent to as much as 90 per cent by the end of the century. This collection of original papers tries to strike a balance between theoretical, practical and descriptive approaches to language death and language maintenance. It provides overviews of language endangerment in Africa, Eurasia, and the Greater Pacific Area. It also presents case studies of endangered languages from various language families. These descriptive case studies not only provide data on the degree of endangerment and the causes of language death, but also provide a general sociolinguistic and typological characterization the language(s) under discussion and the prospects of language maintenance (if any). The volume will be of interest to all those concerned with the ongoing extinction of the world's linguistic diversity.