Language Documentation And Endangerment In Africa

Author : James Essegbey,Brent Henderson,Fiona Mc Laughlin
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 317 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2015-10-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027268150

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Language Documentation and Endangerment in Africa by James Essegbey,Brent Henderson,Fiona Mc Laughlin Pdf

This volume brings together a number of important perspectives on language documentation and endangerment in Africa from an international cohort of scholars with vast experience in the field. Offering insights from rural and urban settings throughout the continent, these essays consider topics that range from the development of a writing system to ideologies of language endangerment, from working with displaced communities to the role of colonial languages in reshaping African repertoires, and from the insights of archeology to the challenges of language documentation as a doctoral project. The authors are concerned with both theoretical and practical aspects of language documentation as they address the ways in which the African context both differs from and resembles contexts of endangerment elsewhere in the world. This volume will be useful to fieldworkers and documentalists who work in Africa and beyond.

Author : Jason Kandybowicz,Harold Torrence
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2017-07-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780190675288

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Africa's Endangered Languages by Jason Kandybowicz,Harold Torrence Pdf

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.

Author : Matthias Brenzinger
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 472 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2015-07-31
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110905694

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Language Diversity Endangered by Matthias Brenzinger Pdf

This book presents a comprehensive overview of endangered languages with a global coverage. It features such well-known specialists as Michael Krauss, Willem F. H. Adelaar, Denny Moore, Colette Grinevald, Akira Yamamoto, Roger Blench, Bruce Connell, Tapani Salminen, Olga Kazakevich, Aleksandr Kibrik, Jonathan Owens, David Bradley, George van Driem, Nicholas Evans, Stephen A. Wurm, Darrell Tryon and Matthias Brenzinger. The contributions are unique in analysing the present extent and the various kinds of language endangerment by applying shared general indicators for the assessment of language endangerment. Apart from presenting the specific situations of language endangerment at the sub-continental level, the volume discusses major issues that bear universally on language endangerment. The actual study of endangered languages is carefully examined, for example, against the ethics and pragmatics of fieldwork. Practical aspects of community involvement in language documentation are discussed, such as the setting up of local archives and the training of local linguists. Numerous case studies illustrate different language shift environments with specific replacing factors, such as colonial and religious conquests, migrations and governmental language education. The book is of interest to students and scholars of linguistics with particular focus on endangered languages (and their documentation), typology, and sociolinguistics as well as to anthropologists and language activists.

Author : Matthias Brenzinger
Publisher : R. Koppe
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Foreign Language Study
ISBN : STANFORD:36105028616972

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Endangered Languages in Africa by Matthias Brenzinger Pdf

Author : Friederike Lüpke,Anne Storch
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 434 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2013-05-28
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781614511946

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Repertoires and Choices in African Languages by Friederike Lüpke,Anne Storch Pdf

Most African languages are spoken by communities as one of several languages present on a daily basis. The persistence of multilingualism and the linguistic creativity manifest in the playful use of different languages are striking, especially against the backdrop of language death and expanding monolingualism elsewhere in the world. The effortless mastery of several languages is disturbing, however, for those who take essentialist perspectives that see it as a problem rather than a resource, and for the dominating, conflictual, sociolinguistic model of multilingualism. This volume investigates African minority languages in the context of changing patterns of multilingualism, and also assesses the status of African languages in terms of existing influential vitality scales. An important aspect of multilingual praxis is the speakers' agency in making choices, their repertoires of registers and the multiplicity of language ideology associated with different ways of speaking. The volume represents a new and original contribution to the ethnography of speaking of multilingual practices and the cultural ideas associated with them.

Author : Peter K. Austin,Julia Sallabank
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 581 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2011-03-24
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781139500838

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The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages by Peter K. Austin,Julia Sallabank Pdf

It is generally agreed that about 7,000 languages are spoken across the world today and at least half may no longer be spoken by the end of this century. This state-of-the-art Handbook examines the reasons behind this dramatic loss of linguistic diversity, why it matters, and what can be done to document and support endangered languages. The volume is relevant not only to researchers in language endangerment, language shift and language death, but to anyone interested in the languages and cultures of the world. It is accessible both to specialists and non-specialists: researchers will find cutting-edge contributions from acknowledged experts in their fields, while students, activists and other interested readers will find a wealth of readable yet thorough and up-to-date information.

Author : Luna Filipović,Martin Pütz
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 413 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2016-10-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027266446

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Endangered Languages and Languages in Danger by Luna Filipović,Martin Pütz Pdf

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.

Author : Shobhana L. Chelliah
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 98 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2021-01-22
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783030661908

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Why Language Documentation Matters by Shobhana L. Chelliah Pdf

This book offers the latest insights on language documentation, a reborn, refashioned, and reenergized subfield of linguistics motivated by the urgent task of creating a record of the world’s fast disappearing languages. Language documentation provides data to challenge and improve existing linguistic theory. In addition, because it requires input from various fields to be comprehensive, language documentation serves to build bridges between linguistics and other disciplines. Language documentation also provides resources for communities interested in language and culture preservation, language maintenance, and language revitalization. This book informs, evokes interest, and encourages involvement at all levels.

Author : Herman Batibo
Publisher : Multilingual Matters
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2005-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 1853598089

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Language Decline and Death in Africa by Herman Batibo Pdf

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.

Author : Lenore A. Grenoble
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 359 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027211750

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Language Documentation by Lenore A. Grenoble Pdf

"Language documentation," also often called "documentary linguistics," is a relatively new subfield in linguistics which has emerged in part as a response to the pressing need for collecting, describing, and archiving material on the increasing number of endangered languages. The present book details the most recent developments in this rapidly developing field with papers written by linguists primarily based in academic institutions in North America, although many conduct their fieldwork elsewhere. The articles in this volume position papers and case studies focus on some of the most critical issues in the field. These include (1) the nature of contributions to linguistic theory and method provided by documentary linguistics, including the content appropriate for documentation; (2) the impact and demands of technology in documentation; (3) matters of practice in collaborations among linguists and communities, and in the necessary training of students and community members to conduct documentation activities; and (4) the ethical issues involved in documentary linguistics."

Author : Rainer Vossen,Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 1104 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2020-03-19
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780191007385

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The Oxford Handbook of African Languages by Rainer Vossen,Gerrit J. Dimmendaal Pdf

This book provides a comprehensive overview of current research in African languages, drawing on insights from anthropological linguistics, typology, historical and comparative linguistics, and sociolinguistics. Africa is believed to host at least one third of the world's languages, usually classified into four phyla - Niger-Congo, Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoisan - which are then subdivided into further families and subgroupings. This volume explores all aspects of research in the field, beginning with chapters that cover the major domains of grammar and comparative approaches. Later parts provide overviews of the phyla and subfamilies, alongside grammatical sketches of eighteen representative African languages of diverse genetic affiliation. The volume additionally explores multiple other topics relating to African languages and linguistics, with a particular focus on extralinguistic issues: language, cognition, and culture, including colour terminology and conversation analysis; language and society, including language contact and endangerment; language and history; and language and orature. This wide-ranging handbook will be a valuable reference for scholars and students in all areas of African linguistics and anthropology, and for anyone interested in descriptive, documentary, typological, and comparative linguistics.

Author : Jason Kandybowicz,Travis Major,Harold Torrence,Philip T. Duncan
Publisher : Language Science Press
Page : 454 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2018-06-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783961100361

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African linguistics on the prairie by Jason Kandybowicz,Travis Major,Harold Torrence,Philip T. Duncan Pdf

African Linguistics on the Prairie features select revised peer-reviewed papers from the 45th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held at the University of Kansas. The articles in this volume reflect the enormous diversity of African languages, as they focus on languages from all of the major African language phyla. The articles here also reflect the many different research perspectives that frame the work of linguists in the Association for Contemporary African Linguistics. The diversity of views presented in this volume are thus indicative of the vitality of current African linguistics research. The work presented in this volume represents both descriptive and theoretical methodologies and covers fields ranging from phonetics, phonology, morphology, typology, syntax, and semantics to sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, language acquisition, computational linguistics and beyond. This broad scope and the quality of the articles contained within holds out the promise of continued advancement in linguistic research on African languages.

Author : Julia Sallabank
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 287 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2013-12-19
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781107655881

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Attitudes to Endangered Languages by Julia Sallabank Pdf

Language attitudes and ideologies are of key importance in assessing the chances of success of revitalisation efforts for endangered languages. However, few book-length studies relate attitudes to language policies, or address the changing attitudes of non-speakers and the motivations of members of language movements. Through a combination of ethnographic research and quantitative surveys, this book presents an in-depth study of revitalisation efforts for indigenous languages in three small islands round the British Isles. The author identifies and confronts key issues commonly faced by practitioners and researchers working in small language communities with little institutional support. This book explores the complex relationship of ideologies, identity and language-related beliefs and practices, and examines the implications of these factors for language revitalisation measures. Essential reading for researchers interested in language endangerment and revitalisation, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and language policy and planning, as well as language planners and campaigners.

Author : Elena Mihas,Bernard Perley,Gabriel Rei-Doval,Kathleen Wheatley
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 291 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2013-11-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027271150

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Responses to Language Endangerment by Elena Mihas,Bernard Perley,Gabriel Rei-Doval,Kathleen Wheatley Pdf

This volume further complicates and advances the contemporary perspective on language endangerment by examining the outcomes of the most commonly cited responses to language endangerment, i.e. language documentation, language revitalization, and training. The present collection takes stock of many complex and pressing issues, such as the assessment of the degree of language endangerment, the contribution of linguistic scholarship to language revitalization programs, the creation of successful language reclamation programs, the emergence of languages that arise as a result of revitalization efforts after interrupted transmission, the ethics of fieldwork, and the training of field linguists and language educators. The volume’s case studies provide detailed personal accounts of fieldworkers and language activists who are grappling with issues of language documentation and revitalization in the concrete physical and socio-cultural settings of native speaker communities in different regions of the world.

Author : Kenneth L. Rehg,Lyle Campbell
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 776 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2018-07-18
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780190610036

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The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages by Kenneth L. Rehg,Lyle Campbell Pdf

The endangered languages crisis is widely acknowledged among scholars who deal with languages and indigenous peoples as one of the most pressing problems facing humanity, posing moral, practical, and scientific issues of enormous proportions. Simply put, no area of the world is immune from language endangerment. The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages, in 39 chapters, provides a comprehensive overview of the efforts that are being undertaken to deal with this crisis. A comprehensive reference reflecting the breadth of the field, the Handbook presents in detail both the range of thinking about language endangerment and the variety of responses to it, and broadens understanding of language endangerment, language documentation, and language revitalization, encouraging further research. The Handbook is organized into five parts. Part 1, Endangered Languages, addresses the fundamental issues that are essential to understanding the nature of the endangered languages crisis. Part 2, Language Documentation, provides an overview of the issues and activities of concern to linguists and others in their efforts to record and document endangered languages. Part 3, Language Revitalization, includes approaches, practices, and strategies for revitalizing endangered and sleeping ("dormant") languages. Part 4, Endangered Languages and Biocultural Diversity, extends the discussion of language endangerment beyond its conventional boundaries to consider the interrelationship of language, culture, and environment, and the common forces that now threaten the sustainability of their diversity. Part 5, Looking to the Future, addresses a variety of topics that are certain to be of consequence in future efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages.