On The Death And Life Of Languages

Twenty-five languages die each year; at this pace, half the world’s five thousand languages will disappear within the next century. In this timely book, Claude Hagège seeks to make clear the magnitude of the cultural loss represented by the crisis of language death. By focusing on the relationship of language to culture and the world of ideas, Hagège shows how languages are themselves crucial repositories of culture; the traditions, proverbs, and knowledge of our ancestors reside in the language we use. His wide-ranging examination covers all continents and language families to uncover not only how languages die, but also how they can be revitalized—for example in the remarkable case of Hebrew. In a striking metaphor, Hagège likens languages to bonfires of social behavior that leave behind sparks even after they die; from these sparks languages can be rekindled and made to live again.

“Do people know that on average around 25 languages die every year? In one hundred years, if nothing has changed, half of all languages will be dead. At the end of the Twenty-first Century, there should therefore remain around 2,500, and probably many fewerif we take into account a very possible acceleration of the rate of disappearance. Granted, like civilizations, languages are mortal, and the chasm of history is big enough for them all. However, there is something completely unique, and exalting, about the death of languages, when we become aware of it: languages can be resurrected! But this requires vigilance, without which all are threatened, including French.” C. H. Claude Hagège is a recipient of the CNRS Gold Medal, and professor at the Collège de France. He is the author of L’Enfant aux deux langues, Le Français et les siècles, both huge best-sellers.

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?

A thorough review of the worldwide problem of language endangerment and death.

Languages are dying at an alarming rate all over the world. Estimates range from 50% to as much as 90% 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.

“A gothic and elegant page-turner.”—The Boston Globe Twenty years ago, Jane Hudson fled the Heart Lake School for Girls in the Adirondacks after a terrible tragedy. The week before her graduation, in that sheltered wonderland, three lives were taken, all victims of suicide. Only Jane was left to carry the burden of a mystery that has stayed hidden in the depths of Heart Lake for more than two decades. Now Jane has returned to the school as a Latin teacher, recently separated and hoping to make a fresh start with her young daughter. But ominous messages from the past dredge up forgotten memories. And young, troubled girls are beginning to die again–as piece by piece the shattering truth slowly floats to the surface. . . .

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,0, University of Trier, course: Applied Linguistics, 31 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: A language dies when nobody speaks it any more. However, there are different ways languages die. In this regard, three types of language death can be identified: population loss, forced shift, and voluntary shift. One must, however, recognize that the divisions between them are not always clear. Many language deaths involve some combination of all three. Besides, there is a considerable grey area between forced and voluntary shift. The distinction between what is forced and what is voluntary is problematic, but the terms are useful as idealized ends of a continuum. 1. Language death 3 1.1 Types of language death 3 1.2 Causes of language shift 5 1.2.1 Economic influence 5 1.2.2 Cultural influence 6 1.2.3 Political influence 8 2. Linguistic equilibrium and punctuation – Endangered languages under increasing threat 9 2.1 The Palaeolithic equilibrium 9 2.2 The Neolithic punctuation and aftershock 10 2.3 The industrial punctuation 11 2.4 The extent of endangerment 13 3. Reasons for action 14 3.1 Linguistic diversity and sustainable economic development 14 3.2 Language and identity 15 3.3 Language and history 16 3.4 Language and human knowledge 17 3.5 Languages and linguistic knowledge 18 II. PRINCIPLES 20 1. The Diagnosis 20 1.1 Levels of endangerment 20 1.2 The stages of language death 20 2. Remedies 22 2.1 Reversing Language Shift (RLS) theory 22 2.2 Increase of prestige 25 2.3 Increase of wealth 26 2.4 The education system 26 2.5 Literacy 27 2.6 Increase of legitimate power 27 III. RECOMMENDATIONS 29 IV. REFERENCES 33