Endangered Languages: An Introduction
This accessible textbook examines the critical issue of language endangerment as most of the world's 7,000 languages face extinction before the century's end. Written by Sarah G. Thomason, William J. Gedney Collegiate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Michigan, this Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics volume provides comprehensive coverage of why languages disappear and what we lose when they do.
Understanding Language Endangerment
The book addresses fundamental questions about language endangerment: what defines it, how and why it occurs, and why preservation matters. Readers gain insight into the various causes behind language death, learning what factors make a language 'safe' versus vulnerable. The text identifies specific danger signs that threaten minority languages, providing frameworks for assessing linguistic vitality.
Consequences and Cultural Impact
Language loss extends beyond vocabulary and grammar. When a language vanishes, entire cultural traditions disappear, and linguistic structures that could enhance our understanding of human language universality and variability are lost forever. This textbook explores both dimensions: the impact on former speech communities and the broader implications for linguistic research and human knowledge.
Documentation and Revitalization Methods
The book illustrates practical approaches through case studies, describing established methods for documenting endangered languages before they disappear. Beyond documentation, it examines language revitalization strategies, showing how communities and linguists work together to preserve and restore threatened languages.
Academic Applications
Suitable for university-level courses in linguistics, anthropological linguistics, and sociolinguistics, this paperback serves as both a textbook and reference guide. The author's expertise in language contact and linguistic change, demonstrated in her previous work Language Contact: An Introduction (2001), informs the comprehensive treatment of multilingualism and linguistic diversity throughout the text.
