Investigating Obsolescence

Studies in Language Contraction and Death

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Paperback | 2 November 1992

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460 Pages

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Languages die for political, economic and cultural reasons, and can disappear remarkably quickly. Between ten and fifty per cent of all languages currently spoken can be considered endangered, but it is only in the past ten years or so that due importance has been given to the study of contracting and dying languages. This volume represents the first attempt to give a broad overview of current research in a developing field, and to examine some of the crucial methodological and theoretical issues to which it has given rise. It includes twenty studies by scholars who, taken together, have worked on a range of languages currently under threat across the globe. They occur in diverse speech communities where the expanding languages are not only those that are very familiar - English, Spanish, or French, for example - but also Swedish, Arabic, Thai etc. The final part of the volume is devoted to a consideration of the implications of research into language obsolescence for other aspects of linguistics and anthropology - first and second language acquisition, historical linguistics, and the study of pidgins and creoles and of language and social process. As a whole, this collection will certainly stimulate further and better co-ordinated research into a topic of direct relevance to sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics.

Industry Reviews

'... a firm basis for sociolinguists, anthropological linguists, and anyone else trying to make their way across the mire which currently tends to suck people down as they attempt to cope with the messiness of dying languages.' Jean Aitchison, Journal of Linguistics 'The book is valuable above all for the wide variety of data it presents. This is a valuable stepping stone at a time in history when numbers of dying languages are likely to increase, as major languages progressively dominate the world. It will provide a firm basis for sociolinguists, anthropological linguists, and anyone else trying to make their way across the mire which currently tends to suck people down as they attempt to cope with the messiness of dying languages.' Jean Aitchison, Journal of Linguistics

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List of maps	p. vii
List of contributors	p. viii
Preface	p. x
Introduction	p. 1
Focus on context
On language death in eastern Africa	p. 13
The disappearance of the Ugong in Thailand	p. 33
Scottish and Irish Gaelic: The giant's bed-fellows	p. 41
The rise and fall of an immigrant language: Norwegian in America	p. 61
Breton vs. French: Language and the opposition of political, economic, social, and cultural values	p. 75
"Persistence" or "tip" in Egyptian Nubian	p. 91
Sociolinguistic creativity: Cape Breton Gaelic's linguistic "tip"	p. 103
Skewed performance and full performance in language obsolescence: The case of an Albanian variety	p. 117
On the social meaning of linguistic variability in language death situations: Variation in Newfoundland French	p. 139
The social functions of relativization in obsolescent and non-obsolescent languages	p. 149
Focus on structure
Problems in obsolescence research: The Gros Ventres of Montana	p. 167
The structural consequences of language death	p. 181
On signs of health and death	p. 197
Case usage among the Pennsylvania German sectarians and nonsectarians	p. 211
Estonian among immigrants in Sweden	p. 227
The incipient obsolescence of polysynthesis: Cayuga in Ontario and Oklahoma	p. 243
Urban and non-urban Egyptian Nubian: Is there a reduction in language skill?	p. 259
Some lexical and morphological changes in Warlpiri	p. 267
Language contraction and linguistic change: The case of Welland French	p. 287
Lexical innovation and loss: The use and value of restricted Hungarian	p. 313
Invited commentaries
Some people who don't talk right: Universal and particular in child language, aphasia, and language obsolescence	p. 335
Language obsolescence and language history: Matters of linearity, leveling, loss, and the like	p. 347
Language convergence and language death as social processes	p. 355
Pidgins, creoles, immigrant, and dying languages	p. 369
The "up" and "down" staircase in secondary language development	p. 385
Bibliography	p. 395
Index of languages	p. 422
General index	p. 426
Maps
World map showing main languages discussed in this volume
Eastern Africa
Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers circa 1500 and at the present day
Norwegians in the United States, 1930
Major dialects of the Breton language
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Investigating Obsolescence

Studies in Language Contraction and Death

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

Hardcover

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