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The World'S Languages in Crisis
Abstract
1. Except for the case of Eyak, which I can personally confirm, many of the statistics, large and small, in this article are but reports or estimates; I trust it will be obvious that any imprecision in the present figures should in no way detract from the basic point of their shocking significance. For North America and the Soviet North the figures for numbers of speakers come mainly from colleagues. For the numbers of languages and their speakers for the world generally, by far the best single source available that I am aware of is the Ethnologue (Grimes 1988), to which this paper refers below.
2.
Note, however, that 187 languages comprise only a very small proportion of the world's languages, about 3%. For this and much of the following I am most indebted to Barbara and Joseph Grimes and their Ethnologue (1988), together with some late 1990 updates (personal communication). This work provides by far the most detailed worldwide survey of languages yet available, and it is also a project continuously being updated. In keeping with the estimated nature of statistics, I have generally rounded the Grimeses' figures.
3. The Grimeses' updated figures now include over 100 more very nearly extinct Australian languages listed in Wurm & Hattori 1981 but not in the 1988 Ethnologue.
4. Ken Hale wishes to point out that the figures attributed to him in Time magazine, September 23, 1991, are from Mike Krauss's presentation in the LSA Endangered Languages symposium of January, 1991.
5. As this goes to press, I note the article 'World of the Living Dead' (Natural history 9/91:30, 32-37) by the biologist Jared Diamond, who takes the Javanese bird situation as an example to illustrate his view, held by many biologists, that 'half of the world's species will be extinct or on the verge of extinction by the end of the next century'. Thus the enormity of the impending biological catastrophe may come much closer to matching that of the linguistic catastrophe than one might believe from the official endangered species listings.
6. As this goes to press, in addition to the political support of the federal Native American Languages Act of 1990 (described below by Watahomigie & Yamamoto), new federal legislation is proceeding that is to include appropriations: S. 1595, the Alaska Native Languages Preservation and Enhancement Act of 1991, introduced by Senator Murkowski of Alaska in July, 'to preserve and enhance the ability of Alaska Natives to speak and understand their native languages', passed by the Senate in November; and S. 2044, the Native American Languages Act of 1991, 'to assist Native Americans in assuring the survival and continuing vitality of their languages', introduced by Senator Inouye of Hawaii in November.
... In line with this, based on the number of speakers and how they care and given attention to a language, Krauss (1992) has categorized language vitality into three categories, namely (1) moribund languages, (2) endangered languages, and (3) safe languages. Moribund languages are languages that children no longer use as their mother tongue; children are still studying endangered languages but will be abandoned in the future; safe languages are languages with many speakers, and government or related parties still provide strong support. ...
... It is in accordance with Kincade (1991), Wurm (2003), and Sugono et al., (2017) who mentioned that a language is safe if everyone in that ethnic group still uses it. Krauss (1992) also said that safe languages are languages with many speakers. ...
... The few people used them well including in the family sphere. According to Krauss (1992), children are still studying endangered languages but will be abandoned in the future. ...
The Kafoa language is one of the indigenous languages in Indonesia so that needs to preserve it to be in existed category and reveal it as language assets in Indonesia and local culture identity. Revealing the Kafoa Language vitality can be conducted through many perspectives, one of them is through the use of basic cultural vocabulary mastery by native speakers. Therefore, this study aimed to reveal the Kafoa language vitality through the basic cultural vocabulary mastery by the speakers in Bawah Sub-Village, Probur Utara Village, Southwest Alor District, Alor Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The study was a qualitative applying case study method. Data were the answer of 40 speakers of the Kafoa language as respondents. In collecting data, questionnaire and interview guidance were used as instruments involving 451 basic cultural vocabularies in nine domains of body parts; pronouns, greetings, and references; kinship; village and community life; house and its parts; equipment and tools; foods and beverages; plants and trees; and animals. The data were then analysed through Miles and Huberman steps of data analysis. The study result showed that 190 (42%) vocabularies are still mastered by the speakers of Kafoa language, while 261(58%) vocabularies are not longer mastered. It indicates that the tendency to master the basic cultural vocabulary by speakers of the Kafoa language tends to decrease thus its vitality is getting low. To maintain the vitality or life power of the Kafoa language, a policy from the Government is needed and teaching it in the schools is considered.
... This duality underscores the importance of technology in supporting language preservation and cultural identity (Slimane, 2008;Krauss, 1992). ...
... This aligns with the global issue of language endangerment, highlighted by Austin andSallabank (2011), Evans (2011), Rehg and Campbell (2018), and Romaine (2017). The urgency of preserving Mayan languages, as predicted by Miller (2023), French (2024), andKrauss (1992), underscores the participants' efforts in this study. ...
This dissertation explores innovative approaches to preserving and revitalizing the linguistic and cultural heritage of Mayan-speaking youth of Guatemalan descent in rural Nebraska. It delves into the intersection of technology, artistic expression, and cultural practices, emphasizing the revitalization of Mayan languages in Abya Yala (the Americas), particularly emphasizing the Guatemalan and the Mayan diasporas in Nebraska.
The research investigates the roles of digital humanities, culture-based education, and poetic expressions in language preservation/revitalization efforts among Mayan youth and unaccompanied minors in transnational educational settings. Central to the study is an academic initiative for transnational Mayan high school students integrating poetry and language arts instruction in English, Spanish, and two Mayan languages, specifically K'iche' and Qʼanjobʼal.
Employing a narrative-based qualitative approach and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), the study captures the experiences of Mayan youth reconnecting with their linguistic heritage. Data collection methods included interviews, collaborative poetry sessions, and focus group discussions on language preservation efforts. The research leverages advanced AI tools such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, DALL-E, LeonardoAI, and Ideogram for translation services and content generation.
The Kematz’ib’ project’s outcomes, including student-created digital poetry and multimedia narratives, were not just creative expressions, but also valuable contributions to more inclusive educational curricula, promoting cultural and linguistic diversity. A co-designed digital pathway supports the preservation of indigenous languages, while the research findings, which inform strategies for incorporating innovative learning technologies in classrooms, are particularly enlightening. In multiple presentations they have sparked interest and curiosity in the audience, leaving them more informed and aware of these important issues in an increasingly globalized world.
This dissertation actively demonstrates the transformative potential of digital media, poetry, and translanguaging in preserving and promoting Mayan linguistic and cultural heritage. It provides valuable insights into language revitalization efforts and, importantly, the empowerment of Indigenous youth in transnational educational contexts. Moreover, it contributes to the broader discourse on endangered language preservation and cultural sustainability, making the audience more informed and aware of these important issues in an increasingly globalized world.
... UNESCO has laid emphasis on the elevation of ethnic literacies to protect the endangerment of dialects, highlighting the protection and conservation as one of the utmost exigent challenges our world is facing. The urgency is an answer to warnings and cautions that almost half of the present languages in the world are in endangerment of loss in 2100 (Krauss, 1992as cited in Gorio et al., 2014. According to McCarty et al. (1999), UNESCO (2003) defined "endangered language," when its speakers stop using it; stop to pass it to the next generation. ...
... According to McCarty et al. (1999), UNESCO (2003) defined "endangered language," when its speakers stop using it; stop to pass it to the next generation. For Krauss (1992as cited in Gorio et al., 2014, "moribund" dialects are not being learned by the young anymore; "endangered" dialects are still learned by the young, if existent tendencies persist, but the children stop to learn them in the next centuries; "safe" dialects, on the other hand, are not moribund or in danger of extinction. ...
... are transmitted via social learning [4,9,23,24], such nongenetic transmission may be disrupted when populations are diminished or their age structure is altered [25]. Data from a limited number of studies indicate that learned behaviours have been lost or changed when populations have declined in such varied taxa as birds, elephants, seals and humans [25][26][27][28], sometimes with grave impacts on individual fitness and population health [25,29,30]. Thus, an improved understanding of how animal cultural traditions are impacted by changes in population demography will be essential for effective planning of wildlife conservation efforts [31,32]. ...
... Both fragmentation and population loss can disrupt culturally transmitted behaviours [38,63]. Population loss in other species, including Dupont's larks (Chersophilus duponti) Hawaiian honeycreepers (Drepanididae sp.), elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) and humans, has exhibited effects ranging from copying from other species to complete loss of dialects and/or language [25,26,28,34,65]. One question that arises is, do these acoustic changes have a functional significance? ...
Species worldwide are experiencing anthropogenic environmental change, and the long-term impacts on animal cultural traditions such as vocal dialects are often unknown. Our prior studies of the yellow-naped amazon (Amazona auropalliata) revealed stable vocal dialects over an 11-year period (1994–2005), with modest shifts in geographic boundaries and acoustic structure of contact calls. Here, we examined whether yellow-naped amazons maintained stable dialects over the subsequent 11-year time span from 2005 to 2016, culminating in 22 years of study. Over this same period, this species suffered a dramatic decrease in population size that prompted two successive uplists in IUCN status, from vulnerable to critically endangered. In this most recent 11-year time span, we found evidence of geographic shifts in call types, manifesting in more bilingual sites and introgression across the formerly distinct North–South acoustic boundary. We also found greater evidence of acoustic drift, in the form of new emerging call types and greater acoustic variation overall. These results suggest cultural traditions such as dialects may change in response to demographic and environmental conditions, with broad implications for threatened species.
... One of the negative consequences of the improvements in communications and education in the recent centuries is the loss of linguistic diversity and a tendency toward language uniformity around the world. Indeed, linguists estimate that 90% of the linguistic diversity might become extinct or endangered within the course of a century [1]. This situation has yield in the recent years the development of several mathematical models of language shift [2-5]. ...
... One of the negative consequences of the improvements in communications and education in the recent centuries is the loss of linguistic diversity and a tendency toward language uniformity around the world. Indeed, linguists estimate that 90% of the linguistic diversity might become extinct or endangered within the course of a century [1]. This situation has yield in the recent years the development of several mathematical models of language shift [2][3][4][5]. ...
... At the end of the fieldwork I needed to ask myself this question, "What have I achieved conceptually and methodologically?" Perhaps a good starting point would be the discussion on the language extinction catastrophe initiated by Hale (1992aHale ( , 1992b and Krauss (1992Krauss ( , 1993, debated by Ladefoged (1992) and further enhanced by Dorian's (1992) observations. Both Hale and Krauss have each succinctly put forward a strong case for the need to preserve human languages for the future generation and namely for linguists to take a responsible and active role in the task. ...
... 45). To focus our attention on the language endangerment dilemma, Krauss draws our attention to the extremely high mortality rate of languages in the worldaccording to Krauss (1992Krauss ( , 1993, by the turn of the century, at least 50% of the world's 6000 languages will cease to be spoken because these moribund languages are no longer learned by children as a mother tongue. Krauss compares language endangerment to the endangerment of biological species but he emphasizes that compared to the latter, language endangerment is not receiving as much notice, help or support as it should. ...
Since the 1990s language endangerment which is defined as 'en mass, often radical shift away from unique, local languages and language practices' (Woodbury, 2011: 160) has gained tremendous attention in sociolinguistics. Accordingly, there has been a dynamic growth in the number of studies researching on the loss and shift of indigenous and minority languages around the globe. In the early millennium I undertook nine months fieldwork for my PhD thesis (Lee, 2004) which investigated on the phenomenon of language shift of Papia Kristang, the Portuguese creole spoken by the descendants of the Portuguese conquerors of Malacca in 1511. In this paper, I discuss the rationale for using the ethnographic approach to investigate language shift, the research design, namely, the research participants and the tools I employed and how I went about collecting data for my study, the experiences of being with the community and last but not least, what I have achieved conceptually and methodologically in carrying out the study vis-à-vis an ethnographic framework. As a conclusion to the sharing, I emphasised the rich experiences of my ethnographic journey at the Portuguese Settlement and expressed my gratitude to the community for the opportunity to metaphorically 'eat, sleep and dance' with them.
... Una minoranza è, invece, "unica" quando la LM esiste solo nello Stato dove è LM, ed è "non unica" quando è presente in altri Stati sempre come LM. 15 Attraverso tali parametri, l'UNESCO attribuisce le lingue a uno dei livelli di pericolo: safe (non in pericolo), vulnerable (non parlata dai bambini fuori casa), definitely endangered (non parlata dai bambini), severely endangered (parlata solo dalle generazioni più anziane), critically endangered (parlata solo da pochi membri della generazione più anziana, spesso come semi-parlanti), extinct (non ci sono parlanti viventi). Crystal (2000: 19) suggerisce che nel corso del XXI secolo potrebbe scomparire una lingua ogni due settimane, e Krauss (1992) sostiene che il 90% delle 7.000 lingue attualmente parlate non sopravviverà alla fine del secolo in corso (Krauss, 1992). Il processo di shift linguistico 17 a cui vanno incontro queste lingue è lo stesso che spesso interessa anche molte lingue minoritarie, riconosciute e non riconosciute (Sallabank, 2012: 104). ...
... Una minoranza è, invece, "unica" quando la LM esiste solo nello Stato dove è LM, ed è "non unica" quando è presente in altri Stati sempre come LM. 15 Attraverso tali parametri, l'UNESCO attribuisce le lingue a uno dei livelli di pericolo: safe (non in pericolo), vulnerable (non parlata dai bambini fuori casa), definitely endangered (non parlata dai bambini), severely endangered (parlata solo dalle generazioni più anziane), critically endangered (parlata solo da pochi membri della generazione più anziana, spesso come semi-parlanti), extinct (non ci sono parlanti viventi). Crystal (2000: 19) suggerisce che nel corso del XXI secolo potrebbe scomparire una lingua ogni due settimane, e Krauss (1992) sostiene che il 90% delle 7.000 lingue attualmente parlate non sopravviverà alla fine del secolo in corso (Krauss, 1992). Il processo di shift linguistico 17 a cui vanno incontro queste lingue è lo stesso che spesso interessa anche molte lingue minoritarie, riconosciute e non riconosciute (Sallabank, 2012: 104). ...
L’Italia ospita, all’interno dei suoi confini, svariate lingue di minoranza. Nei loro confronti si sono avuti, nel corso del tempo, atteggiamenti diversi, sia dal punto di vista della popolazione che da punto di vista dello Stato. Se è vero che la peculiarità linguistica è oggi generalmente accentuata e apprezzata in quanto ricchezza del Paese e dell’individuo, in passato non è sempre stato così. E, in realtà, persino oggi non sempre la conoscenza di lingue “altre” è considerata positiva: si pensi, ad esempio, agli atteggiamenti nei confronti dei dialetti e delle lingue immigrate, lingue, queste, che spesso sono percepite come inferiori e per questo sono oggetto di stigma. A partire dall’Unità nazionale, con la volontà di diffusione della lingua italiana, e passando per il ventennio fascista, con la lotta ai forestierismi e l’estirpazione della “malerba dialettale”, lo Stato italiano ha per lungo tempo oppresso o cercato di sopprimere l’espressione della particolarità sul piano della lingua. È stato solo dopo 138 anni dall’Unità, infatti, che è stata promulgata una legge nazionale a favore della tutela delle lingue minoritarie. Pur con gli aspetti problematici che la legge 15 dicembre 1999, n. 482 pone, essa ha rappresentato un punto di svolta nell’approccio alle lingue in situazione di minoranza. La redazione della legge ha dato inizio ad un più sistematico tentativo, anche da parte delle Regioni, di impegnarsi per la tutela di tali lingue, e ha dato il via alla promulgazione di leggi specifiche per determinate lingue locali.
Scopo del presente elaborato è l’indagine critica delle disposizioni nazionali e regionali che hanno per oggetto le lingue in situazione di minoranza, a cui seguirà l’esposizione dei risultati di un breve lavor,o ccondotto sul campo, riguardante l’insegnamento dell’occitano di Piemonte. Il lavoro è così strutturato: dopo un primo capitolo dedicato alle nozioni preliminari sulle definizioni fondamentali e ad esempî di politiche linguistiche nel mondo, si ha un secondo capitolo dedicato alla storia delle politiche linguistiche in Italia. Esso prende come punto d’inizio l’Unità, concentrandosi poi sul periodo fascista e, infine, sul periodo successivo alla Costituzione. Si arriva, così, alla trattazione della redazione della norma nazionale sulle lingue minoritarie e ad un breve commento sulla condizione delle nuove minoranze. Il terzo capitolo passa in rassegna la legislazione concernente le lingue in situazione di minoranza di ogni Regione, tentando una discussione critica delle norme. In ultimo, il quarto capitolo ha lo scopo di rendere una descrizione concreta degli effetti delle politiche linguistiche nazionali e regionali, attraverso l’esempio reso della situazione dell’occitano delle valli piemontesi. Attraverso la diffusione di questionarî, si è cercato di riproporre, in misura più limitata, l’indagine condotta da Iannàccaro (2010) sulle applicazioni scolastiche della legislazione nazionale. Per l’oggetto di quest’ultima indagine, l’occitano di Piemonte, si è cercato di osservare l’evoluzione, negli ultimi dieci anni, degli aspetti già osservati nel 2010 dal punto di vista degli insegnanti. I risultati di ciò hanno mostrato come la situazione, rispetto allo studio preso a modello, non abbia avuto risvolti fondamentali rispetto alla rivitalizzazione della lingua considerata. Si è, inoltre, confermata l’asistematicità delle iniziative, il che conferma la necessità di politiche linguistiche più mirate ed oculate.
... The global crisis of language endangerment has been a focal point of linguistic research for decades. Krauss (1992) initially highlighted the alarming rate of language extinction, predicting that only 10% of the world's languages were safe from extinction. Simons and Lewis (2012) revisited this issue using the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) and data from Ethnologue. ...
In a globalized world today, the Indigenous Peoples' languages have been impacted by the avalanche of socio-politico-economic factors which result to language instability. One of the IP languages in Mindanao, Philippines is the Higaonon language which is threatened with various social impacts. This study investigated the vitality of the Higaonon language using the EGIDS by Lewis & Simons (2010) as a tool and interviewed key informants. Qualitative method and descriptive analysis were used. Given the gap on the unmatched finding of ethnologue about the language domains and the DepEd policy in supporting the IP language, the researchers immersed themselves in a select area where Higaonon is used. Using the EGIDS, it was revealed that the Higaonon language is at Level 6b, threatened and vulnerable. However, some responses from informants indicated that the Higaonon language is vehicular somehow showing that is used in wider communication, education, and trade. On the other hand, it is shifting due to various factors that affect language progress. Important ideas from the narratives of the key informants are: mostly domestic use of the language, speakers' discrimination due to the use of the language, inferiority of one's ethnic identity, and motivation on sustaining the language use even outside the Philippines. Due to this, local policies and programs are enumerated to facilitate the survival and sustainability of the Higaonon language. The findings might be limited due to immersion into one area, therefore further investigations in various periphery areas where Higaonon is used are recommended.
... Le livre d'AG constitue aussi un appel adressé aux linguistes à documenter les langues. Il rappelle les mots de Michael Krauss (1992 : 10, cité p. 310) : « Dans quelle mesure les langues en danger sont-elles une priorité de la linguistique moderne ?… Les étudiants avancés sont-ils encouragés à documenter les langues moribondes ou en voie de disparition pour les besoins de la recherche ? ...
... The extinction rate of languages is alarmingly high, with an estimated 90% of the world's languages at risk of disappearing within the next century (Krauss, 1992). As speech communities dwindle, linguists are urgently prioritizing the documentation of these languages. ...
... As mentioned by Krauss (1992) in his book The World's Languages in Crisis, quoted by Tove in her book, (2013), the decline in the rates of biodiversity is still much lower when compared to the number of languages which are presently either moribund, endangered or threatened. According to Jernsletten, as mentioned in Tove's book, some Sami terminologies associated with hunting and gathering, which once held a rich cultural heritage are now systematically being replaced by terms which suit the environment. ...
The present paper is a conceptual paper which explores the innate nature of languages exploring how they are in constant flux. From their sociological birth to them being politically accepted, languages go through a plethora of changes. This paper explores concepts like high and low varieties of language e.g. Hindi in playgrounds and Hindi used to teach; the concept of prestige associated with a language, as well as concepts like elaborate and restricted code by Basil Bernstein. It explores the creole continuum and how they are connected to language death. Diglossic conditions may also lead to languages being used over another leading to language disuse. Certain linguistic groups, despite having a working language, assimilate themselves with a larger language due to many possible reasons (economic, political, geographical or anything else). This paper will take the discussion forward with how policy decisions can also lead to systematic extinction of certain languages due to the farsightedness of language planning. Paulo Friere (Friere, 1985) spoke about how local languages can be the backbones of language education. This paper explores the inability of state level language planning policies at incorporating local languages into the curriculum leading to eventual endangerment of the language over generations. This paper will also look at languages with shared script and how it might be the result of language imperialism over centuries. The content and opinions expressed are that of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by/do not necessarily reflect the views of Azim Premji University.
... Language endangerment is a concept concerning the risk of extinction or death of a language due to the absence of active speakers of it (Crystal, 2000;Campbell & Rehg, 2018). It has become an issue of growing concern in linguistics, in view of the unprecedentedly rapid rate with which languages have been dying or going into conditions of serious threat of extinction in the last 50 years (Krauss, 1992;Crystal, 2000;Himmelmann, 2008;Austin & Sallabank, 2011;Campbell & Rehg, 2018). In a recent study, the worldwide problem of language loss has been connected to the process of decreasing linguistic structural diversity; moreover, it has been specified that the rate of language loss seems to be faster in certain areas of the globe, such as Northeast South America, Alaska, northern Australia (Skirgård et al., 2023). ...
The paper aims to investigate the sociolinguistic situation of the Kalmyk language, focusing on the role of language attitudes. It initially offers background information on the language and its recent history, focusing on the language policies carried out both in the republic of Kalmykia and at Federal level in Russia (Sect. 1.1). The paper then refers to the literature concerning language endangerment and the importance of language attitudes in this special context (Sect. 1.2). The methodology adopted for the study is then illustrated (Sect. 2), examining materials, procedures, and participants. We studied language attitudes by running a questionnaire, whose results, despite the limits of a direct method, offer valuable resources to describe the present sociolinguistic status of Kalmyk (Sect. 3). Participants expressed generally favourable attitudes towards the Kalmyk language, although such a disposition emerged more in generic questions than in questions about specific language-related activities. The younger respondents (18–29 y.o.) turned out to be less positively oriented towards the minority language than the older ones. Therefore, although there seems to be widespread interest in the Kalmyk language, concrete actions for its promotion may not be easily implemented, especially when they concern the younger generations.
... Thousands of the world's languages, particularly local languages, are no longer being heard, and most of them have completely disappeared (Amery, 2019;Aziz & Amery, 2016;Krauss, 1992). Many more are still dying. ...
Aceh is a special autonomous province of Indonesia located on the northwest tip of Sumatra Island. Aceh had been in conflict with the Indonesian government for more than 3 decades before officially declaring peace in 2005. This study aims to shed light on the sociolinguistic situation in Aceh during the conflict and following the 2005 peace accord, as well as to provide a deeper understanding of the roots of Aceh’s rapid language shift. Based on focus groups with young people and young parents, as well as follow-up interviews with members of an earlier generation, the study revealed that the prolonged conflict between Aceh and Indonesia failed to lead to resistance. Instead of being a colonial language, Indonesian is an integral part of national identity. Even though there was still a stated pride and high level of ideological identification with Acehnese, a gradual shift away from Acehnese began during the conflict. Since the 1970s and 1980s, an emerging phenomenon of Indonesian intergenerational transmission has emerged. This linguistic phenomenon then became more and more common among Acehnese families in the 2000s and peaked after the tsunami and peace agreement. Prestige/modernity, education, and socioeconomic factors seem to be the primary drivers of the Acehnese-to-Indonesian language shift.
... V následujícím článku bych ráda na základě pramenů a terénního výzkumu v oblasti Galway a connemarského Gaeltachtu popsala, jak v současné době probíhá revitalizace irského jazyka v Irsku, jakou podobu má konkrétní jazykový plán, zda bere v potaz teoretické modely, a v neposlední řadě, jak se k jazykovému plánování a jeho výsledkům staví sami Irové v této konkrétní lokalitě. Michael Krauss (1992) dělí jazyky do tří skupin: vymírající, ohrožené a ty, které jsou v bezpečí. Pojmem "vymírající" můžeme definovat ty jazyky, které se již děti neučí jako mateřské. ...
According to Michael Krauss and other authors dealing with the current state of languages, the Irish language is one of the 90% of languages that are most probably going to irretrievably disappear during the next century. In 2009, Irish government has created and published the official Language Revitalisation Plan for the next 20 years. This plan does not precisely follow theoretical models of language revitalisation, such as is the model of Joshua Fishman, which describe the revitalisation process as a process consisting of successive steps, but is ready to apply more language revitalisation tools simultaneously. Field research in the area of Galway and Connemara Gaeltacht (English and Irish-speaking areas) aims to uncover the real state of the Irish language in the area where English and Irish speakers live together and what can be, according to the participants, done to revive the language. Most of them feel quite optimistic about the language, although several revitalisation efforts are criticised. Almost all of the research participants agree on the opinion that to preserve the language, it is absolutely necessary to support the Gaeltacht areas where Irish is spoken on a daily basis. Another form of support should be aimed at Gaelscoils, immersion primary and secondary schools, as well as to Irish language courses in English speaking schools. These courses, however, still seem to be based on obsolete methods, which is most probably the consequence of previous unsuccessful revitalisation efforts. The last part of the article is dedicated to a somewhat neglected method of revitalisation, to verbal art, and to storytelling in particular.
... The global count of languages present in the world is undergoing a steady decline. According to some assessments, approximately 90 percent of the 6,000 or more languages spoken worldwide are currently at risk of endangerment, and there is a high likelihood that these languages might vanish within the span of this century (Krauss 1992). A notable concern raised by numerous observers is the potential jeopardy faced by the world's cultural diversity due to these widespread language extinctions (Pool, 1970). ...
This article traces the intricate relationship between language, employment, and the economy in Bangladesh while addressing the challenges of fostering this connection. In an era of globalization and rapid technological advancements, the role of language proficiency in enhancing employability and driving economic growth is more crucial than ever. Besides, as a country characterized by linguistic diversity, Bangladesh faces unique challenges and opportunities in leveraging language as a catalyst for economic growth. The coexistence of Bangla as the official language and various minority languages shapes the dynamics of employment and economic development. Language proficiency, particularly in English, plays a pivotal role in enhancing employability and accessing global job markets. However, addressing disparities in language education and ensuring inclusive language policies remain key challenges for promoting equitable economic growth.
... Language documentation is a natural application for active learning. Approximately half the world's languages face the grim forecast of extinction, with around 35-42% of these still substantially undocumented (Krauss, 1992;Wurm, 2001;Bianco, 2002;Crystal, 2002;Austin and Sallabank, 2011;Seifart et al., 2018). However, data for training automated systems is often limited, and additional annotation bears a high opportunity cost, limited not only by resources but also native speaker availability. ...
... To curb superimposing fate, linguists have developed different hypotheses to understand the various levels of language endangerment. For example, Krauss (1992) categorizes the endangerment status of a language in the following ways: ...
In addition to constituting a form of identity, personal names in Mòkpè, a Narrow Bantu language of Cameroon, Bantu A.22, serve as a means par excellence through which an individual can be identified or linked to a particular lineage or bloodline. While this remains the most effective traditional means of identifying with one’s ancestry, regrettably, however, the core value of traditional Mòkpè names has become obscure to most natives of the language (both youths and elders alike). Though the absence of documentation on this vital aspect of the language is baffling, the situation is aggravated as even elderly speakers of Mòkpè who ought to be custodians of such traditional knowledge remain perplexed when called upon to perform key traditional rituals such as libations, where such knowledge is most relevant. This only entails that this aspect of the language is endangered, the reason why the language itself is classified by Eberhard et al. (2022) as a threatened language bearing the code 6b. This paper describes the traditional conception of Mòkpè names with the aim of showing how they serve as markers of intergenerational identity. Data for the study were collected through participant observation and complemented by audio recorded interviews with natives of the Mòkpè community. A qualitative analysis of such data following the theory of Cultural Linguistics revealed
that traditional Mòkpè names bear markers of intergenerational identity connecting members of a bloodline.
... The context for this discussion is a world where languages are already under threat. The widely-cited estimates are that 10% of languages over the course of the present century will not survive [18], with already 360 languages listed as recently extinct [19]. However, language speakers are not distributed equally. ...
The concepts of “loss” and “damage” relate to the effects of anthropogenic climate changes that affect people’s livelihoods. This short communication proposes that these concepts should be broadened to include cultural intangibles such as language. Migration caused by climate change is a known phenomenon, as are the potentially negative effects migration has on language vitality. We link these concepts together to argue that climate change can have a direct negative impact on the relative health of endangered languages. Focusing on Pacific islands and atolls, it is demonstrated that migration away from these homelands results in decline of use of the associated language. With the effects of climate change on these islands well documented, there is a distinct possibility that climate migration could cause language loss in the near future. We suggest that culturally protective public policies alongside climate policies are needed to support languages (and by extension, cultures) from “loss” and “damage”.
... Despite the positive outlook provided by the dynamic nature of language use and evolution in multilingual Africa, the threat to African languages and cultures is escalating. Studies by Lüpke (2019), Mufwene (2004Mufwene ( , 2016, Krauss (1992), and Crystal (2000) indicate that many of the world's languages are at risk of disappearing. Nevertheless, the findings of this study also bear significance for revitalizing the Tachoni language and culture in tandem with UNESCO (2003) effort for safeguarding cultural heritage and fostering cultural diversity. ...
The research explores the cultural significance of male circumcision ceremonies within the Tachoni community. Its objectives include analyzing the linguistic elements used in these rituals and their cultural implications, and examining how these rituals contribute to preserving, renewing, and adapting cultural practices and heritage among the Tachoni. Grounded in lexico-semantic theory, the study investigates the intricate relationship between language, meaning, and cultural identity in Tachoni male circumcision rituals. Conducted in Webuye East Sub-County, Bungoma County, Western Kenya, the research employed qualitative ethnographic methods during August and December 2022, and April 2023. Purposive sampling involved two Tachoni elders, custodians of circumcision knowledge, who were interviewed as key informants. Data collection methods included participant observation and library research. Through interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), findings revealed that Tachoni circumcision rituals play a central role in shaping culture and language, reinforcing heritage and identity through a nuanced vocabulary of literal and symbolic meanings. These rituals symbolize rites of passage, affirming masculinity and promoting cohesion among circumcised males. However, the trend towards hospital circumcision, influenced by westernization and Christianity, threatens the continuity of Tachoni cultural practices and their associated lexicon. Consequently, documenting Tachoni circumcision rituals and their lexicon is crucial for preserving cultural heritage.
... La adopción de nuevas lenguas, así como el declive y desaparición de otras es un tema de gran relevancia sociocultural y económica. (Krauss, 1992) estimó que la mitad de los más de 6000 lenguajes en existencia se extinguirá en los próximos 100 años. Estudios más recientes llevados a cabo por (Simons & Krauss, 2013) reportan que más del 75% de las lenguas que estaban en uso en Australia, Canadá y Estados Unidos en 1950 están extintas o moribundas. ...
El primer capítulo titulado: “Dos postulados sobre el observador: una breve introducción a una epistemología de la sociología computacional” inaugura este libro con un ensayo en donde se aborda la importancia de considerar elementos epistemológicos en la modelización matemática dentro del contexto de la sociología computacional. Los autores proponen dos postulados desde el constructivismo para reflexionar sobre la relación entre el observador, el modelo matemático y la construcción de los acontecimientos en esta disciplina. Se destaca la necesidad de no confundir el modelo con el mundo, así como la importancia de delimitar la observación y los alcances de la interpretación en la investigación sociológica computacional. Se plantea la importancia de comprender la observación reflexiva en torno a la modelística, explorar teorías morfogenéticas de la comunicación y utilizar la analogía y la metáfora en modelos epistemológicos para avanzar en esta área de estudio. El ensayo invita a cuestionar la relación entre el observador y lo observado, así como a considerar la complejidad de los modelos matemáticos en la sociología computacional.
... What is concerning is if the change is negative, and leads to the death of the language. This is already happening with the change in minority languages in many parts of the world today (Dixon 1991;Krauss 1992). ...
Landawe is one of the local languages in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is in danger condition because it has only a few speakers. The article aims at describing the maintenance of Landawe language and its correlation to people's attitudes in North Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi. The study used a qualitative and quantitative approaches and sociolinguistics theory. Based on the result, study shows that the use of Landawe language is decreasing. It is affected by both extra and intra-linguistics factors. Maintaining the Landawe language can be done through several steps, namely, a) use of the Landawe language in all conditions, either in family, meeting, or education domain; b) use of the Landawe language in media social, such as Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, and Twitter); and c) use of the Landawe language as competition object in various activities or parties. However, the negative attitude of society toward Landawe language is one of challenges to the maintenance of the language.
... By documenting languages and watching them die instead of seeking to conserve and preserve, the colonial practice is reinforced. The linguistic world has evidence and is so convinced that many of the world's languages are in danger of disappearing (Krauss 1992, Crystal 2000. Language endangerment is used to justify language documentation -it ensures that researchers (especially those trained in European and American universities) obtain language documentation funding. ...
Although still not common, some recent language documentation projects in Africa have adopted the community-based approach (Good 2012, Bischoff & Jany 2018) which allows for the participation of community members at various stages of the documentation process. This approach is highly favored over the traditional method of linguistic inquiry that was based on the speech of one or a few individuals , i.e. the "ancestral code" (Woodbury 2011). However, it appears that even within this current framework, the linguist reaps the greatest academic and financial benefits while community members end up with linguistic outputs that do not meet their current livelihood needs. I argue in this paper that instead of focusing on the documentation of African languages while neglecting current survival needs of community members, and thereby legitimizing and accompanying language death, linguists and funding agencies should conceive linguistic projects as community development projects. If linguistic projects assist in community development and maintenance, languages and cultures are more likely to be preserved, making linguistic work meaningful and useful to African communities.
... One major decision is to abandon the less prestigious language in favour of the more prestigious one, because such shift, according to the authors, is seen as "more modern, useful or giving access to greater social mobility and economic opportunities" (p. 3855) (see also Krauss, 1992;Nettle & Romaine, 1999). Watson (1913) propounded the theory of behaviourism to support the idea of Skinner, Parlov and Thorndike, who earlier developed the theory on learning as a reaction to traditional grammar. ...
Many minority languages in the world die as a result of lack of interest in the mother tongue, or as a result of minority speakers shifting to dominant languages. The paper investigates the extent to which Erei language in Cross River State of Nigeria has undergone maintenance, especially by Erei teenagers. Three research objectives and questions were formulated to guide the study, while behaviourism theory was adopted as the framework for the study. Thirty-six Erei-speaking teenagers aged 14-19 years drawn from the three wards that make up Erei land-Abayong, Erei North and Erei South-were selected for the study. Also, 25-item questionnaire was developed to elicit information from the respondents. The findings from their self-assessment reports show that Erei language, although minor, receive adequate maintenance by majority of the respondents, even though it is in contact with two dominant languages: English and Igbo, which poise treat to its existence. The study concludes that, although majority of Erei users find it difficult to read, write or translate Erei, the language may survive the threat of those dominant languages, and might likely not shift to any of them.
... The extinction rate of languages is alarmingly high, with an estimated 90% of the world's languages at risk of disappearing within the next century (Krauss, 1992). As speech communities dwindle, linguists are urgently prioritizing the documentation of these languages. ...
In this paper, we address the data scarcity problem in automatic data-driven glossing for low-resource languages by coordinating multiple sources of linguistic expertise. We supplement models with translations at both the token and sentence level as well as leverage the extensive linguistic capability of modern LLMs. Our enhancements lead to an average absolute improvement of 5%-points in word-level accuracy over the previous state of the art on a typologically diverse dataset spanning six low-resource languages. The improvements are particularly noticeable for the lowest-resourced language Gitksan, where we achieve a 10%-point improvement. Furthermore, in a simulated ultra-low resource setting for the same six languages, training on fewer than 100 glossed sentences, we establish an average 10%-point improvement in word-level accuracy over the previous state-of-the-art system.
... The intersection of language and cultural philosophy is also a growing area of interest. Language is seen as a carrier of cultural heritage and identity, leading to discussions about the preservation of endangered languages and the impact of language loss on cultural diversity (Krauss, 1992). ...
Bu məqalə tibbi, hüquqi və texniki aspektlərin yaxınlaşmasına diqqət yetirərək terminoloji tərcümənin mürəkkəb dünyasını araşdırır. O, hər bir domen daxilindəki çətinlikləri və imperativləri təhlil edir, linqvistik dəqiqliyə, mövzu ekspertizasına və kontekstual anlayışa ehtiyacı vurğulayır. Xüsusi bilik tələb edən çoxşaxəli mənzərəni vurğulayan tibbi, hüquqi və texniki terminologiyanın tərcüməsi ilə bağlı mürəkkəbliklər tədqiq edilir. Kritik sahələrdə dəqiqliyin əhəmiyyəti vurğulanır,
qeyri-dəqiqliklərin potensial nəticələri vurğulanır. Məqalədə insan təcrübəsinin əvəzolunmaz rolu etiraf edilməklə, terminoloji tərcümədə inqilab edən alətlər və texnologiyalar müzakirə olunur. O, domen üzrə xüsusi biliyə malik peşəkar tərcüməçilərin tərəfdarıdır və keyfiyyət təminatının əhəmiyyətini vurğulayır. Terminologiyanın dəqiq tərcüməsinin tibb, hüquq və texnologiya
sahələrində hədəf auditoriyalara təsiri tədqiq edilir və onun etibarın gücləndirilməsində, hüquqların qorunmasında və istifadəçi təcrübəsinin artırılmasındakı rolu vurğulanır. Sonda məqalədə mədəniyyətlərarası ünsiyyətin və biliklərin yayılmasının təmin edilməsində dəqiqlik və təcrübənin əsas rolu vurğulanır.
... For instance, the Fuegian language family in southern South America includes four languages, of which two are already extinct (Selknam and Haush); the other two are nearly extinct, spoken by fewer than ten persons among the Yahgan and Kaweshkar peoples (Rozzi 2001). Worldwide more than 10 percent of the living languages are ''nearly extinct,'' almost 30 percent are highly threatened (there are fewer than 10,000 speakers), and as many as 90 percent of the languages may vanish during the twenty-first century (Krauss 1992, Maffi 2005. ...
Three interrelated factors—human language, culture, and the inhabited ecosystems—have helped to shape the evolution of the human species. In the 1990s, numerous studies demonstrated correlations between biological and linguistic diversity, and suggested that these correlations provide evidence about the coevolution of human groups with their local ecosystems
... Alongside the extinction crisis for species and ecosystems, a parallel crisis for diversity is unfolding for the world's languages, with 50%-90% expected to disappear within the current century (Krauss, 1992). According to the language database Ethnologue, there are, as of February 2023, 7,168 languages spoken in the world. ...
This article discusses Estonian author Andrus Kivirähk’s novel The Man Who Spoke Snakish in the context of language extinction and biocultural diversity. The novel is set in Medieval Estonia, but the viewpoint of the protagonist as a speaker of a vanishing language from a vanishing culture resonates with the lived experience of millions of people who have lost lifeways and livelihoods to colonisation and cultural assimilation. The fictitious language of Snakish allows its speakers to integrate fully into the natural world and to form complex interdependent relationships with non-human animals. This web of nature, culture and language is destroyed by a colonising society that is anthropocentric, ecologically destructive and socially hierarchical, and which views nature as something to exploit or fear. The novel explores the emotions of grief and loss for both a culture and an ecosystem heading for extinction.
... However, around 90% of Indonesia's languages have fewer than 100,000 speakers (Lewis et al., 2013). This is a sign of the endangerment of local languages in Indonesia, as any language with less than 100,000 speakers is at risk of extinction (Krauss, 1992). ...
This study aims to analyze the level of knowledge and understanding of the Sukadana Malay medicinal plant lexicon, especially among the school-age, early adults, and advanced adults population. The methods used in this research are qualitative and quantitative. Data collection involves observation, interviews, documentary study, and questionnaires, with age-divided respondents into three age groups: school-age, adult, and advanced adults. Data analysis comprises activities such as data reduction, presentation, and conclusion drawing, with specific techniques including organizing and reducing research data and analyzing the knowledge and use of different age groups. Based on the results of the analysis regarding the level of knowledge and use of Sukadana Malay medicinal plants, respondents of school age (14-17 years) have an average level of knowledge and use of Sukadana Malay medicinal plants as much as 26%, early adult respondents (21-45 years) have an average level of knowledge and use of Sukadana Malay medicinal plants as much as 58%, while advanced adults (46 years and over) have an average level of knowledge and use of Sukadana Malay medicinal plants as much as 81.4%. This study reveals the lexicon of medicinal plants that developed in the Sukadana Malay. It is necessary to involve local health practitioners to get their views on the use of medicinal plants and their potential in modern medical practice.
Linguists in the last century have asked how lexico-grammatical systems may or may not vary, due perhaps to their origins in human biology or sociality; as well as how they may reflect their genetic relationships or geographic distributions. But alongside seeing linguistic systems as instances of principles we may posit, it is also important to leave room for local contingency, and that includes seeing linguistic systems, to the fullest extent possible, as people's intellectual, aesthetic, and expressive achievements. Four steps are proposed in that direction: (i) striving for perspicuous descriptions of linguistic systems on their own terms in order to identify pervasive design or 'genius' across suites of features; (ii) exploring cases where unusual suites of features persist over time, where consistent choice and continuing intellectual, aesthetic, or expressive engagement with those features stand among possible explanations for their persistence; (iii) investigating speakers' creative engagement with lexico-grammatical features in verbal art and elsewhere, emphasizing dialectical relationships that tend to form as creative practices and suites of features affect each other, and then gauging how these relationships might shape linguistic systems over time; (iv) examining degrees of awareness, attention, and purpose when considering people's creative engagement with lexico-grammatical systems and their implications for how we understand linguistic systems as creative achievements. Two extended examples are considered: the multimillennial persistence, across all of its branches, of an unusual lexico-grammatical design or genius in the Unangan-Yupik-Inuit language family, suggesting the ongoing renewal of a particular set of aesthetic or expressive sensibilities; and the work of Eastern Chatino speakers to gain and teach awareness of the extraordinary systems of tonal lexico-grammar across Eastern Chatino varieties and how that awareness, helped in part by their work as linguists, has led to intellectual and aesthetic engagement with tone in the context of an ongoing social and political struggle for Indigenous language recognition and maintenance.
Central to the more-than-human form of biocultural diversity conservation linked to Maya Ixil practising and living tiichajil and its txaa norms is a more-than-human identity that animates agency beyond the human. Drawing these terms and concepts together, the biodiversity conservation models that they create in their application to the land is an everyday performance and interaction of caretaking with and of diversities of life. This article explores the biocultural, spiritual and cosmological relationships of caretaking in the milpa according to one Indigenous knowledge system that manages the land from embodied, multispecies, networks of reciprocity, that are practised in a peopled, bottom-up model, built in equality, for biocultural diversity’s transmission to next generations.
Emphasised in the analysis of data collected from multispecies ethnography with the Maya Ixil, I argue that expression of these embodied and more-than-human Maya Ixil knowledge systems not only ‘decolonises’ the Ixil from historical and globalised systems of oppression, thereby addressing historical inequalities, but that the other-than-human agencies implicit within them demonstrate a model of relationality articulated through local languages and transgenerational and multispecies biocultural expression in the very real local expressions of the global buen vivir , decolonial and rematriation movement. The Maya Ixil demonstrate not only the theoretical plausibility of forms of community beyond globalised anthropocentric society rooted in colonial structures of inequality, but that the living networks that tiichajil speaks to and txaa guides the human right relation within, provide an alternative model for human behaviour to preserve biodiversity from food systems generating food sovereignties.
This study tries to find out the current state of vitality of the local languages spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan (henceforth GB), Pakistan, especially in the current scenario where social media platforms, mediated with the two dominant languages, i.e., Urdu and English, have completely occupied people from all age groups alike. Data for this study were gathered through a questionnaire developed on Google form containing items both closed-ended and open-ended statements. The questionnaire was distributed among the native speakers of local languages spoken in GB through emails, WhatsApp (groups), and Facebook. Mixed methods research was used in the study to collect and analyze the data from different perspectives to draw a clearer and holistic picture of the phenomenon under study. The findings show that relexification in the local languages of Gilgit-Baltistan is at its peak and words from both Urdu and English are being injected into these languages through education, electronic media and social media. Education and social media have been the most prominent and influential modes of word transfer into the local languages of GB. Furthermore, the dominant languages are gradually replacing the local languages in most of the domains of use, which as a result is compelling these minority languages to recede from every day use. Moreover, the natives consider their mother tongues to be impractical and they do not see any future for and in their mother tongues. The attitude of the natives is not favorable for these waning languages which can be a big hurdle in their maintenance and revival.
This study investigates endangered language preservation through three research questions: risk factors for endangerment, socio-cultural effects of language loss, and complexities in preservation and revitalisation. A qualitative systematic review underscores the cultural, historical and intellectual importance of endangered languages. It identifies globalisation, urbanisation, and dominant languages as key accelerators of linguistic endangerment. The findings indicate significant sociocultural consequences of language loss, notably the decline of cultural identity and heritage. The study concludes that community involvement, technological advancements, and supportive government policies are crucial to successful preservation, ensuring that at-risk languages are maintained and revitalised for future generations.
As the several thousand languages spoken by people all around the world became more and more systematically assessed and catalogued in the 20th century, it became clear that linguistic diversity is unevently distributed across the globe. Up to the present day, the reasons for that are poorly understood. Linguists are thus in the embarassing situation that they do not understand significant regularities in the way the objects of their study –languages– pattern; human sciences at large are faced with the fact that the way humans produce that key cultural product which is often seen as defining the essence of what makes them humans –language–remains in the dark. In this essay, I explore three interrelated strands of thought associated with the problem of explaining patterns in global language diversity to create a perspective that is different from those explored so far. First, I suggest that instead of looking at present-day levels of diversity and find parameters of variation between the regions in which they are spoken, we should take a process-based approach that looks into how these distributions were generated. Related to this point and in contradistinction to extant work, second, I advocate an inductive approach that departs from qualitative case studies which inform theory-building. Third, I ponder that, in contrast to the traditional focus of historical linguistics on language diversification and expansion, understanding how the ranges of languages are reduced might be the key missing piece of evidence in a global theory of language diversity and its genesis.
Several factors are causing the threat of a language, namely globalization, majority and minority ethnicities’s existence, lack of participation of the younger generation, and crossbreeding. One of the reasons for the Rongga language is crossbreeding. This study employed a qualitative research design to study the Rongga language in crossbreed marriages. Thus, this research is intended to analyze the crossbreeding between ethnic groups with different languages, especially to figure out how Manggarai-speaking people and Ngadha-speaking people who are married to Rongga people pronounce the words of the Rongga language that contain sounds ɓ, ɗ, ɠ, ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑg, ɹ. This study found that the sounds [ɓ], [ɗ], [ɓ], [ᵐb], [ⁿd], [ᵑg], [ɹ] in the Rongga language by Manggarai speakers are pronounced as [bʰ], [dʰ], [gʰ], [mb], [nd], [ŋg], and [r]. Every language sound [ɓ], [ɗ], [ɠ], [ᵐb], [ⁿd], [ᵑg], [ɹ] in Rongga by speakers of the language Ngadha is respectively pronounced as [bʰ], [dʰ], [gʰ], [b], [d], [g], [ʤ] or [r]. It showed that the threat to the Rongga language started from the smallest elements, namely the sounds of the language. Apart from that, threats in the Rongga language also occurred due to the limited vocabulary in the Rongga language; hence, they had to absorb the vocabulary from Indonesian. This study implies communicating in Rongga language should be carefully taken into account because it has several language variations.
This study aims to investigate which form of Bengali, Chittagonian or Standard, is most commonly used by native Chittagong speakers in their everyday lives. In other words, it seeks to determine if there is a language shift and the maintenance of Chittagonian amid Standard Bengali's dominance. The native speakers of Chittagonian from 19 distinct locations in the Chittagong district participated in the study. The study's time frame was from May 2022 to August 2022, and 117 respondents were interviewed using a formulated questionnaire. Descriptive statistics is used for quantitative analysis. The study's findings demonstrate that language usage preferences vary depending on the context. According to the results, most respondents are comfortable using Chittagonian with family and in their neighborhoods. In contrast, Standard Bengali is widely used in education and public settings because it effectively conveys information. The study concluded that as most of Chittagong's local people continue to speak Chittagonian, it is not at imminent risk of being completely displaced. Although the Chittagonian language is shifting in education and public places, the transition is gradual, and the language is still safe. It indicates that Chittagonian is preserved by locals and will continue to be used for generations to come.
Other things being equal, worlds with greater diversity of subjective experiences are better than worlds with less diversity of experiences. This is the claim of the heteric welfarist. Such a view adds the diversity of experiences to the traditional welfarist concerns of aggregate well-being and the distribution of well-being over persons. The heteric welfarist could endorse the conservation of endangered species and the protection of threatened cultures and ways of life, even at some cost to aggregate well-being or fairness. Heteric welfare could also provide reasons to favor advances in synthetic life or artificial intelligence, to oppose intervention in natural processes to prevent wild animal suffering, and to be more sanguine about Parfitt’s repugnant conclusion. This paper argues that heteric welfarism vindicates plausible intuitions in favor of more diverse worlds and explores some of the implications of this view.
Alain Thomas appartient à une importante génération de chercheurs qui, dès le milieu des années 1980, tente de témoigner, par la conduite d’enquêtes sur le terrain, de l’évolution des langues minoritaires et des parlers régionaux tant au Canada qu’ailleurs dans le monde. Ce chapitre s’intéresse aux travaux de Thomas dans ces années 1990-2010 où le linguiste semble de plus en plus préoccupé par le déclin du français en Ontario. Alors qu’il s’était largement rallié aux conclusions de Raymond Mougeon sur la stabilité relative des langues en contact, celui-ci s’inquiète de plus en plus de l’avenir des différences linguistiques face à la domination de l’anglais. Ses écrits, durant ces années où les contextes sociolinguistiques évoluent, révèlent, par-delà l’analyse méticuleuse des données recueillies, le souci croissant du chercheur, plus que jamais attentif aux communautés qu’il étudie, de rendre compte des mécanismes déstructurants qui contribuent au dépérissement éventuel de la francophonie canadienne.
Rayya Afaan Oromoo is a scarcely studied variety spoken in Northern Ethiopia. The speakers of the variety are 612 in southern Tigray zone (CSA 2010: 63, 73). The focus of this dissertation is documenting and describing the grammar of this variety based on primary data. The dissertation is arranged in ten chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the Rayya Oromo people and their language-Afaan Oromoo, and to the research, preliminaries. The discussions from chapter 2 to 9 cover the sapects of phonology, morphology, and syntax based on basic linguistic theory. Chapter 2 treats phonology, where 24 consonants, and 5 vowels with their long counterpart phonemes were identified. 8 loan phonemes, 6 consonants and 2 vowels, were also discovered. Segmental phonology, phonotactics, morphophonemic processes and suprasegmental phonology were also addressed. Chapter 3 describes noun morphology that includes inflection, derivation, and compounding of nouns. Grammatical categories such as number, gender, definiteness, and case were treated in inflection. Derivations such as abstract, agentive, instrumental, result, manner, and gerundive were analyzed. Chapter 4 analyses pronouns. Seven pronouns are identified in the variety. Grammatical inflections related to them are discussed. Chapter 5 deals with the verb morphology from the viewpoint of structures, types, and properties of verbs. CVC in monosyllabic and CVCVC in disyllabic verb roots are attested as the most common structure. Transitive versus intransitive, action versus stative, and copula verbs are discussed in the verb types. Inflection and derivation are examined in properties of verbs. Agreement, aspect/tense, and mood are presented in inflection. Valency changing operations such as causative, middle, passive, reflexive, and reciprocal are discussed in verbalization. Chapter 6 examines modifiers of nouns and verbs, where adjective, numeral, demonstrative, intensifier and quantifier, and adverb are discussed. Encliticization and procliticization are examined chapter 7. Chapter 8 describes conjunctions and adpositions. The overview of basic syntax that includes constituent/ word order in phrases and sentences are treated in chapter 9. Copula/copular-like constructions, and clauses are also examined. The final chapter summarizes the previous chapters and forwards suggestions for future research. Appendices include a selection of texts (from ELAN software in addition to 3 other texts), Toolbox dictionary of 600 entry, a link of audios and videos to the archive, a link of sample pictures and videos used in data collection, and summary of the consultants. In general, since the study is a descriptive work, more attention has been given to describing surface realizations rather than theorizing the process.
El Plan Decenal es el resultado de un arduo trabajo técnico que ha recogido las propuestas de la Comisión Interinstitucional para la Revitalización de las Lenguas, Conocimientos Tradicionales, Saberes Ancestrales y Patrimonio Intangible, así como también sistematiza los aportes de expertos y representantes de las comunidades y organizaciones de los pueblos y nacionalidades. El documento final fue validado el 22 de diciembre de 2023 en el seno de la comisión. Esperamos que este documento sirva como una guía para la acción, un llamado a la reflexión y un recordatorio de que la diversidad lingüística es un tesoro que enriquece a toda la sociedad ecuatoriana.
Even though Nahuatl is the most widely spoken indigenous language in Mexico, it is endangered. Threats include poor support for Nahuatl-speaking communities, migration of Nahuatl speakers to cities where English and Spanish are spoken, prejudicial attitudes toward indigenous languages, lack of contact between small communities of different dialects, and decreasing intergenerational transmission. Schools are not the best places for language revitalization because the Mexican state's policies promote Spanish and perpetuate a degrading stereotypical view of indigenous people. An innovative program organizes workshops during key moments in local ceremonial life, such as patron saint festivities. Workshops are conducted in Nahuatl, and videos narrated in Nahuatl are shown. Audience participation is encouraged by giving books or tapes on which the videos are based to those who can understand or retell the story. Riddle contests and tales, which are highly valued by these communities, are used to introduce alphabetic writing without overemphasizing literacy. The videos recreate "old" traditions with new technologies and are especially attractive to children. Making language materials available for everyday household use stimulates intergenerational transmission. Interacting with participants enables researchers to determine the current status of Nahuatl and to identify speakers who can help produce materials and conduct workshops. Outcomes have been very positive, and the program is expanding and sharing information with the Nahuatl language seminar in Mexico City. (Contains 16 references.) (TD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
‘Nou fyer ozordi […] Seselwa i koz Kreol seselwa e i annan en kiltir kreol (Today we are proud that […] we speak the Seychellois Creole and we have a Creole culture. Lenstiti Kreol i konmemor Lazournen Enternasyonal Lalang Maternel. (2016, February 22). Seychelles Nation. Retrieved from https://www.nation.sc/archive/248503/lenstiti-kreol-i-konmemor-lazournenenternasyonal-lalang-maternel)’ (Seychelles Nation, 2016, own translation). This sense of pride has been pivotal in the struggle to delineate the Seychellois’ Creole identity, founded on the basis of culture, heritage and language. The Seychelles is the first Creole-speaking country in the world to declare its Creole as a national language and use it as a Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) at least in primary schools. Since then, the country has come a long way in its efforts to promote and safeguard its Creole heritage and has attempted to surf the wave of globalization currently sweeping across small island states and creole-speaking countries.
In this chapter we seek to analyse the language attitudes of the younger generation, with the ever-increasing preference for the English language and show to what extent the Creole language is perceived as part of their culture, heritage and identity. A close look at language policy and language attitude reveals important patterns. Moreover, with concerns over the potential loss of the Creole language as a great part of culture, recommendations will be proposed to ensure that the language, culture and heritage are safeguarded into the future.
Twenty-first century Bolivia witnessed indigenous resurgence and state promotion of indigenous languages. This article ethnographically examines the impact of these processes on indigenous language revitalization and ethnolinguistic identities in urban spaces. It reveals that language attrition continues because indigenous resurgence occurred at a time when language shift from Aymara to Spanish had already occurred in most households and schools were considered the spaces for learning Aymara. Moreover, although indigenous identity continues to be linked to language, linguistic proficiency no longer determines Aymara identity in a reductionist sense. Most contemporary Aymaras deploy a rhetoric that historically contextualizes the process of language attrition, thereby, asserting an anti-essentialist ethnolinguistic identity. This enables learning Aymara to be an aspiration that is highly valued but can be endlessly postponed. The article points out the limitations of state-led language revitalization policies and calls for creating synergies between state planning from above and communitarian initiatives from below.
The emerging branch of linguistics known as ‘Ecolinguistics’ views language as an integral part of the ecological environment and aims to study the relationship between language and the environment. As an emerging discipline in linguistic research, ecolinguistics provides a new perspective on language research from an ecological point of view. The study of a language under the framework of ecolinguistics involves not only studying the language itself, but also the environment in which the language is located and the interrelationship between language and environment. The advantages of Hindi as the lingua franca in Bihar, one of the Indian states, have been highlighted, and people in many remote regions have switched to the powerful Hindi language, and many regional languages have become vulnerable. Bihar has been prone to multiple natural disasters which include flood, earthquake, drought, cyclonic storms, and lightening of high severity. For instance, 73.63% of the geographical area of North Bihar is prone to floods. Thus, these natural factors may wipe out a whole people leading to the creation of linguistic ecological crisis of their native languages. In addition to this, social factor also plays role wherein the spread and popularity of the Internet has strengthened the spread of Hindi as a common language in Bihar. Thus, the present paper studies the ecological languages of language vulnerability from the perspectives of ecolinguistics. The languages of Bihar such as ‘Angika’ and ‘Bajjika’ are facing the linguistic situation of vulnerability. Various factors lead to their present linguistic situation and therefore, the present paper attempts to study these languages from the ecological linguistic perspective. It also presents the strategies for preserving these ‘so-labelled’ vulnerable codes as the reduced linguistic diversity is as serious as the harm caused by reduced biodiversity.
The research purpose is to study Mongolian dialects within the framework of the language-saving policy and to define their language vitality and endangerment based on some of the international criteria. In this research, we used several sociolinguistics methodologies such as sociological survey, collecting and developing the materials, investigative and statistical methods, comparing logical, correlation, analytic, synthetic methods, induction, and deduction. Here the authors tried to study the Language Vitality and Endangerment/Language Vitality Assessment (UNESCO 2003), which is used more commonly and frequently at the international level, to define Mongolian dialects’/languages’ vitality, Finally, our research was made on eighteen Mongolian dialects such as khotong, darkhad, khalkh, Kazakh, bayad, uzemchin, torguud etc…. As a result of the research, most of the Mongolian dialects included in the categories such as don’t heritage their languages to the next generation or severely endangered. During the research, we observed that several factors such as demography, politics, geography, social and economic situation, psychology, population movement, government policy on language, and others are influencing the extinction of the minority languages of the nations and ethnic groups. Eventually, it is necessary to study, save, revitalize, and document the dialects and pass them to on the next generation.
Social scientists have long debated the nature of cultural change in a modernizing and globalizing world. Some scholars predicted that national cultures would converge by adopting social values typical of Western democracies. Others predicted that cultural differences in values would persist or even increase over time. We test these competing predictions by analyzing survey data from 1981 to 2022 (n = 406,185) from 76 national cultures. We find evidence of global value divergence. Values emphasizing tolerance and self-expression have diverged most sharply, especially between high-income Western countries and the rest of the world. We also find that countries with similar per-capita GDP levels have held similar values over the last 40 years. Over time, however, geographic proximity has emerged as an increasingly strong correlate of value similarity, indicating that values have diverged globally but converged regionally.
The advancement in technology has made interdisciplinary research more accessible. Particularly, the breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has given huge advantages to researchers working in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary fields. This study investigates the ability of AI models, particularly GPT-4 and GPT Data Analyst, in creating language maps for language documentation. The study Integrates documentary linguistics, linguistic geography, and AI by showcasing how AI models facilitate the spatial documentation of languages through the creation of language maps with minimal cartographic expertise. The study is conducted using a CSV file and a GeoJSON file both obtained from HDX and from the researcher’s fieldwork. The study data is then applied in real-time conversations with the AI models in order to generate the language distribution maps. The study highlights the two AI models capabilities in generating high-quality static and interactive web maps and streamlining the map-making process, despite facing challenges like inconsistencies and difficulties in adding legends. The findings suggest a promising future for AI in generating language maps and enhancing the work of documentary linguists as they collect their data in the field, pointing towards the need for further development to fully harness AI's potential in this field.
Written by a global team, this up-to-date introduction to applied linguistics helps students learn what it's like to do applied linguistics, and not just read about theoretical concepts. First, it provides frameworks for understanding both the shared characteristics of work in applied linguistics and the diversity of topics and analyses. Each chapter then highlights a topic area, covering key concepts, a specific project undertaken by the authors, and their personal reflections on entering the field. Hands-on analysis and other application activities also encourage students to test different skills related to each chapter. Finally, students are introduced to the tools they need to continue in applied linguistics: how to read and write empirical research, how to evaluate primary literature, and starting points for expanding their interest in specific subject areas. The authors provide examples from different geographical regions and languages to engage an international audience. At the same time, multilingualism, interdisciplinarity, and technology are integrated as themes within the text to reflect how these areas are now interwoven throughout applied linguistics.
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