endangered languages ling 400 winter 2010. overview linguistic diversity linguistic extinction...
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Endangered Languages
LING 400
Winter 2010
Overview
Linguistic diversity
Linguistic extinction
Consequences of linguistic extinction
The role of linguists
Please turn off your cell phone
Estimating linguistic diversity
6912 languages (2005: http://www.ethnologue.com)
Spoken and signed languages
Counting difficulties Dialect vs. language issue Poorly documented languages
Distribution of world’s languages
area % of world’s lgs
Europe 3
Americas 15
Africa 30
Australia, Pacific 19
Asia 32
Data 1988-1992
Diversity in terms of language families
# remote time-depth families
Americas: 122-141
Australia, Pacific: 47
Europe, N. Asia: 14-15
Africa: 5-14
Nichols 1990. Each dot = 1 family of apx. 3000-yr time-depth
Linguistic extinction
Diversification is normal < incremental changes over time to grammar,
lexicon
Extinction is also normal
Some extinct languages of Europe Gaulish, Manx, Cornish (all Celtic) ‘Pictish’ (formerly spoken in Scotland) Etruscan (formerly spoken in Italy)
Historical rates of linguistic survival
Until recently
Linguistic diversity has been increasing (Nichols 1990)
5-6000 years later … 1.6 languages < 1 Ancestor Lg
Projections of extinction
Krauss 1992: 50-90% loss of world’s languages in coming centurySummer Institute of Linguistics (www.ethnologue.com) (2006)
516 of the world’s languages are ‘nearly extinct’, “only a few elderly speakers are still living”
Africa: 46 languages Americas: 170 languages Asia: 78 languages Europe: 12 languages Pacific: 210 languages
‘Moribund’ (or ‘critically endangered’) language: no longer being learned by children‘Endangered’ language: becoming moribund
North America (north of Mexico)
At first contact with Europeans, apx. 400 languages
In 1996, 208 languages (Goddard 1996) 62 families and isolates 71% spoken by middle-aged and older 14% spoken by parents of young children 15% being learned by children as L1
What happened?
Language shift
W W W
W-e W-e W-e W-e
W-E W-E W-E
E-w E-w
E
1900? 2010
W- First language is Witsuwit’en w = know some Witsuwit’en
E- First language is English e = know some English
e.g. in Moricetown, B.C.
Why does language shift occur?Differences in power and prestige
Group A (and their language) Group B (and their language)
Bombardment of dominant language Media: TV, radio, newspaper Local non-speakers
grandchildren etc.
Result? Incentives to learn group A language No incentives to learn group B language
Speaker genocideDisease Est. 50-90% of Native American population died
from epidemics brought by Europeans measles, flu, whooping cough, intestinal infections,
(epidemic form of) TB, smallpox…
War 300 < 350 Lakhota killed at Wounded Knee
(1890)
Tsek’ene
(moribund) about 20 speakers remaining
Fort Ware, Tsay Keh, McLeod Lake
Why is Tsek’ene moribund?Probably never many speakers
Language suppression in education many children sent to Lejac Residential School
Lejac Residential School
•1922-1976
•children punished for speaking languages other than English
Fort Ware
Speech community destruction
1968 W.A.C. Bennett dam on Peace R.
Williston ‘Lake’
Fort Grahame people went to Mackenzie and
Prince George Fort Ware lower mainland
of B.C. Ingenika
Tsay Keh
Consequences of lg loss
Unity Texas insurance company
owner fired 3 Spanish speakers for chatting in Spanish during work day. Owner: “The only thing I
asked was, ‘Let’s work together in a language we can all understand’.”
Texas Workforce Commission sided with owner, denied the women unemployment benefits
Consequences of lg loss
Savings to taxpayers Canada: all federal services in French, English
Canadian customs form: 6 (4?) pages U.S. customs form: 2 pages
Consequences of lg loss
Better socio-economic outlook In 1995, ‘an Amarillo judge sparked a national
controversy when he ordered a Mexican-American woman involved in a custody dispute to speak English to her 5-year-old daughter. Otherwise, he said, “You’re abusing that child and you’re relegating her to the position of housemaid.”
The judge later issued an apology to the woman and to “the profession of housekeeping.”
Consequences of lg loss
Loss of traditional knowledge Linguistic Biological Geographic
Scientific consequences for linguistic theories 6900 languages, 200 families
vs. 20 languages, 5 families
Consequences of lg lossCultural Lance Forshay: “ASL is the key to the heart of
Deaf culture...” Rosa Gonzalez (Spanish): “This is what I am.” Vancouver BC 2010 Olympic opening ceremony
Musqueam, Squamish First Nations welcomed in their languages
Linguists and endangered languages
What are linguists doing?
What should/shouldn’t linguists be doing?
‘concentrated regions of the world having the highest level of linguistic diversity…, the highest levels of endangerment, and the least-studied languages’ (http://www.livingtongues.org/hotspots.html#NGmagmap)
Michael KraussLinguists need to support endangered lgs Organize documentation
effort Advocate for languages Create pedagogical
materialsLinguistics needs to support such linguists Rethink grad school
requirements Rethink criteria for
promotion and tenure
1970 workshop on Eskimo languages
Peter LadefogedLinguists should document with ‘professional detachment’Linguists shouldn’t meddle in politics If speakers view monolingualism in superstratum as essential, linguists shouldn’t try to dissuade
SummaryMinority languages endangered moribund extinct Historically, 25% language extinction in 5000-
6000 years Currently, 50-90% extinction in 100 years
Diverse causes
Negative consequences are scientific and cultural
Disagreement on what linguists should do
QuestionIn your opinion, what should linguists do for endangered languages? Document only? Advocate for survival? Help teaching effort?