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Language in Danger: How Language Loss Threatens Our Future
 
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Language in Danger: How Language Loss Threatens Our Future (Paperback)

by Andrew Dalby (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (27 Mar 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140290648
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140290646
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 116,773 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #29 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Linguistics > Sociolinguistics
  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Product Description
Every two weeks a language dies. Of the estimated 5000 languages spoken worldwide, from Cherokee to Cornish, only half are likely to survive to the end of this century. What does this mean for the human race? Will we eventually become a one-language planet? And does it even matter? This study shows why language loss affects us all. It explores how languages become extinct: through political power, in the case of Latin engulfing the Ancient Mediterranean; through brute force, such as that used against the Native Americans and Australians; and through economics - as the phenomenal rise of English as the language of business and mass communications shows. Andrew Dalby also explains how this linguistic globalization means a loss not just of cultural identity and diversity, but also of the unique world-view and acquired local knowledge enshrined in the way we speak. The consequences, Dalby argues, will be devastating - not just for language, but for the future of humankind itself.

About the Author
Andrew Dalby is Honorary Librarian at the Institute of Linguists and author of Dictionary Of Languages (Bloomsbury 1998). He also writes on food. He lives in France.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but a bit too history-oriented, 9 Jan 2005
By Laszlo Wagner (Hungary) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
In general, I found this book a good addition to the list of those publications dealing with the sad and worrying issue of the disappearence of many of the world's languages.
The author is obviously sympathetic towards minority languages and is trying hard to come up with some practical arguments for their preservation.

However, I found 2 major shortcomings (?) in this book.
First, it contains a (too) long chapter on the theoritical question of what language actually is and how languages have developed. While this might be of interest to some, it isn't directly linked to the main topic, and may make some readers put the book down with boredom.
Secondly, it deals in greatest length with examples of language extinctions from the historical past: Latin 'killing' European languages, English 'killing' Celtic ones in centuries gone by. Again, these are of some interest, but have little to do with the situation today, when minority languages face unprecedented pressure from globalization, television and universal education, none of which were factors centuries ago.

Therefore I think the present/recent examples would have deserved more detailed coverage.
They do get some to be fair, but not as much as they should.
As usual, the emphasis among current examples is on native North American languages, a group already spoken by very few only, and mostly doomed.
There are also interesting examples mentioned from Australia - but described as mere anecdotes.
Finally, this book does give at least some coverage to countries where most of the presently still existing languages are being spoken under heavy pressure from a 'national language': eg. Indonesia, the Philippines or Nigeria. Unfortunately the interesting and complex situation in these countries receives a far less-detailed coverage.

All in all, this book is interesting and will hopefully go some way towards raising awareness of this important issue.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A fine account, 21 Jun 2005
I read this book last summer, and, although it took the best part of two months to read, it is a highly interesting and enlightened account of a very real and almost insurmountable problem - the death of languages spoken by the human race across the globe. Dalby deals with the subject matter admirably, and he has evidently done a huge amount of research. I found it particularly interesting to find out more about the definite origins of languages, particularly English (to find out more, read "The English Language" by David Crystal), as it is such a mish-mash of influences, and he gives wonderful accounts of the Native Indian languages of America and various minority languages spattered across Europe, which one perhaps never knew existed. Anyone minutely concerned about the death of languages (due mainly to the influence of the English language abroad) or interested in any way in linguistics or foregin languages should give this a try. It's an extremely worthwhile read.
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