Spoken Here: Travels among Threatened LanguagesWhether on the other side of the world or in our own backyard, languages everywhere are fading into oblivion. Mark Abley explores what the human family stands to lose — and explains why some endangered languages continue to thrive. Within the next couple of generations, most of the world’s 6000 languages will vanish, due mainly to the unstoppable tide of English. With an open mind and a well-worn passport, award-winning journalist and poet Mark Abley tells entertaining and vital stories about why languages matter. From Oklahoma to Provence, aboriginal Australia to Baffin Island, the cultures are radically different, but the problems of shrinking linguistic and cultural richness are painfully similar. Abley’s investigation provides a stunning glimpse of the beauty and intricacies of languages like Yiddish and Yuchi, Mohawk and Manx, Inuktitut and Provençal. More importantly, it offers a sympathetic and memorable portrait of the people who still speak languages under threat. When a language dies out, gone too are stories that have been told for centuries, unique ways of seeing the world, and perhaps even ways of solving problems both large and small. Abley believes we must see languages as abundant sources of richness, wonder and usefulness. And he shows that hope still exists: that the determination of even one person can revive a whole language and its culture, in the process creating something new, changing and alive — exactly what languages do best. |
Contents
Patricks Language | 1 |
Languages in Northern | 13 |
Constructing the World | 43 |
Copyright | |
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Aboriginal asked Australia bilingual Boro Brian Brian Stowell called Canada Celtic Celtic language century Chava Choffrut Creek culture Damin decades dialect elders Endangered Languages English Faroese France French Gaelic girl grammar guage Halls Creek Hasidic Hebrew Hixkaryana identity Indian indigenous Inuktitut Irish Iroquois island Isle Jaru Jewish Jews Kahnawake Kimmirut Kriol land language's linguistic lish live look Maddrell Maggie Manx Manx language Marri-Djabin Mati Mati Ke mean Mi'kmaq minority language Mistral Mohawk Montreal mother tongue Murrinh-Patha nation native Ned Maddrell never Nini North nouns Occitan Phil Gawne phrase Provençal Richard Roux Sapulpa songs sounds speak spoken story survival talk teaching there's thing thousand tion Tiwi told town traditional translation University verb vocabulary voice Wadeye Wales walked Welsh woman words write Yiddish Yiddish language Yolngu young Yuchi