Vanishing Voices

The Extinction of the World's Languages

Daniel Nettle author Suzanne Romaine author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

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Vanishing Voices cover

Winner of the BAAL Book Prize 2001

Suggests links between disappearing linguistic diversity and environmental issues. The authors argue that it is part of the larger picture of the world's collapsing ecosystem, and that the causes of language death, like those of ecological destruction, lie at the crossroad of ecology and politics.Few people know that nearly 100 native languages once spoken in what is now California are near extinction, or that most of Australia's 250 aboriginal languages have vanished. In fact, at least half of the world's languages may die out in the next century. What has happened to these voices? Should we be alarmed about the disappearance of linguistic diversity? The authors of Vanishing Voices assert that this trend is far more than simply disturbing. Making explicit the link between language survival and environmental issues, they argue that the extinction of languages is part of the larger picture of near-total collapse of the worldwide ecosystem. Indeed, the authors contend that the struggle to preserve precious environmental resources-such as the rainforest-cannot be separated from the struggle to maintain diverse cultures, and that the causes of language death, like that of ecological destruction, lie at the intersection of ecology and politics. And while Nettle and Romaine defend the world's endangered languages, they also pay homage to the last speakers of dying tongues, such as Red Thundercloud, a Native American in South Carolina, Ned Mandrell, with whom the Manx language passed away in 1974, and Arthur Bennett, an Australian, the last person to know more than a few words of Mbabaram. In our languages lies the accumulated knowledge of humanity. Indeed, each language is a unique window on experience. Vanishing Voices is a call to preserve this resource, before it is too late.

clear, cogent and immensely knowledgeable book. . . .Vanishing Voices is a book that needs to be chain read, therefore: read it,then tell someone else to * David Crystal THES 09/02/01 *
fascinating volume * John Murphy Irish Democrat Dec 2000/ January 2001 *
splendid and disturbing book * Irish Times, 23/9/00 *

  • Winner of Winner of the BAAL Book Prize 2001.

ISBN: 9780195136241

Dimensions: 163mm x 243mm x 26mm

Weight: 572g

256 pages