Endangered Languages in Museum

Mon Sep 2 04:36:53 UTC 2013

Dear All,

thanks for the interesting discussion! I also like the tree metaphor (which, of course, may be overused as well, see e.g. http://www.hf.uio.no/multiling/english/ ).

But, whatever the metaphor, I think that the greatest challenge in spreading information about endangered languages is avoiding "the extinction narrative". Any metaphor taken from nature is especially prone to this vulgar Darwinist idea of some languages "being less fit for survival", which means that their extinction is natural and expectable and due to some laws of nature. The extinction narrative also often comes with an expert-centred, static and reified idea of language: it is up to linguists, the Great White Hunters, to "save the language", and a language is "saved" when it is documented and a grammar, a dictionary and a critical mass of texts and/or recordings are available. (Of course, it is part of the truth that a language properly documented and with a viable standard may well have more prestige and better chances to survive.) 

So any research into endangered languages is readily presented in the media as a "rescue mission", although, as we all know, the truth is that no well-meaning outsider can save a language if the speakers themselves have decided to give it up. On the other hand, emphasising the importance of speaker agency should not mean denying the reality of inequality, discrimination and oppression: if speakers give up their language, they do it for what they feel to be a compelling reason and often silently mourn the loss of the old language.

Perhaps a garden would be an even better metaphor than a tree. A healthy language includes many varieties, it can have many speakers or just a few, it can be of measurable economic importance or just the carrier of values which can never be measured with money, it must be tended but it also takes favourable external circumstances to make a garden really flourish... And even a neglected and withered garden can be made living and green again. 

A beautiful example of successful revitalisation is Inari Sámi in Finland. See the book by Marja-Liisa Olthuis, Suvi Kivelä and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas ( http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?K=9781847698872 ), the accompanying website ( http://www.casle.fi/ ) and the film by Suvi Kivelä (with English subtitles: http://youtu.be/e0YcIkUoEhc ) nicely demonstrating the key factors to this success: activism and committed people in the community, and the crucial role of the "language nest", the immersion kindergarten which by now has raised dozens of new speakers .

Best
Johanna Laakso
--
Univ.Prof. Dr. Johanna Laakso
Universität Wien, Institut für Europäische und Vergleichende Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft (EVSL)
Abteilung Finno-Ugristik
Campus AAKH Spitalgasse 2-4 Hof 7
A-1090 Wien
johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at • http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/
Project ELDIA: http://www.eldia-project.org/ 

Andreas Kyriacou kirjoitti 1.9.2013 kello 21.43:

> I listened to a talk on endangered languages by Balthasar Bickel of University Zürich today. He used Baruya as an example of how language loss can result in the disappearance of cultural knowledge. He listed 23 words, which their mother tongue provides to label different varieties of sugarcane. As speakers switch to the local lingua franca, tok pisin, these are all replaced by the single term 'suga'.
> 
> Maybe you could use such an example to showcase to a lay audience what consequences language loss can have.
> 
> I too find the coffin a problematic metaphor, not mainly because of its negative connotation as such, but because it's so overused. Every other demonstration seems to involve carrying a coffin around.
> 
> Andreas
> 
> On 30.08.2013, at 12:54, Lena Terhart <lena.terhart at GMX.DE> wrote:
> 
>> Peter,
>> you may be right that a coffin is not very creative nor very sensitive towards speakers of endangered languages, especially the ones who take effort to revitalise their languages, BUT
>> - the whole exhibition is about language and not language endangerment or language diversity, it is mostly based on German word plays, rhymes etc.
>> - and I suppose that 99.9% of the visitors have never ever heard about endangered languages
>> - therefore, we need one strong metaphor that is understandable for children from 5 years on without too much explaining text
>> Language revitalisation is definitely worth mentioning and representing, but it is only a consequence of languages dying or languages that cease to be spoken if you prefer to put it like that.
>> Robert Amery proposed to exhibit a phoenix together with the coffin to represent language revitalisation. I like that idea and will propose it to the ones in charge of the exhibition. I am also open to other ideas, but the final conception of the exhibition is planned for next week already.
>> Lena
>> 
>> Am 30.08.2013 um 06:56 schrieb Peter Austin:
>> 
>>> Will there be a day when this death and dying metaphor can be put to rest? A coffin? My goodness, can't we be a little bit more creative? And a little bit more sensitive?
>>> 
>>> How about sharing some lessons from communities working to revitalise their languages? There are lots of games, apps and other fun interactive things for kids to do that are freely available on the internet now. Put a nice package of them together and sensitise the kids to how languages are threatened but communities are responding to strengthen their languages. You could start by looking at www.firstvoices.com and moving on from there.
>>> 
>>> That's my 2p worth.
>>> 
>>> Peter Austin
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Friday, 30 August 2013, Lena Terhart <lena.terhart at gmx.de> wrote:
>>> > Dear Colleagues,
>>> >
>>> > the UNIKATUM children's museum in Leipzig, Germany, is preparing an exhibition on language (http://www.kindermuseum-unikatum.de/papperlapapp.html in German). I thought it would be nice to present language endangerment as part of the exhibition and together with the responsible people of the museum, we are now thinking about one exhibit, probably a coffin that shall be filled with words that may die out.
>>> >
>>> > In order to present a big variety of endangered languages, I would like to ask you to contribute with
>>> > - a list of max. 5 words in the endangered language (basic vocabulary, something that may be interesting for children, e.g. animals, plants, natural phenomena, or maybe also simple verbs)
>>> > - in the orthographic convention you use
>>> > - together with a translation
>>> > - and some basic info about the geographic location and number and age of speakers or alternatively a link to your website where I can find the information
>>> >
>>> > Additionally, photographs of the speakers and/or environment could be very nice, and ideally also recordings of the words (MP3), but that is not a requisite - I know that the search for individual words and cutting process may be too time-consuming.
>>> >
>>> > The mounting of the exhibition will start on the 16th of september already so that I need the word lists until the 13th latest.
>>> >
>>> > Thanks!
>>> > Lena
>>> >
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> Prof Peter K. Austin
>>> Marit Rausing Chair in Field Linguistics
>>> Director, Endangered Languages Academic Programme
>>> Research Tutor and PhD Convenor
>>> Department of Linguistics, SOAS
>>> Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
>>> London WC1H 0XG
>>> United Kingdom
>>> 
>>> web: http://www.hrelp.org/aboutus/staff/index.php?cd=pa
>>> 
>> 
> 
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