Book: Endangered languages (numerous languages)

[Scott McGinnis]

CAN THREATENED LANGUAGES BE SAVED?
Reversing Language Shift, Revisited: A 21st Century Perspective

Edited by Joshua A. Fishman
(Emeritus Professor at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology,
Yeshiva University)

KEY FEATURES
· Latest in a long line of influential publications by this famous
sociolinguist
· Impressive collection of expert contributors, covering all areas of
the world
· Revisits and develops many of the issues discussed in Fishman's
ground-breaking 1991 book Reversing Language Shift

DESCRIPTION
Defenders of threatened languages all over the world, from advocates of
biodiversity to dedicated defenders of their own
cultural authenticity, are often humbled by the dimensity of the task
that they are faced with when the weak and the few seek to find a safe-
harbour against the ravages of the strong and the many. This book
provides both practical case studies and theoretical directions from all
five continents and advances thereby the collective pursuit of
"reversing language
shift" for the greater benefit of cultural democracy everywhere. 

CONTENTS
PREFACE: Reversing Language Shift; 1. Why is it so hard to save a
threatened language?  Joshua A. Fishman
THE AMERICAS:  2. Reversing Navajo Language Shift, Revisited  Tiffany
Lee (Stanford Univ) & Daniel McLaughlin  (Dine College)
3. How Threatened is the Spanish of New York Puerto Ricans? Ofelia
Garcia (Long Island Univ) Jose Luis Morin (City Univ of New York)  &
Klaudia Rivera (Long Island Univ); 4.  A Decade in the Life of a Two-in-
One Language - Yiddish in New York City  
Joshua A. Fishman; 5.  Reversing Language Shift in Quebec Richard Y.
Bourhis (Universite du Quebec a Montreal);  6. Otomi language shift and
some recent efforts to reverse it Yolanda Lastra (Universidad Nacional
Autonoma de Mexico);  7. Reversing Quechua language shift in South
America  Nancy H. Hornberger (Univ of Pennsylvania) & Kendall A. King
(New York Univ).
EUROPE: 8. Irish Language Production and Reproduction 1981-1996 Pádraig
Ó Riagáin (Institiuid Teangeolaiochta Eireann);                   9.  A
Frisian Update of Reversing Language Shift Durk Gorter (Fryske Academy);
10.  Reversing Language Shift: The Case of Basque Maria-Jose Azurmendi
(Univ of the Basque Country), Erramun Bachoc  (Basque Cultural
Institute), Francisca  Zabeleta  (Public University of Navarre); 11.
Catalan A Decade Later Miquel Strubell (Universitat Oberta de
Catalunya).
AFRICA AND ASIA: 12. Saving Threatened Languages in Africa: A Case Study
of Oko Efurosibina Adegbija (Univ of Ilorin, Nigeria); 13.  Andamanese:
Biological Challenge for Language Reversal E. Annamalai & V.
Gnanasundaram (C.I.I.L, Mysore); 
14.  "Akor Itak"  Our Language, Your Language - Ainu in Japan John C.
Maher (International Christian Univ, Tokyo);
15. Hebrew After a Century of RLS Efforts Bernard Spolsky (Bar-Illan
Univy) & Elana Shohamy (Tel Aviv Univ).
THE PACIFIC: 16. Can the Shift from Immigrant Languages be Reversed in
Australia? Michael Clyne (Monash Univ);  
17. Is the Extinction of Australia's Indigenous Languages  Inevitable?
Joseph Lo Bianco & Mari Rhydwen (National Language and Literacy
Institute of Australia); 18:  RLS in Aotearoa/New Zealand 1989-1999
Richard & Nena Benton (Waikato University).
CONCLUSIONS: 19:  From Theory to Practice (and Vice Versa): Review,
Reconsideration and Reiteration Joshua A. Fishman

EDITOR INFORMATION 
Joshua A. Fishman, a leading sociolinguist, is Distinguished University
Research Professor, Social Sciences, Emeritus, at
the Ferkauf Graduate School of Yeshiva University, and Visiting
Professor at Stanford University, New York University, City University
of New York Graduate Center and Long Island University. He is the
author/editor of 38 books including Reversing Language Shift
(Multilingual Matters, 1991) and the General Editor (and founder) of the
International Journal of the Sociology of Language and of the book
series Contributions to the Sociology of Language.

Multilingual Matters 116 
November 2000   Format: 210x148mm       xi+ 492pp       
Hbk ISBN 1-85359-493-8  £59.95/ US$89.95/ CAN$119.95
Pbk ISBN 1-85359-492-X  £24.95/ US$39.95/ CAN$49.95

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