Endangered ethnic languages -- reviving or archiving? (fwd link)

[Richard Zane Smith]

kweh Jimmy,
yep,with that kind of reasoning ,any urge or drift that happens can be
considered "natural"I suppose its "natural" that the ocean floor is littered
with tiny bits of plastic,
because quite "naturally" people have thrown their garbage out
indiscriminately.

I guess its probably considered "unnatural" that i'm aching and straining to
transcribe
ancient wax-cylinder recordings of some of our ceremonial and social songs
that haven't
been sung in a hundred years until I "unnaturally" learn them and re-sing
them again.

what a bunch of unnaturals we are.....thank goodness
ske:noh (peace)
Richard



On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM, Chun Jimmy Huang <huangc20 at ufl.edu> wrote:

> quote:
> "[language's] survival or death has been natural selection of the
> environment."
> "...no one should interfere in their [indigenous people's]
> decision-making."
> "is it wise and worthwhile trying to turn an unstoppable natural trend
> around?"
>
> Wow so the decline of mother tongue use and the shift to Mandarin are all
> "natural" and have nothing to do with the history of Han-Chinese
> nationalism/colonialism. The govt has made an effort to "preserve" the
> indigenous cultures and so need not take responsibility of their
> (dis-)continuation.
>
> It's funny how (the collectivist, communist) China is now speaking
> capitalism and everything is explained in terms of (individual) free will.
>
> Jimmy
>
>
> On Wed Jul 29 17:49:13 EDT 2009, phil cash cash <
> cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU> wrote:
>
>  Article quote:
>>
>> "There are approximately 130 different languages of 55 ethnic minority
>> groups in
>> China, but more than 100 are dying out - and 60 are on the verge of
>> extinction,
>> according to statistics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
>> Across the
>> world, more than 6,000 languages are disappearing at a rapid rate, and
>> 3,000 of
>> these are in an extremely critical state."
>>
>> Endangered ethnic languages -- reviving or archiving?
>> www.chinaview.cn  2009-07-29
>> http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/29/content_11793112.htm
>>
>>
>>
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