New research centre to save 'lost languages'

[Joshua Fishman]

That's not a rule of thumb ("Speakers of lesser
languages [sic!!!!!] learn the more powerful
languages; never vice versa"), its a rule of
crass materialism. Strange to find it coming from
SIL. Joshua A. Fishman









--- Stan & Sandy Anonby
<stan-sandy_anonby at sil.org> wrote:
> Yeah, it's nostalgic.  I work in Brazil, where
> Indians opt for Portuguese.
> Rule of thumb:  Speakers of lesser languages
> learn the more powerful
> languages; never vice versa.  Some rare folk
> like linguists learn lower
> prestige languages, but usually the result is
> to enhance their own prestige
> in the world of dominant language.
>
> Stan Anonby
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "P. Kerim Friedman" <kerim.list at oxus.net>
> To: <lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 11:02 PM
> Subject: New research centre to save 'lost
> languages'
>
>
> >
>
<http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/
> > 0,9865,1176959,00.html>
> >
> > New research centre to save 'lost languages'
> >
> >    Polly Curtis
> > Wednesday March 24, 2004
> >
> >    A language is lost every two weeks,
> according to the head of a new
> > centre for research into endangered
> languages, which is being launched
> > today.
> >
> >   People are increasingly choosing to teach
> their children more commonly
> > used languages in a bid to help them gain
> work in later life, their
> > research says. As a result half of the 6,500
> languages spoken around
> > the world are anticipated to disappear in the
> next century - a rate of
> > one every fortnight.
> >
> >   The new centre for research into endangered
> languages at the School of
> > Oriental and African Studies in London, which
> is backed by £20m grant,
> > is being launched today by the Princess
> Royal.
> >
> >   Researchers will use the money to record
> and archive endangered
> > languages and look at ways of encouraging
> people to retain their
> > indigenous languages.
> >
> >   Professor Peter Austin director of the
> Endangered Languages Academic
> > Project, said: "The main reason that
> languages are lost is that
> > communities are switching to speaking other
> people's language - they
> > adopt a language of a local area.
> >
> >   "Many people in east Africa are opting for
> Swahili; Indians in central
> > and south America speak Spanish to their
> children to give them an
> > economic advantage."
> >
> >   The professor, who himself speak three
> Australian aboriginal languages
> > as well as two Indonesian dialects, English,
> some Japanese, German and
> > Italian, added: "The tragedy is that although
> people may decide now
> > that it's better to switch, in a generation
> or two, their children or
> > grandchildren will regret that. We're trying
> to help people remain
> > multi-lingual by adding languages rather than
> losing them."
> >
> >   Along with the endangered languages the
> centre aims to preserve large
> > elements of the disappearing cultures.
> Archived material which
> > Professor Austin has gathered so far includes
> interviews with the last
> > known speaker of Jiwarli, a western
> Australian Aboriginal dialect, Jack
> > Butler, who died in 1986.
> >
> >   Mr Butler describes his childhood
> experiences as well as telling
> > traditional aboriginal stories. From between
> 250 and 270 Australian
> > Aboriginal languages at the time of European
> invasion, 160 are now
> > extinct; 70 are severely threatened and only
> 20 are still widely used.
> >
> > Audio: Jack Butler the last native speaker of
> the western Australian
> > aboriginal language Jirwarli, tells a
> traditional story (real audio)
> > Audio: the translation (real audio)
> >
>



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