34.153, Review: Language Documentation: Eberhard, Simons, Fennig (2022)

Wed Jan 18 16:52:55 UTC 2023

LINGUIST List: Vol-34-153. Wed Jan 18 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.153, Review: Language Documentation: Eberhard, Simons, Fennig (2022)

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Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2023 16:52:37
From: Marco Forlano [marco.forlano at unibg.it]
Subject: Ethnologue: Languages of Africa and Europe

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/33/33-2061.html

EDITOR: David M. Eberhard
EDITOR: Gary F. Simons
EDITOR: Charles D. Fennig
TITLE: Ethnologue:  Languages of Africa and Europe
SERIES TITLE: Ethnologue, 25th Edition
PUBLISHER: SIL International Publications
YEAR: 2022

REVIEWER: Marco Forlano, University of Bergamo

SUMMARY

The Introduction provides some theoretical background for the presentation of
the data. First, the underlying theoretical framework, i.e., Language Ecology,
is discussed, whereby languages are analysed in terms of their interactions
with the surrounding environment (not only the geographical environment, but
also the political and social ones). Then, some updates to the new edition,
which lists 7151 living languages (including 69 living sign languages), are
provided. Compared to the previous edition, 22 languages have been added
(either because they changed their status from “extinct” to “dormant” or
because they were newly identified), while 10 have been dropped (either
because they became extinct or because they were subsumed by the editors into
other already existing language entries). New information is also given about
languages in education, distinguishing between use as the language of
instruction and as the subject of instruction. In line with the eight previous
editions, each language listed in the volume is assigned a three-letter
identification code according to the ISO 639-2 standard
(http://iso639-3.sil.org/), the aim of which is to give unique labels to
languages. This is particularly useful whenever the same language is named
differently by speakers across borders. After a brief overview of the history
of the Ethnologue, a crucial issue is then dealt with, i.e., language
identification, which arises from the two following considerations: languages
are not discrete units but “waves of features that extend across time,
geography, and social space” (p. 9), and languages and dialects are not always
clearly distinguishable. Thus, the following operational guidelines to
identify languages are mentioned: mutual intelligibility and the presence or
absence of common ethnolinguistic identities, graphic standards, and
literature. Afterward, language development and language endangerment (two
opposite, yet not mutually exclusive measures defining the status of a
language) are discussed. Language development includes the degree of
graphitization, standardization, and modernization (i.e., “the ability to
carry on discourse about a broad range of topics including those that are new
or foreign to the local community”, p. 11) of a language, and it is evaluated
according to several criteria, such as the literacy rates in the language in
the region or its use in various kinds of literature, broadcasts, and “new”
media (e.g. web pages and social media). Language endangerment is evaluated
according to several factors, both internal (such as language attitudes and
intergenerational transmission) and external (such as the existence of
official recognitions in the nation or region). Hence, by applying such
parameters, the status of each language in the volume is classified according
to the EGIDS (Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, Lewis and
Simons 2010), a multidimensional scale consisting of 13 levels, ranging from
“extinct” to “international”; the latter level includes languages that are
“widely used between nations in trade, knowledge exchange, and international
policy” (p. 14). Since information about the official recognition of each
language is also provided in the list, the different categories used in this
respect are then presented. A major distinction is made between statutory and
de facto functions of a language; further distinctions are made between those
same functions at the national or provincial level, as well as between
identity and working languages. Finally, some information on the maps provided
in Part III is given.
The following section, “How to Use This Book”, offers an overview of the book
and more information about Part II, where the list of the languages spoken in
each country is provided. Specifically, the internal structure of the language
entries is explained in detail. The sources used for the data are also
mentioned.
Part I, “Statistical Summaries”, offers an overview of the distribution of
languages in the world, as well as, more specifically, in the continents under
survey. To illustrate the distribution of languages in the world, several
tables are provided: Table 5 shows the distribution of languages and the
number of speakers by continent; Table 6 summarizes the distribution of
languages by their status in terms of vitality, according to the EGIDS Scale;
Table 7 lists the largest languages of the world in descending order; Table 8
lists the languages with at least 50 million first-language speakers (in the
case of macrolanguages, the varieties in which they are split are also
listed). Afterward, both for Africa and Europe, several tables are provided to
summarize the following information: the distribution of languages by vitality
status (Table 9-15); the distribution of languages by the number of
first-language speakers (Table 10-16); the twenty largest languages in terms
of millions of speakers (Table 11-17); the distribution of languages by
language family (Table 12-18); the distribution of living languages by country
(Table 13-19); the rate of linguistic diversity in each country (Table 14-20).
In Part II, all the living documented languages of Africa and Europe are
listed by country. This section closes with a list of not better-specified
“other languages”. As claimed in the section “How to Use This Book”, to
determine which geopolitical entities to list in this section, the ISO 3166
standard was followed; therefore, some geopolitical dependencies appear to be
listed on their own, without this implying taking a position on matters of
national sovereignty. For each country, some general information is first
given, followed by a list of the languages spoken in alphabetic order. General
information on the country include: the official name; the sovereignty status;
the overall population; the principal language(s) (i.e., the language(s)
having a working function); the speakers’ literacy rate; the international
conventions (i.e., the conventions joined by the country to recognize the
linguistic and cultural rights of indigenous and minority peoples); the deaf
population rate; the general bibliographical sources for the data; the number
of established languages, distinguishing between (i) living and extinct and
between (ii) indigenous and non-indigenous (i.e., non-autochthonous languages
of ancient presence in the country) ones. In this section, a count of the same
languages according to their EGIDS status is also provided, as well as of
so-called unestablished languages, i.e., languages that have recently been
brought in by “new immigrants, guest workers, or refugees” (p. 25). Such
counts are also represented visually in a histogram, where bars of different
colours represent different degrees on the EGIDS scale. As for language
entries, the following information is provided: the three-letter
identification code, according to the ISO 639-2 standard; the number of
language users; the location where the language is spoken (the label
“widespread” is used for non-territorialized ones); the status, according to
the aforementioned EGID Scale; the class (i.e., the genealogical affiliation,
including macrolanguage membership when needed); the dialect subdivision,
including additional information on lexical similarity and intelligibility
with other varieties; the typological structure (including descriptions of
basic word order and relevant phonological, morphological, and syntactic
features); language use (i.e., information about the vitality of a language,
its domains of use, the user age range, speakers’ attitudes, and any use of
additional languages by community members); language development (i.e.,
information about literacy rates, use in education, publications and use in
media, revitalization efforts, and language development agencies); the script
used for written materials. Finally, under the entry “Other comments”,
additional information that does not fit under the above categories, such as
the religious affiliations of the speakers, is given. It should be noted that
information in all these categories is not available for every language.
In Part III, several language maps are provided for many countries. Wherever
space does not allow placing language names directly on the map, reference
numbers are used, and a key is provided in an adjoining section. As a rule
(cf. “How to Use This Book”), a language is indicated on a map if it is spoken
by at least 25% of the inhabitants of the area. Exceptions are contemplated
wherever a language, although spoken by less than 25% of the inhabitants, is
either indigenous or historically significant for that specific area, or,
finally, wherever an established immigrant language is confined to that
specific area and is not spoken elsewhere. “Widespread” languages are not
directly indicated on the map, rather they are listed in an adjoining separate
section. Finally, languages belonging to the same language family are grouped
within polygons of different colours, which allows the reader to visualize the
borders across different language families within a given country, even if “no
claim is made for precision in the placement of these boundaries” (p. 18). 
The volume closes with some indexes. The Language Name Index lists every
language name that appears in the list, either as a “primary or alternate name
of a language” or “dialect” (p. 583), while the Language Code Index lists the
three-letter codes used to identify languages according to the ISO 639-2
standard. Finally, the Country Index lists all the geopolitical entities that
appear as separate lexical entries in the list.
EVALUATION
The twenty-fifth edition of “Ethnologue. Languages of Africa and Europa” is a
volume providing a list of all the documented living languages of Europe and
Africa. Born in 1951 in the form of a list of 46 languages, Ethnologue has
undergone, over its history, a process of continuous evolution and improvement
(including its digitalization), growing to include more than 7.000 languages
in the latest editions. 
To my knowledge, the twenty-fifth edition of the Ethnologue represents the
most comprehensive and up-to-date database of world languages that one can
find. Thus, the volume can be considered an extremely valuable resource for
those (both specialists and not) interested in the languages of the world.
Specifically, Ethnologue may be of particular interest to those dealing with
Sociolinguistics and Language Typology, but it could also represent a useful
starting point to gather some preliminary information on a language that any
researcher might want to deepen according to different perspectives. Last but
not least, an extensive resource such as this can allow new research in
linguistics that would be difficult to carry out if based on smaller samples
of languages, such as the study of the vitality rate of language families (cf.
e.g. Whalen & Simons 2012).
As should be clear from the Summary, the core of the book is represented by
the list of languages and the illustrative maps, which allow the reader to
visualize the data and, thus, get an instant overview of the linguistic
diversity of each country. As for the list of the languages by country, the
effort of the authors should be positively acknowledged to provide not only
the historically significant languages, but also those languages that were
brought in more recently by new immigrants. These, indeed, represent an
increasingly important part of the linguistic space of many countries in a
more and more globalized world. Unfortunately, not all the listed languages
are reported in the maps, where only those spoken by 25% of people living in a
specific area are found; however, the obvious limits of space fully justify
this choice.  
Despite being a resource with a primary practical use, the volume should be
positively evaluated also for its theoretical contributions, foremost to the
field of Language Ecology. Indeed, languages in Ethnologue are consistently
presented as complex systems of adaptation not only to the internal language
variation, but also to the external social environment (cf. Mufwene 2001). 
Ultimately, the main goal of the volume, i.e., to account for the great
linguistic diversity in the world, is fully achieved. A concern may arise that
such an extensive resource, while favoring the quantity of the data, might
lack precision, especially for smaller and lesser-described languages.
Nonetheless, readers are invited to signal any inaccuracy for future
verification and correction. This is another strength of the work, which is
conceivable, in this regard, as an “open resource”.

REFERENCES
Lewis, M. P., Simons, G. F. 2010. Assessing endangerment: Expanding Fishman’s
GIDS. Revue Romaine de Linguistique 55(2):103-120.
Mufwene, S., 2001. The ecology of language evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Whalen, D., Simons, G., 2012. Endangered language families. Language
88(1):155-173.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Marco Forlano gained a MA's Degree in Linguistics at the University of Pavia
and is now a PhD student in Linguistic Sciences at the University of Bergamo.
His main research interests are code-switching and minority languages. He
carries out extensive fieldwork among Romani communities in Italy.

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