LL-L "Resources" 2005.05.08 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * 08.MAY.2005 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Commands ("signoff lowlands-l" etc.): listserv at listserv.net
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
=======================================================================
You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
text from the same account to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or
sign off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================
A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
=======================================================================

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Resources

Here's a big thank-you to our Mike Morgan who wrote:

>  Ole Stig Andersen (osa at olestig.dk) wrote:
> > I am looking for TV documentaries and films about Endangered Languages
>
> Well, it's NOT TV or film, but there was a RADIO program on US National
> Public Radio (NPR) a couple years back. It can be accessed (and
> downloaded)
> from:
> http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2002/Mar/hour2_030802.html
>
>Not exactly what you requested, but MAYBE of some use ... it was an
> interesting show.

Quite so!  I'm so glad I got to listen to it, having missed it when it was
first aired.  I highly recommend it to anyone interested in language
survival and language death.  This goes into as much depth as you can expect
from a talk show directed at more a general audience.  I've always like the
host, Ira Flatow, and he does a good job of kindling the listener's
interest.

The guests:

Steven Bird
Adjunct Associate Professor of Linguistics and Computer Science
Associate Director and Senior Researcher, Linguistic Data Consortium
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jerold Edmondson
Professor, Linguistics
University of Texas, Arlington
Arlington, Texas

Lawrence Kaplan
Director, Alaska Native Language Center
Professor, Linguistics
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska

The only thing I found was wanting was that the concept of vanishing
languages pretty much remained in the usual "exotic," "indigenous" area.
With the exception of Flatow and Kaplan mentioning Yiddish as a minority in
their own families of origin, there is nothing to suggest to the listener
that there are for instance endangered European languages used by people
most would not consider more "exotic" or "indigenous" than the population in
whose shadows they live.  It is my opinion that the subject of endangered
languages would be enhanced if the average European-descent "Western" person
were given examples of languages being endangered in their geographical area
of origin.

Also not discussed is the subject of prestige other than that of the
objective of making "bilingualism prestigeous."  They do not mention that
many native speakers have developed negative mental images of their own
languages and therefore do not hand them down or defend them.

One Iranian immigrant caller mentiones that she is having a hard time living
up to her son's interest in her languages of origin (Farsi and "Turkish,"
most likely Azeri, perhaps Khalaj), and this brings up the topic of resource
needs for minority language education in the home.

I strongly second Mike's suggestion that you listen to this finely recorded
program.

Thanks again, Mike!

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

==============================END===================================
Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l")
are  to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at
http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================