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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2009

Lenore A. Grenoble
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
Lindsay J. Whaley
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
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Summary

This book is designed for readers of various backgrounds who are interested in the fate of small language communities around the globe: linguists, anthropologists, and academics in other disciplines; language activists, missionaries, humanitarian workers, policy makers, and educators; journalists and researchers; students; and visionaries who believe that it is possible to hear their language spoken for many centuries to come in the face of many who claim otherwise. With this diversity of readers in mind, our goal was to write a book that would serve as a general reference guide to language revitalization, providing the necessary background, highlighting the central issues, indicating common obstacles, and pointing to sources of further information.

Our own experiences with language revitalization efforts have come primarily through fieldwork in east Asia on several Tungusic languages (all of which are undergoing rapid loss in the number of native speakers), and secondarily through long-term relationships and professional collaborations with fieldworkers and activists in Africa, South America, and North America, particularly the United States. This background has sensitized us to several important facts. First, although many similarities can be found in the causes of language loss around the world, this does not mean that similar approaches to language revitalization can be taken. There are simply too many differences in the political, social, and economic situations facing, say, a community in northern China versus one in southern Africa to make blanket statements about how revitalization should be carried out.

Type
Chapter
Information
Saving Languages
An Introduction to Language Revitalization
, pp. ix - xii
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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  • Preface
  • Lenore A. Grenoble, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, Lindsay J. Whaley, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Saving Languages
  • Online publication: 04 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615931.001
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  • Preface
  • Lenore A. Grenoble, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, Lindsay J. Whaley, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Saving Languages
  • Online publication: 04 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615931.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Lenore A. Grenoble, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, Lindsay J. Whaley, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: Saving Languages
  • Online publication: 04 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615931.001
Available formats
×