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Part of
Language, Culture and Identity – Signs of Life
Edited by Vera da Silva Sinha, Ana Moreno-Núñez and Zhen Tian
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 13] 2020
► pp. 43–62

Chapter 3
North-South relations in linguistic science

Collaboration or colonialism?

| Université Lumière Lyon 2
| Hunan University

In this chapter, we attempt to unmask the ideological bias inherent in influential conceptions of the methods, motivations and practices of endangered language documentation research (ELDR). We highlight the extent to which common justifications for ELDR suppress the sociocultural and historical relations within which its practices are situated. We review the historical evolution of language documentation research, and its relationship to language preservation and revitalization. We ask what it is that makes ELDR scientific, critically analysing the models of “language” and of “science” that are frequently deployed in arguments for its importance, and question the value-neutrality of the notion “scientific community” in this context. We suggest that the conjunction of dominant concepts of “language” and “data” generates an ideological construction of unequal competence that operates to justify unequal North-South exchange relations. We document this claim of unequal and at times abusive North-South exchange with brief, anonymized case studies. We conclude by noting that, in comparison with other social science disciplines, linguistics seems resistant to reflexive and self-critical analysis of its ideological dimension; and suggesting possible ways of raising awareness and generalizing models of good practice.

Keywords: endangered languages, ideology of linguistics, language documentation, language preservation, language revitalization
Article outline
  • Introduction: Why document endangered languages?
  • ELDR: Evolving paradigms
  • North-South relations: Unequal exchange between academics and communities
  • North-South relations: Unequal exchange inside the academe
    • Case study 1: Does “data collection” count as research?
    • Case study 2: Are field sites “open territory”?
    • Case study 3: To what extent, and when, should data be in the public domain?
    • General discussion
  • Concluding reflections on theory, methodology, goals and values
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/clscc.13.03gri
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