Publications

Publication details [#61198]

Pütz, Martin and Luna Filipovic, eds. 2016. Endangered Languages and Languages in Danger. Issues of documentation, policy, and language rights. (IMPACT: Studies in Language and Society 42). John Benjamins. ix, 413 pp.
Publication type
Book – edited volume
Publication language
English

Annotation

This peer-reviewed collection brings together the latest research on language endangerment and language rights. It creates an interdisciplinary platform for the discussion of the most pertinent and urgent topics central to vitality and equality of languages in today’s globalised world. The novelty of the volume lies in the multifaceted view on the variety of dangers that languages face today, such as extinction through dwindling speaker populations and lack of adequate preservation policies or inequality in different social contexts (e.g. access to justice, education and research resources). There are examples of both loss and survival, and discussion of multiple factors that condition these two different outcomes. The authors pose and answer difficult questions such as whether forced interventions in preventing loss are always warranted or indeed viable. The emerging shared perspective is that of hope to inspire action towards improving the position of different languages and their speakers through research of this kind.