Language ecology

Tove Skutnabb-Kangas
Table of contents

Language plus ecology = language ecology, linguistic ecology, ecolinguistics? Simple? No. The first serious sociolinguistic attempts to explore linguistic ecology pleaded for linguistics to be grounded in societal context and change. Trim 1959 and Haugen's seminal 1971 article entail multidisciplinarity and build on multilingual scholarship (of the works cited by Trim, eight are in German, six in English, and four in French; academia has become more monolingual in globalization processes). Haugen refers to status, standardization, diglossia, and glottopolitics, but not to language rights (the concept did not exist then – see Skutnabb-Kangas 2007). Today's interpretations of what language ecology is range widely. Many researchers use ‘ecology’ simply as a reference to ‘context’ or ‘language environment’, to describe language-related issues embedded in (micro or macro) sociolinguistic, educational, economic or political settings rather than de-contextualised. Here ‘ecology’ has often become a fashionable term for simply situating language or language study in some way, i.e. it is a metaphor.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Baker, C.
2001Review of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas Linguistic genocide in education – or worldwide diversity and human rights? Journal of Sociolinguistics 5(2): 279–283. Google Scholar
Brenzinger, M.
(ed.) 1992Language death: factual and theoretical explorations with special reference to East Africa. Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Carlson, T.J.
2001Language, ethnobotanical knowledge, and tropical public health. In L. Maffi (ed.): 489–502. Google Scholar
Cavalli-Sforza, L.-L.
2001Genes, Peoples and Languages. Penguin. Google Scholar
Creese, A.P., Martin, P. & N.H. Hornberger
(eds) 2008Ecology of language. Vol. 9 of Encyclopedia of language and education. 2nd ed. Springer. Google Scholar
Crosby, A.W.
1994Ecological imperialism. The biological expansion of Europe, 900–1900. ­Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Diamond, J.
1991The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee. Vintage. Google Scholar
1998Guns, Germs and Steel. A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years. Random House. Google Scholar
2005Collapse. How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. Penguin. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fill, A.
1993Ökolinguistik. Eine Einführung. Narr. Google Scholar
1998Ecolinguistics – State of the Art 1998. AAA – Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 23(1): 1–16. Google Scholar
Fill, A. & P. Mühlhäusler
(eds.) 2001The Ecolinguistic Reader. Language, ecology and environment. Continuum. Google Scholar
Fishman, J.A.
1991Reversing Language Shift. Theoretical and Empirical Assistance to Threatened Languages. Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar
Grenoble, L.A. & L.J. Whaley
1996Endangered Languages: Current Issues and Future Prospects. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 118: 209–223. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(eds.) 1998Endangered Languages: Current Issues and Future Prospects. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gutierrez-Vazquez, J.M.
1989Science Education in Context: A Point of View from the Third World. In P. Dias (ed.) with the collaboration of R. Blumoer Basic Science Knowledge and Universalization of Elementary Education, vol. 2 Basic Science at Elementary Education Level: 70–85. Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Pädagogik Dritte Welt. Google Scholar
Halliday, M.
2001New Ways of Meaning: The Challenge to Applied Linguistics. In A. Fill & P. ­mühlhäusler (eds.): 175–202. Google Scholar
Harmon, D.
1995The status of the world's languages as reported in the Ethnologue. Southwest Journal of Linguistics 14: 1–33. Google Scholar
2001On the meaning and moral imperative of diversity. In L. Maffi (ed.): 53–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2002In Light of Our Differences: How Diversity in Nature and Culture Makes Us Human. The Smithsonian Institute Press. Google Scholar
Harmon, D. & J. Loh
2004The IBCD: A measure of the world's biocultural diversity. Policy Matters 13: 271–280. Google Scholar
Haugen, E.
1971The ecology of language. The Linguistic Reporter, supplement 25: 19–26. [Reprinted in E. Haugen. 1972.: 324–329.].Google Scholar
1972The ecology of language. Essays by Einar Haugen. Edited by A.S. Dil. Stanford University Press. Google Scholar
Heywood, V.H.
(ed.) 1995Global Biodiversity Assessment. Cambridge University Press & UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program). Google Scholar
Hinton, L.
1994Flutes of Fire. Heyday.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Huss, L.
1999Reversing Language Shift in the Far North. Linguistic Revitalization in Scandinavia and Finland. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Uralica Upsaliensia 31. Uppsala University. Google Scholar
ICSU (International Council for Science)
2002Science, Traditional Knowledge and Sustainable Development. Series on Science for Sustainable Development No. 4. Compiled and edited primarily by D. Nakashima and D. Elias, UNESCO. (www​.icsu​.org). Google Scholar
Jung, M.
2001Ecological criticism of language. In A. Fill & P. Mühlhäusler (eds.): 270–285. Google Scholar
Krauss, M.
1992The world's languages in crisis. Language 68(1): 4–10. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996Status of Native American Language Endangerment. In G. Cantoni (ed.) Stabilizing Indigenous Languages: 16–21. Northern Arizona University. Google Scholar
1997The indigenous languages of the north: A report on their present state. In H. Shoji & J. Janhunen (eds.) Northern Minority Languages: Problems of Survival: 1–34. Senri Ethnological Studies 44. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka. Google Scholar
Krauss, M., L. Maffi & A. Yamamoto
2004The World's Languages in Crisis: Questions, Challenges, and a Call for Action. In O. Sakiyama, F. Endo, H. Watanabe & F. Sasama (eds.) Lectures on Endangered Languages 4: 23–27. Suita, Osaka, Project “Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim”. Google Scholar
Ladd, P.
2003Understanding Deaf Culture. In Search of Deafhood. Multilingual Matters.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Lane, H.
1992The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community. Alfred Knopf. Google Scholar
Loh, J. & D. Harmon
2005A global index of biocultural diversity. Ecological Indicators 5(3): 231–241. (available online at http://​www​.elsevier​.com​/wps​/find​/journaldescription​.cws​_home​/621241​/description#description). DOI: DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Macaulay, R.
1997Dialect. In J.-O. Östman & J. Verschueren (eds.) Handbook of Pragmatics. Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Maffi, L.
1994A Linguistic Analysis of Tzeltal Maya Ethnosymptomatology. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Berkeley. Google Scholar
1996Language, Knowledge and the Environment: Threats to the World's Biocultural Diversity. Terralingua Newsletter2, December 1996 Google Scholar
2001Introduction. In L. Maffi (ed.): 1–50. Google Scholar
(ed.) 2001On Biocultural Diversity. Linking Language, Knowledge and the Environment. The Smithsonian Institute Press. Google Scholar
Maffi, L., T. Skutnabb-Kangas & J. Andrianarivo
1999Linguistic diversity. In D.A. Posey (ed.): 19–57. Google Scholar
Maffi, L. & E. Woodley
2010Biocultural diversity conservation. A global sourcebook. Earthscan. Google Scholar
Makoni, S. & A. Pennycook
(eds) 2007Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages. Multilingual Matters.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Martí, F., P. Ortega, I. Idiazabal, A. Barreña, P. Juaristi, V. Junyent, B. Uranga & E. Amorrortu
2005Words and Worlds. World Languages Review. Multilingual Matters. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
May, S.
2003Misconceiving Minority Language Rights: Implications for Liberal Political Theory. In W. Kymlicka & A. Patten (eds.) Language Rights and Political Theory: 123–152. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Mazrui, A.
1997The World Bank, the language question and the future of African education. Race and Class 38(3): 35–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mishler, B.D.
2001Biodiversity and the loss of lineages. In L. Maffi (ed.): 71–81. Google Scholar
Mittermeier, R. & C. Mittermeier Goettsch
1997Megadiversity: Earth's Biologically Wealthieast Nations. CEMEX. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mufwene, S.S.
2001The Ecology of Language Evolution. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mühlhäusler, P.
1996Linguistic ecology. Language change and linguistic imperialism in the Pacific region. Routledge. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
2003Language of Environment – Environment of Language. A Course in Ecolinguistics. Battlebridge. Google Scholar
Nabhan, G.P.
2001Cultural perceptions of ecological interactions: an “endangered people's” contribution to the conservation of biological and linguistic diversity. In L. Maffi (ed.): 145–156. Google Scholar
Nations, J.D.
2001Indigenous peoples and conservation. In L. Maffi (ed.): 462–471. Google Scholar
Oviedo, G. & L. Maffi
2000Indigenous and Traditional Peoples of the World and Ecoregion Conservation. An Integrated Approach to Conserving the World's Biological and Cultural Diversity. WWF International & Terralingua. Google Scholar
Phillipson, R.
1992Linguistic imperialism. Oxford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
2009Linguistic imperialism continued. Routledge/Taylor & Francis. Google Scholar
Phillipson, R. & T. Skutnabb-Kangas
1996English Only Worldwide, or Language Ecology. TESOL Quarterly 30(3): 429–452. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Posey, D.A.
(ed.) 1999Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity. A Complementary Contribution to the Global Biodiversity Assessment. Intermediate Technology Publications, for and on behalf of the United Nations Environmental Programme. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rapport, D.J.
1989What constitutes ecosystem health? Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 33(1): 120–132. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rannut, M.
2003Postmodern Trends in Current Language Development. In H. Metslang & M. Rannut (eds.) Languages in development: 19–30. Lincom Europa. Google Scholar
Robinson, C.D.W.
1993Where minorities are in the majority: language dynamics amidst high linguistic diversity. In K. De Bot (ed.) Case Studies in Minority Languages. AILA Review 10: 52–70. Google Scholar
Sasse, H.-J.
1992Theory of Language Death. In M. Brenzinger (ed.): 7–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Skutnabb-Kangas, T.
1984Bilingualism or not: The education of minorities. Multilingual Matters.  BoPGoogle Scholar
1988Multilingualism and the Education of Minority Children. In T. Skutnabb-Kangas & J. Cummins (eds.) Minority education: from shame to struggle: 9–44. Multilingual Matters.  BoPGoogle Scholar
2000Linguistic genocide in education – or worldwide diversity and human rights? Lawrence Erlbaum.  BoPGoogle Scholar
2007Language rights. In J.-O. Östman & J. Verschueren (eds.) Handbook of Pragmatics. Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Skutnabb-KangasT. & R. Dunbar
2010Indigenous Children's Education as Linguistic Genocide and a Crime Against Humanity? A Global View. Published as Gáldu Čála. Journal of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights No 1, 2010, and at Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino: Galdu, Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (http://​www​.galdu​.org). http://​www​.e​-pages​.dk​/grusweb​/55/.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T., L. Maffi & D. Harmon
2003Sharing A World of Difference. The Earth's Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Diversity. UNESCO Publishing. UNESCO, Terralingua, and World Wide Fund for Nature. Google Scholar
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. & T. Mccarty
2008Clarification, ideological/epistemological underpinnings and implications of some concepts in bilingual education. In J. Cummins & N.H. Hornberger (eds.) Bilingual Education, Volume 5 of Encyclopedia of Language and Education , 2nd edition. Springer: 3–17. Google Scholar
Skutnabb-Kangas, T., R. Phillipson, A. Mohanty, & M. Panda
(eds) 2009Social Justice Through Multilingual Education. Multilingual Matters.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Smith, E.A.
2001On the coevolution of cultural, linguistic, and biological diversity. In L. Maffi (ed.): 95–117. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smolicz, J.J.
1979Culture and Education in a Plural Society. Curriculum Development Centre. Google Scholar
Sole, R.D., R. Ferrer-Cancho, J.M. Montoya & S. Valverde
2003Selection, Tinkering, and Emergence in Complex Networks. Crossing the Land of Tinkering. Complexity 8(1): 20–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thornberry, P.
1997Minority Rights. In Academy of European Law (ed.) Collected Courses of the Academy of European Law. vol. VI, book 2: 307–390. Kluwer Law International. Google Scholar
Trim, J.L.M.
1959Historical, descriptive and dynamic linguistics. Language and Speech 2(1): 9–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Unesco
2003aLanguage Vitality and Endangerment. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Unit's Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages. Approved 31 March 2003 by the Participants of the International Expert Meeting on UNESCO Programme Safeguarding of Endangered Languages, UNESCO, Paris-Fontenoy 10–12 March 2003 (http://​portal​.unesco​.org​/culture​/en​/ev​.php​-URL​_ID​=8270​&URL​_DO​=DO​_TOPIC​&URL​_SECTION​=201​.html).
2003b Recommendations for Action Plan . International Expert Meeting on UNESCO Programme Safeguarding of Endangered Languages, UNESCO, Paris-Fontenoy, 10–12March 2003 (http://​portal​.unesco​.org​/culture​/en​/ev​.php​-URL​_ID​=11992​&URL​_DO​=DO​_TOPIC​&URL​_SECTION​=201​.html).
2003cEducation in a multilingual world. UNESCO Education Position Paper. UNESCO. (http://​unesdoc​.unesco​.org​/images​/0012​/001297​/129728e​.pdf).
Warren, D.M.
2001The role of the global network of indigenous knowledge resource centers in the conservation of cultural and biological diversity. In L. Maffi (ed.): 446–461. Google Scholar
Wendel, J.N.
2005Notes on the Ecology of Language. Bunkyo Gakuin University Academic Journal 5: 51–76. Google Scholar
Williams, G.
1992Sociolinguistics: A sociological critique. Routledge.  BoPGoogle Scholar