Book description
The next century will see more than half of the world's 6,000 languages
become extinct, and most of these will disappear without being
adequately recorded. Written by one of the leading figures in language
documentation, this fascinating book explores what humanity stands to
lose as a result.
- Explores the unique philosophy, knowledge, and cultural
assumptions of languages, and their impact on our collective
intellectual heritage
- Questions why such linguistic diversity exists in the first
place, and how can we can best respond to the challenge of
recording and documenting these fragile oral traditions while they
are still with us
- Written by one of the leading figures in language documentation,
and draws on a wealth of vivid examples from his own field experience
- Brings conceptual issues vividly to life by weaving in portraits
of individual 'last speakers' and anecdotes about linguists and
their discoveries
Nicholas Evans is Professor of Linguistics at the
Australian National University and a fellow of the Australian Academy
of the Humanities. He is on the editorial boards of the journals
Linguistic Typology and
Australian Journal of
Linguistics, and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max
Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen. He is the author
of a number of books, including
Bininj Gun-wok (2 volumes,
2001),
Archaeology and Linguistics: Aboriginal Australia in Global
Perspective (co-edited with Patrick McConvell, 1998), and
A
Grammar of Kayardild (1992).
