When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge
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It is commonly agreed by linguists and anthropologists that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will likely disappear within our lifetime. The phenomenon known as language death has started to accelerate as the world has grown smaller. This extinction of languages, and the knowledge therein, has no parallel in human history. K. David Harrison's book is the first to focus on the essential question, what is lost when a language dies? What forms of knowledge are embedded in a language's structure and vocabulary? And how harmful is it to humanity that such knowledge is lost forever?Harrison spans the globe from Siberia, to North America, to the Himalayas and elsewhere, to look at the human knowledge that is slowly being lost as the languages that express it fade from sight. He uses fascinating anecdotes and portraits of some of these languages' last remaining speakers, in order to demonstrate that this knowledge about ourselves and the world is inherently precious and once gone, will be lost forever. This knowledge is not only our cultural heritage (oral histories, poetry, stories, etc.) but very useful knowledge about plants, animals, the seasons, and other aspects of the natural world—not to mention our understanding of the capacities of the human mind. Harrison's book is a testament not only to the pressing issue of language death, but to the remarkable span of human knowledge and ingenuity. It will fascinate linguists, anthropologists, and general readers.
A World of Many (Fewer) Voices 3An Extinction of (Ideas about) Species 23Case Study: Vanishing Herds and Reindeer Words 57Many Moons Ago: Traditional Calendars and Time-Reckoning 61Case Study: Nomads of Western Mongolia 95An Atlas in the Mind 101Case Study: Wheel of Fortune and a Blessing 137Silent Storytellers, Lost Legends 141Case Study: New Rice versus Old Knowledge 161Endangered Number Systems: Counting to Twenty on Your Toes 167Case Study: The Leaf-Cup People, India's Modern 'Primitives' 201Worlds within Words 205Notes 237Bibliography 263Index 285
