When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of H

Description: When Languages Die by K. David Harrison 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 itto 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, inorder 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 aspectsof 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 generalreaders. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description 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 Harrisons book is the first to focus on the essential question, what is lost when a languagedies? What forms of knowledge are embedded in a languages structure and vocabulary? And how harmful is it to humanity that such knowledge is lost forever?Harrison spans theglobe 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. Harrisons book is a testamentnot 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. Author Biography K David Harrison is Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Swarthmore College. As a linguist and specialist in Siberian Turkic languages, he has spent many months in Siberia and Mongolia working with nomadic herders and studying their languages and traditions. He has also worked in India, Bolivia, the Philippines, Lithuania, and the United States. His work on endangered languages is featured in the documentary film The Linguists and wasfeatured on the Comedy Central series The Colbert Report. Table of Contents 1.: A World of Many (Fewer) Voices2.: An Extinction of (ideas about) Species3.: Many Moons Ago: Traditional Calendars and Time-ReckoningCase Study: Urban Nomads of Mongolia4.: An Atlas in the MindCase Study: Wheel of Fortune, and a Blessing5.: Silent Storytellers, Lost LegendsCase Study: New Rice vs. Old Knowledge6.: Counting to Twenty on your ToesCase Study: The Leaf-Cup People, Indias Modern Primitives7.: Worlds within WordsBibliographyIndex Review "At our current rate of language loss, by the end of this century the vast majority of the worlds languages will be either extinct or will be spoken by only a few old people. While much effort and money are now being spent to stem the loss of plant and animal species, the human tragedy of language loss is receiving little attention. This movingly written and fascinating book tells why languages are vanishing, and what we can do to save our linguisticheritage." --Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles and Pulitzer prize winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel"In this scholarly yet very readable study, Harrison writes powerfully of the value and beauty of these vanishing knowledge systems." --The GuardianRich in details yet surprisingly easy to read, When Languages Die shows what we are losing. --Science Magazine"Depending on how one counts, it is likely that hald of the worlds languages will be lost over the next thirty years, a dramatic change in human history. Harrison explores dying languages, how they differ from stable languages, how they encode cultural information that is lost with them, how their speakers behave, and much more. He tells a fascinating and tragic story of immense drama." --David W. Lightfoot, National Science Foundation"This important and useful book fills a valuable niche in what is now a voluminous and ever-growing collection of studies devoted to understanding reasons for and consequences of language death. Harrisons book focuses on the intellectual loss from the sum of human knowledge that such language death represents." --Journal of Anthropological Research"Harrison tackles the question of what is lost when a language dies from the vantage point of field studies with some of the few remaining speakers of endangered languages in Siberia, Mongolia, and elsewhere. When Languages Die reveals an astonishingly rich catalog of human intellectual heritage and scientific knowledge on the verge of disappearing as many of the worlds small languages become extinct." --Suzanne Romaine, Oxford University"Written in clear and concise prose, When Languages Die provides a captivating account of how languages encode and categorize human knowledge and experience. Harrison brings together a wealth of examples from all over the world to illustrate just how very much is lost when a language ceases to be spoken. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in people and how we think, perceive, and understand the world we live in." --Lenore A. Grenoble,Dartmouth College"Depending on how one counts, it is likely that hald of the worlds languages will be lost over the next thirty years, a dramatic change in human history. Harrison explores dying languages, how they differ from stable languages, how they encode cultural information that is lost with them, how their speakers behave, and much more. He tells a fascinating and tragic story of immense drama." --David W. Lightfoot, National Science Foundation"An important book with a clear niche in the teaching of undergraduates and in alerting a larger reading public to the magnitude and consequences associated with current trends in linguistic extinction. Harrisons book succeeds in representing the potential, even perhaps the inevitable, loss of the "intellectual treasure" of linguistic diversity." --Journal of Anthropological Research"The book is written for nonspecialists and is nontechnical in nature, making it a good, accessible read for nonlinguists or for those who know just a little about linguistics. Since it has been over two years since the book was first published, I can say with authority that it is widely used outside of the linguistic community by scholars in other disciplines who want examples of the impact of language shift. It does much to answer the question of what is lostwhen a language is lost, and the compendium of facts and anecdotes is not just lively and entertaining, but also provides good, quotable excerpts for those who want to tuck a bit into a largerargument about cultural shift."--Anthropological Linguistics Promotional This is the first book to examine the question of "knowledge death"--the true impact of language death Prizes Winner of CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2007. Long Description 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 Harrisons book is the first to focus on the essential question, what is lost when a languagedies? What forms of knowledge are embedded in a languages 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 knowledgethat 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 naturalworld--not to mention our understanding of the capacities of the human mind. Harrisons 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. Review Text "At our current rate of language loss, by the end of this century the vast majority of the worlds languages will be either extinct or will be spoken by only a few old people. While much effort and money are now being spent to stem the loss of plant and animal species, the human tragedy of language loss is receiving little attention. This movingly written and fascinating book tells why languages are vanishing, and what we can do to save our linguisticheritage." --Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles and Pulitzer prize winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel"In this scholarly yet very readable study, Harrison writes powerfully of the value and beauty of these vanishing knowledge systems." --The GuardianRich in details yet surprisingly easy to read, When Languages Die shows what we are losing. --Science Magazine"Depending on how one counts, it is likely that hald of the worlds languages will be lost over the next thirty years, a dramatic change in human history. Harrison explores dying languages, how they differ from stable languages, how they encode cultural information that is lost with them, how their speakers behave, and much more. He tells a fascinating and tragic story of immense drama." --David W. Lightfoot, National Science Foundation"This important and useful book fills a valuable niche in what is now a voluminous and ever-growing collection of studies devoted to understanding reasons for and consequences of language death. Harrisons book focuses on the intellectual loss from the sum of human knowledge that such language death represents." --Journal of Anthropological Research"Harrison tackles the question of what is lost when a language dies from the vantage point of field studies with some of the few remaining speakers of endangered languages in Siberia, Mongolia, and elsewhere. When Languages Die reveals an astonishingly rich catalog of human intellectual heritage and scientific knowledge on the verge of disappearing as many of the worlds small languages become extinct." --Suzanne Romaine, Oxford University"Written in clear and concise prose, When Languages Die provides a captivating account of how languages encode and categorize human knowledge and experience. Harrison brings together a wealth of examples from all over the world to illustrate just how very much is lost when a language ceases to be spoken. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in people and how we think, perceive, and understand the world we live in." --Lenore A. Grenoble,Dartmouth College"Depending on how one counts, it is likely that hald of the worlds languages will be lost over the next thirty years, a dramatic change in human history. Harrison explores dying languages, how they differ from stable languages, how they encode cultural information that is lost with them, how their speakers behave, and much more. He tells a fascinating and tragic story of immense drama." --David W. Lightfoot, National Science Foundation"An important book with a clear niche in the teaching of undergraduates and in alerting a larger reading public to the magnitude and consequences associated with current trends in linguistic extinction. Harrisons book succeeds in representing the potential, even perhaps the inevitable, loss of the "intellectual treasure" of linguistic diversity." --Journal of Anthropological Research"The book is written for nonspecialists and is nontechnical in nature, making it a good, accessible read for nonlinguists or for those who know just a little about linguistics. Since it has been over two years since the book was first published, I can say with authority that it is widely used outside of the linguistic community by scholars in other disciplines who want examples of the impact of language shift. It does much to answer the question of what is lostwhen a language is lost, and the compendium of facts and anecdotes is not just lively and entertaining, but also provides good, quotable excerpts for those who want to tuck a bit into a larger argument about cultural shift."--Anthropological Linguistics Review Quote "Written in clear and concise prose, When Languages Die provides a captivating account of how languages encode and categorize human knowledge and experience. Harrison brings together a wealth of examples from all over the world to illustrate just how very much is lost when a language ceases tobe spoken. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in people and how we think, perceive, and understand the world we live in." --Lenore A. Grenoble, Dartmouth College Feature Selling point: This is the first book to examine the question of "knowledge death"--the true impact of language deathSelling point: Accessibly written, with anecdotes and portraits of interesting locales and people from around the world Details ISBN0195372069 Author K. David Harrison Short Title WHEN LANGUAGES DIE Language English ISBN-10 0195372069 ISBN-13 9780195372069 Media Book Format Paperback Year 2008 Subtitle The Extinction of the Worlds Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge Affiliation Biometris, Wageningen University, The Netherlands Imprint Oxford University Press Inc Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States DOI 10.1604/9780195372069 AU Release Date 2008-07-24 NZ Release Date 2008-07-24 US Release Date 2008-07-24 UK Release Date 2008-07-24 Edited by Robert Gower Birth 1944 Position Neurologist Qualifications Ph.D. Pages 304 Publisher Oxford University Press Inc Publication Date 2008-07-24 DEWEY 306.44 Illustrations halftones, figures, tables Audience Undergraduate We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:131392881;

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