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| For information and practice alikeIts broad perspective of the various aspects related to linguistic extinction make the book a good introduction to the phenomenon. It is presented from the point of view of linguistics, anthropology, ecology, politics and - the practical aspect - activism alike, showing their interdepency. As other reviewers observed, the argument would gain if it would be more focused, less repetitive. Also the crucial chapter 1.3 "Why worry about languages dying?" evades answers. We are enlighted further on, in the well written chapter on what a linguistic equilibrium could look like, exemplified by the example of New Guinea. Another highlight of the book is the big historical canvas painted on the impact of agriculture and industrialization on languages - the author's theories of "biolinguistic ecosystem" and "language as natural resource".
Thought-provoking and well worth reading, but has a number of weak pointsAnthopologist Daniel Nettle and linguist Suzanne Romaine are prominent scholars on language "ecologies", and in VANISHING VOICES: The Extinction of the World's Languages they have written a introduction for laypeople on the phenomenon of major language death in the modern world, and why we should be concerned.
The history of these developments is the story of the rise of agriculture--the first major change when small populations in equilibrium shifted to dominant and weaker societies--and then the Industrial Revolution where European languages spread all over the world. Numerous case studies are used, such as the decline of the Celtic languages in the British Isles and France, Papua New Guinea youngsters shifting from tribal languages to standard languages, and Hawaiian going from sole language of a million people to a forgotten ancestral language among a now reduced indigenous population.
The authors also fascinatingly show that language death tends to be only one part of poor development strategies with detrimental effects to ecology and human rights as well as local speech. There are ways to stimulate economic development while still preserving the local language, and Nettle and Romaine give several examples of where this is happening, such as Bali, Hawaii, and Israel (where Hebrew, against all odds, has been revived).
When it comes to why we should care about the loss of indigenous languages, one major and perfectly valid reason that Nettle and Romaine give is that certain structures only exist in a few languages on Earth. Had Hixkaryana in the Amazon, for example, died out, we would have never known that human languages can have Object-Subject-Verb order. However, other reviewers have already warned that the book approaches the fallacy of Sapir-Whorfism, by which a given worldview is possible only through some languages and not others.
The book has numerous other problems, most of which are small but which add up to the point that the book sorely needs a second edition with revisions. For one, there are minor factual errors like a map showing the Altaic language family spreading from Mesopotamia into the southern Russian steppes. The Altaic grouping in general extremely controversial, and the spread of these languages--the Turkic migrations--were from the Far East into Central Asia, the very opposite direction.
There is also the troubling condemnation of missionary activities. The authors suggest that missionaries of a faith abroad can only do harm to the local language, ignoring completely such prominent figures as St Stephen of Perm (Komi), St Herman of Alaska (Inuit), and Sts Cyril and Methodius (Slavonic) who in fact protected local languages and helped their development into literary use. The authors overall give the impression that local traditions are always good and worth preserving. I disagree, as linguists we can make only the case that all languages are equal, but there's very little support for moral relativism among philosophers anymore.
Finally, while Oxford University Press has a high standard of typographical and print quality, this book is shoddily made. Poor-quality paper, an impression that seems like photocopying instead of printing, and peculiar formatting. I thought it was just my copy, but all other copies of the book that I have come across are the same.
VANISHING VOICES is worth reading for those concerned by language loss, but few books have left me with such mixed feelings.
important subject, worthy bookThis is an outstanding book. Nettle & Romaine have produced a serious, well-reasoned analysis of linguistic depletion. They ground their analysis with historical surveys covering the origins of human language as well as the effect on languages of colonialism all over the world.
I haven't written an amazon review before, but I think some of the previous reviewers do this book a disservice. N&R give many examples of how certain types of economic development have disrupted traditional cultures and languages. To ask that they "avoid politics" as one reviewer does is silly. These are concrete power relations they are describing. Really, their political engagement is commendable. I didn't expect it from such a scholarly book.
N&R present a thoughtful analysis of the impediments to the goals of "rural development, sustainability, and cultural/linguistic pluralism." I was particularly impressed by their description of the superiority of traditional Balinese rice-growing methods to those forced in place by the Asian Development Bank. (The ADB concluded "the cost of the lack of appreciation of the merits of the traditional system has been high..." p170) N&R point to models of economic development that utilize traditional knowledge rather than disregarding it, as neoliberal top-down schemes do.
If you are at all interested in sustainable development, the problems of globalization, or preservation of traditional cultures, the authors bring a linguistic perspective to the intersection of all three that is invaluable.
Also, I was intrigued by their linkage of linguistic diversity to biological diversity. It is striking how closely they correlate geographically. If there's one thing I would have liked in the book, it would have been a brief account of the generation of new languages. But I guess that's why we have poets.
This book is well-written, and presents arguments both broad in scope and subtle in detail. I highly recommend it.
Important and interesting topic, but presented as a diatribeThis book presents an important, pressing concern for all humanity, namely the rapid loss of most of the world's languages. The authors rightly present this problem as one in urgent need of attention and help. However, the authors make their case in a rambling diatribe, with very overt political commentary. They proceed to comment on agricultural processes (they never mention that the agricultural revolution saved millions from starvation), capitalism, globalization, make subtle anti-Western jibes, etc. They praise French-language measures adopted in Quebec, but fail to discuss the numerous critiques of, nor the alleged socioeconomic losses to Quebec that resulted. They praise and cite as examples for future action everywhere language-immersion programs in places like Ireland, New Zealand, and Hawaii, yet none of these situations is remotely close to the situation of most endangered languages in the world in terms of population size, resources, state support, etc. If the authors had focused on the subject at hand and avoided politics, this book could have been so much better.
Poor analogies, and no real argumentVanishing Voices does a good job of showing how larger languages are destroying smaller ones, and the methods of language death. This is all pretty much common knowledge. However, the authors fail in their attempt to give a reason as to WHY language death is something with which we should be concerned. The only argument they put forth is in a ecological/enviromental analogy, which says that biological diversity is good and stable, therefore, linguistic diversity must. However, they only go part way in their analogy and reject natural selection for languages. They also show that linguistic diversity corresponds to environmental diversity, but state this has nothing to do with the inexcessiblity of the areas. The violin-playing and loaded words are hard to stomach if you are looking for good social science. I would not suggest the book unless you are an ecological activist wanting to try to link your cause with "saving cultures" or with yet another critique of the West.
Product DescriptionFew people know that nearly one hundred native languages once spoken in what is now California are near extinction, or that most of Australia's 250 aboriginal languages have vanished. In fact, at least half of the world's languages may die out in the next century. Daniel Nettle and Suzanne Romaine assert that this trend is far more than simply disturbing. Making explicit the link between language survival and environmental issues, they argue that the extinction of languages is part of the larger picture of near-total collapse of the worldwide ecosystem. Indeed, the authors contend that the struggle to preserve precious environmental resources-such as the rainforest-cannot be separated from the struggle to maintain diverse cultures, and that the causes of language death, like that of ecological destruction, lie at the intersection of ecology and politics. In addition to defending the world's endangered languages, the authors also pay homage to the last speakers of dying tongues, such as Red Thundercloud, a Native American in South Carolina; Ned Mandrell, with whom the Manx language passed away in 1974; and Arthur Bennett, an Australian who was the last person to know more than a few words of Mbabaram. In our languages lies the accumulated knowledge of humanity. Indeed, each language is a unique window on experience. Vanishing Voices is a call to preserve this resource, before it is too late.
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