When languages die : the extinction of the world's languages and the erosion of human knowledge /
In When Languages Die, K. David Harrison illustrates the individual face of language loss, as well as its global scale. Languages are the accretion of thousands of years of a peopleʼs science and art - from observations of ecological patterns to creation myths. The author shows that the disappearanc...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Language Notes: | English. |
| Published: |
Oxford ; New York :
Oxford University Press,
2007.
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| Series: | Oxford studies in sociolinguistics.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | In When Languages Die, K. David Harrison illustrates the individual face of language loss, as well as its global scale. Languages are the accretion of thousands of years of a peopleʼs science and art - from observations of ecological patterns to creation myths. The author shows that the disappearance of a language is a loss not only for the community of speakers itself but also for our common human knowledge of mathematics, biology, geography, philosophy, agriculture, and linguistics. In this century, we face a massive erosion of the human knowledge base. The global abandonment of Indigenous languages will bring a massive loss of accumulated knowledge and culture - this book argues for the irreplaceable nature of these unique knowledge systems and the urgency of documenting them before they are lost forever. --Book jacket. Includes information on Australia, calendars, creation myths, directions, epics, fish, folksonomy, genetics, grammar, Himalayan mountains, horse, Indigenous people, knowledge, literacy, maps, metaphor, months, naming, nomads, oral traditions, Os (middle Chulym), Papua New Guinea, place names, reindeer, rivers, shamans, sign languages, singing, song, species, taxonomy, units of time, time reckoning, Tofa (Tofalar, Karagas), Tuvan, writing systems, Yukaghir, etc. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (x, 292 pages) : illustrations, maps. |
| Format: | Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-283) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780198040170 0198040172 9780199870622 0199870624 0199707286 9780199707287 9780199884629 0199884625 |