Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Why and how languages become endangered; 3. Sliding into dormancy: social processes and linguistic effects; 4. What a community loses: language loss as cultural loss; 5. What science loses: language loss as a threat to our understanding of human history, human cognition, and the natural world; 6. Field research on endangered languages; 7. Language preservation and revitalization.

Promotional Information

An introduction to language endangerment. What is it? How and why does it happen? Why should we care?

About the Author

Sarah G. Thomason is William J. Gedney Collegiate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Michigan. Her previous publications include Language Contact: An Introduction (2001).

Reviews

'This is a superb one-volume, single-author introduction to endangered languages. Full coverage, [an] accessible style, and illuminating examples will make this volume invaluable to novice fieldworkers and wonderfully resonant to veterans.' Nancy C. Dorian, Emeritus Professor, Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania

'This book fills a longstanding gap in the study of language endangerment. Written by a leading specialist in the field, it is clear, accessible and thorough, and is certain to become the definitive textbook for the foreseeable future.' Lenore A. Grenoble, University of Chicago

'… a clear and comprehensive introduction to the varied research being conducted on endangered languages, and with the focus on introducing aspects of fieldwork and methods involved, this work will hopefully pique the interest of many linguistics students to respectfully and thoughtfully engage in documentary and descriptive work that will benefit endangered language communities.' Jenanne Ferguson, Linguist List