Loss of linguistic diversity in Africa

Mous, Maarten

doi:10.1075/cilt.240.10mou

Cited by 41 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“… Assessing the language endangerment situation in West Africa, Blench (:150) describes West African languages as being in general “in a healthy state,” threatened primarily by assimilation to local dominant languages (see also Brenzinger, Heine, and Sommer :20; Mous ). …”

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confidence: 99%

When Linguists and Speakers Do Not Agree: The Endangered Grammar of Verbal Art in West Africa

Nikitina

2018

J Linguistic Anthropol

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Across Africa, linguistic techniques that are closely associated with traditional genres are vulnerable to changes in traditional habits, and often become extinct long before the language is recognized as endangered. Their loss accounts for the discrepancy between professional linguist's assessment and the speakers’ perception of the vitality of the language. The study discusses an array of endangered storytelling strategies accumulated by Wan (Mande; Côte d'Ivoire) in response to the needs of traditional narrative performance. Such strategies include morphosyntactic means that allow the storyteller to manage a complex narrative without resorting to explicit lexical encoding or multiplying the number of sentences.

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When Linguists and Speakers Do Not Agree: The Endangered Grammar of Verbal Art in West Africa

Nikitina

2018

J Linguistic Anthropol

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“…This is an important area because Africa has ∼2000 languages, i.e., around one third of the world's languages. Brenzinger et al (1991) are negative (see also Brenzinger 1992), but Mous (2003) informs us that "[m]ost African languages are not on the verge of extinction and many smaller languages, i.e., languages with fewer than 50,000 speakers, are quite stable and do not show reduction in number of speakers" (p. 157). I return later to consider some of the reasons for such divergent opinions.…”

Section: The Range Of Indigenous Language Situationsmentioning

confidence: 75%

Will Indigenous Languages Survive?

Walsh

2005

Annu. Rev. Anthropol.

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Much attention has been focused on the survival of Indigenous languages in recent years. Many, particularly anthropologists and linguists, anticipate the demise of the majority of Indigenous languages within this century and have called on the need to arrest the loss of languages. Opinions vary concerning the loss of language; some regard it as a hopeless cause, and others see language revitalization as a major responsibility of linguistics and kindred disciplines. To that end, this review explores efforts in language revitalization and documentation and the engagement with Indigenous peoples. It remains unclear why some attempts at language revitalization succeed, whereas others fail. What is clear is that the process is profoundly political. 293 Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 2005.34:293-315. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Texas Christian University on 02/03/15. For personal use only.

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“…These include: assimilation to larger and more powerful surrounding languages, assimilation to smaller but culturally more powerful languages, assimilation to English and demographic crises caused by labour migration/ urbanism. Mous (2003) identifies similar reasons for language loss on the entire continent. He adds that the demise of traditional economies, central to the identities of groups, has also led to shifts to dominant languages.…”

Section: Language Endangerment In Sub-saharan Africamentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Although the phenomenon of language endangerment exists all over the world, it is believed that in percentage terms, the rate of language endangerment and extinction in Africa is less than what obtains in other parts of the world (Blench 1998;Mous 2003). This is quite ironic because Africa is more linguistically diverse than any other continent.…”

Section: Language Endangerment In Sub-saharan Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bridging the gap between theory and practice in language revitalization efforts in Africa

Are¹

2015

Ghana J. Ling.

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This paper examines the increasing concerns about language endangerment in Sub-Saharan Africa, and assesses the necessity and practicality of language revitalization efforts in some situations in the region in light of a number of practical problems of implementation. The paper identifies the need for a clearer paradigm of revitalization efforts, and recommends an approach that recognizes the hard reality that not all endangered languages can receive attention toward functional restoration due to the practical matters involved. The paper proposes archival preservation in such cases, while strongly supporting functional revitalization where the concerned languages a meet some suggested thresholds of viability.

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Loss of linguistic diversity in Africa

Cited by 41 publications

References 5 publications

When Linguists and Speakers Do Not Agree: The Endangered Grammar of Verbal Art in West Africa

When Linguists and Speakers Do Not Agree: The Endangered Grammar of Verbal Art in West Africa

Will Indigenous Languages Survive?

Bridging the gap between theory and practice in language revitalization efforts in Africa

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