Review Articles

Review of ‘Speaking of endangered languages: Issues in revitalization’ (Anne Marie Goodfellow, ed)

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Abstract

Although the number of books on endangered language documentation is increasing, language revitalisation remains an under-researched and under-theorised field. I was therefore keen to read this collection of case studies of language revitalisation projects. This book consists of 289 pages divided into 13 chapters (each with its own References), short biodata of contributors, and a short but useful overall Index. An observable fact that this book illustrates is the proliferation of movements for language revitalisation around the world: it includes case studies from the USA, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and the Pacific (although there are none from Africa or Asia, a topic that deserves discussion in its own right). More and more, it seems, community members and language activists are motivated to ‘do something’ to keep their languages in use. All too often they launch into activities without what Fishman (1991) called ‘prior ideological clarification’ about reasons, goals and outcomes, what exactly they want to ‘save’, or awareness of successes and problems elsewhere. Any publication which provides examples and analyses in a format accessible to other communities is a welcome addition to the field.

Keywords: review, endangered languages, language revitalisation, language documentation, case studies

How to Cite:

Sallabank, J., (2011) “Review of ‘Speaking of endangered languages: Issues in revitalization’ (Anne Marie Goodfellow, ed)”, Language Documentation and Description 9, 221-230. doi: https://doi.org/10.25894/ldd210