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Diversity in African Languages contains a selection of revised papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held at the University of Oregon. Most chapters focus on single languages, addressing diverse aspects of their phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, information structure, or historical development. These chapters represent nine different genera: Mande, Gur, Kwa, Edoid, Bantu, Nilotic, Gumuzic, Cushitic, and Omotic. Other chapters investigate a mix of languages and families, moving from typological issues to sociolinguistic and inter-ethnic factors that affect language and accent switching. Some chapters are primarily descriptive, while others push forward the theoretical understanding of tone, semantic problems, discourse related structures, and other linguistic systems. The papers on Bantu languages reflect something of the internal richness and continued fascination of the family for linguists, as well as maturation of research on the family. The distribution of other papers highlights the need for intensified research into all the language families of Africa, including basic documentation, in order to comprehend linguistic diversities and convergences across the continent. In this regard, the chapter on Daats’íin (Gumuzic) stands out as the first-ever published article on this hitherto unknown and endangered language found in the Ethiopian-Sudanese border lands.
Whose voices are taken into account in language policy and planning and whose have been ignored or more actively silenced? This is the central question addressed in this book. What are the political and social factors that have helped to create these historical exclusions, in terms of endangerment and loss of traditional languages? What are the global influences on the local landscape of languages and linguistic rights? What are the implications for cultural heritage and identity? In analyzing these questions and reporting on research in an array of countries, the chapter authors also suggest ways forward toward designing more inclusive policies and practices in educational contexts, whether in the context of obligatory schooling or in less formal educational contexts. UNESCO estimates that at least 43% of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Such statistics remind us that the linguistic diversity that characterizes the human condition is a fragile thing, and that certain languages need to be cultivated if they are to survive into the 21st century and beyond. The chapters in this volume originated as presentations at the XV World Congress of Comparative Education Societies (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2013). They represent several global regions, namely Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. They provide analyses of language policy and politics at the local, regional, national and transnational levels, grass-roots linguistic revitalization initiatives, and the attitudes of minority and majority speakers toward minoritized languages and cultures and towards intercultural and multilingual education programs./div
Linguistics can be defined as the scientific study of the structure and development of language in general or of particular languages. It encompasses the analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context, as well as the analysis of the social, cultural, historical, and political factors that influence any language. African languages are seen and treated as expressions and means of African culture along with their communicative functions. This assumption supports the idea that the task of linguistic description and of teaching African languages is linked with sociolinguistics. The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families such as Niger-Congo languages, Afroasiatic languages, Indo-European languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Austronesian languages, and Khoe-Kwadi languages. One of the greatest concentrations of linguistic diversity is found in Africa. This book is a compilation of chapters that discuss the most vital concepts and emerging trends in African linguistics. Its aim is to present researches that have transformed this discipline and aided its advancement. This book is appropriate for students seeking detailed information in this area as well as for experts.
Most African languages are spoken by communities as one of several languages present on a daily basis. The persistence of multilingualism and the linguistic creativity manifest in the playful use of different languages are striking, especially against the backdrop of language death and expanding monolingualism elsewhere in the world. The effortless mastery of several languages is disturbing, however, for those who take essentialist perspectives that see it as a problem rather than a resource, and for the dominating, conflictual, sociolinguistic model of multilingualism. This volume investigates African minority languages in the context of changing patterns of multilingualism, and also assesses the status of African languages in terms of existing influential vitality scales. An important aspect of multilingual praxis is the speakers' agency in making choices, their repertoires of registers and the multiplicity of language ideology associated with different ways of speaking. The volume represents a new and original contribution to the ethnography of speaking of multilingual practices and the cultural ideas associated with them.
This publication reflects the outcomes of a project which brought together experts and practitioners in the field of linguistic diversity and literacy from European and African countries with a view to opening a dialogue, to taking a comparative perspective and defining possible areas of mutually enriching co-operation and exchange. The question of promoting low-status and non-dominant languages in education is the core concern of contributions in this volume which also encompasses topics such as language awareness, stimulating and encouraging a reading culture in low-status languages and developing criteria for teaching and learning materials that respect linguistic diversity and promote multilingualism. Examples of good practice in valuing African languages include an awareness raising campaign in Cameroon, NGO activities promoting literary production in Senegalese languages, the Stories Across Africa Project (StAAf) as well as initiatives of North-South cooperation in the fields of teacher training and materials development. This publication was conceptualised as a contribution to the African Union's Year of African Languages 2006/07.
This book presents a comprehensive overview of endangered languages with a global coverage. It features such well-known specialists as Michael Krauss, Willem F. H. Adelaar, Denny Moore, Colette Grinevald, Akira Yamamoto, Roger Blench, Bruce Connell, Tapani Salminen, Olga Kazakevich, Aleksandr Kibrik, Jonathan Owens, David Bradley, George van Driem, Nicholas Evans, Stephen A. Wurm, Darrell Tryon and Matthias Brenzinger. The contributions are unique in analysing the present extent and the various kinds of language endangerment by applying shared general indicators for the assessment of language endangerment. Apart from presenting the specific situations of language endangerment at the sub-continental level, the volume discusses major issues that bear universally on language endangerment. The actual study of endangered languages is carefully examined, for example, against the ethics and pragmatics of fieldwork. Practical aspects of community involvement in language documentation are discussed, such as the setting up of local archives and the training of local linguists. Numerous case studies illustrate different language shift environments with specific replacing factors, such as colonial and religious conquests, migrations and governmental language education. The book is of interest to students and scholars of linguistics with particular focus on endangered languages (and their documentation), typology, and sociolinguistics as well as to anthropologists and language activists.
This book examines the endangered languages of Africa from both documentary and theoretical perspectives, highlighting the threats of extinction many of them face and the challenges and implications each bring to bear on linguistic theory. It focuses on the symbiosis between documentary and theoretical methodologies, and its consequences for the preservation of endangered languages, both in the African context and more broadly.
Relatively little is known about Africa's endangered languages. Unlike indigenous languages in Australia, North Asia, and the Americas, which are predominantly threatened by colonizers, African languages are threatened most immediately by other local languages. As a result, the threat of language extinction is perceived as lower in Africa than in other parts of the globe, and a disproportionate amount of research is devoted to the study of endangered African languages when compared to any other linguistically threatened region in the world. There are approximately 308 highly endangered languages spoken in Africa (roughly 12% of all African languages) and at least 201 extinct African languages. This volume hopes to illuminate and challenge this trend. Chapters offer both documentary and theoretical perspectives, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between the two approaches and its implications for the preservation of endangered languages, both in the African context and more broadly. Documentary-oriented chapters deal with key issues in African language documentation including language preservation and revitalization, community activism, and data collection and dissemination methodologies, among others. Theoretically-oriented chapters provide detailed descriptions and analyses of phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic phenomena, and connect these to current theoretical issues and debates. Africa's Endangered Languages provides thorough coverage of a continent's neglected languages that will spur linguists and Africanists alike to work to protect them.
Globalisation and African Languages links African language studies to the concept of 'globalisation' which increasingly undergoes critical review. Hence, African linguists of various provenience can make valuable contributions to this debate. In cultural matters, which by definition include language, there is often a sense that globalisation leads to a major trend of homogenisation, which results in a reduction of diversity on the one hand and, on the other, in new themes being incorporated into global (cultural) patterns. However, often conflicting and overlapping particularistic interests exist which have a constructive as well as destructive potential. This aspect leads directly to the first of three sections of this volume, LANGUAGE USE AND ATTITUDES, which addresses some of the burning issues in sociolinguistic research. Since this research area is tightly linked to the educational domain these important issues are addressed in articles that comprise the second section of this volume: LANGUAGE POLICY AND EDUCATION. The third section of the volume presents articles dealing with LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION AND CLASSIFICATION demonstrating which parts of different language systems are affected through contact under historical and modern conditions. The contributions of all the well-known scholars in this volume show that globalisation is a two-way street, and to ensure that all sides benefit in a reciprocal manner means the impacts have to be monitored globally, regionally, nationally and locally. By disseminating and emphasising these linguistic findings as part of the global cultural heritage, African language studies may offer urgently needed new perspectives towards a rapidly changing world.