When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human KnowledgeOxford University Press, 1 февр. 2007 г. - Всего страниц: 304 It is commonly agreed by linguists and anthropologists that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will likely disappear within our lifetime. The phenomenon known as language death has started to accelerate as the world has grown smaller. This extinction of languages, and the knowledge therein, has no parallel in human history. K. David Harrison's book is the first to focus on the essential question, what is lost when a language dies? What forms of knowledge are embedded in a language's structure and vocabulary? And how harmful is it to humanity that such knowledge is lost forever? Harrison spans the globe from Siberia, to North America, to the Himalayas and elsewhere, to look at the human knowledge that is slowly being lost as the languages that express it fade from sight. He uses fascinating anecdotes and portraits of some of these languages' last remaining speakers, in order to demonstrate that this knowledge about ourselves and the world is inherently precious and once gone, will be lost forever. This knowledge is not only our cultural heritage (oral histories, poetry, stories, etc.) but very useful knowledge about plants, animals, the seasons, and other aspects of the natural world--not to mention our understanding of the capacities of the human mind. Harrison's book is a testament not only to the pressing issue of language death, but to the remarkable span of human knowledge and ingenuity. It will fascinate linguists, anthropologists, and general readers. |
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Стр. 5
... observe language death; it is going on all around us. As I write this book, I am sitting in my office on the campus of Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia, just 500 yards from the banks of the Crum Creek. 'The Crum' as locals call it ...
... observe language death; it is going on all around us. As I write this book, I am sitting in my office on the campus of Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia, just 500 yards from the banks of the Crum Creek. 'The Crum' as locals call it ...
Стр. 15
... observed by the naked eye. It behooves us to look to indigenous cultures to fill in our vast knowledge gap about the natural world. But can they retain their knowledge in the face of global linguistic homogenization? The human knowledge ...
... observed by the naked eye. It behooves us to look to indigenous cultures to fill in our vast knowledge gap about the natural world. But can they retain their knowledge in the face of global linguistic homogenization? The human knowledge ...
Стр. 16
... observation or by instruction, that rain comes from clouds. We can find examples like these from more complex systems, like the reindeer classification of native Siberians discussed in the next chapter. I will argue that the ...
... observation or by instruction, that rain comes from clouds. We can find examples like these from more complex systems, like the reindeer classification of native Siberians discussed in the next chapter. I will argue that the ...
Стр. 17
... observations of generations of people about the natural world, plants, animals, weather, soil, and so on. The loss will be incalculable, the knowledge mostly unrecoverable. Cultural Heritage Another answer to “What is lost?” is our ...
... observations of generations of people about the natural world, plants, animals, weather, soil, and so on. The loss will be incalculable, the knowledge mostly unrecoverable. Cultural Heritage Another answer to “What is lost?” is our ...
Стр. 25
... observation over generations. Naming showcases human creativity and shows a flair for dramatic metaphor. The Gila Pima people of Arizona (speaking a dialect of O'odham, which has 11,819 speakers in all) coined fanciful names for new ...
... observation over generations. Naming showcases human creativity and shows a flair for dramatic metaphor. The Gila Pima people of Arizona (speaking a dialect of O'odham, which has 11,819 speakers in all) coined fanciful names for new ...
Содержание
3 | |
23 | |
Traditional Calendars and TimeReckoning | 61 |
4 An Atlas in the Mind | 101 |
5 Silent Storytellers Lost Legends | 141 |
Counting to Twenty on Your Toes | 167 |
7 Worlds within Words | 205 |
Notes | 237 |
Bibliography | 263 |
Index | 285 |
Другие издания - Просмотреть все
When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion ... K David Harrison Ограниченный просмотр - 2008 |
When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion ... K. David Harrison Ограниченный просмотр - 2008 |
When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion ... K. David Harrison Недоступно для просмотра - 2007 |
Часто встречающиеся слова и выражения
Ainu ancestral animals behavior birds body body-counting Borôro classifier cognitive complex counting systems cultures cycles ecological encoded endangered languages English example extinction Figure fingers fish Folk taxonomies forest genetic groups guage hand Hanunóo herding hivo human hunting Ifugao indigenous Ingush island Kaluli Karaim Kaurna Kewa knowledge landscape last speakers linguistic living lunar calendar lunar months maps Marovo Marta mathematical means metaphors migration Mlabri Monchak Mongolian month names moon phases mountains Musqueam myth native Nggela Nivkh number sense number system number words objects oral Papua New Guinea patterns Pirahã plants Pomo reindeer reindeer herders rice river Rotokas Russian scientists Siberia sign languages small languages song sound speak species speech spoken story survival Tabasaran talk taxonomies tion Tofa tongue traditional Tuvan nomads Uda River vanish Vanuatu Vasya Ventureño verb village vowels Wayampi world’s languages Yakkha Yanyuwa Yukaghir Yuki