Winner of the BAAL Book Prize 2001
Daniel Nettle received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from University
College London. He is the author The Fyem Language of Northern
Nigeria and Linguistic Diversity (OUP). He lives in London. Suzanne
Romaine has been Merton Professor of English Language at the
University of Oxford since 1984. She is the author of numerous
books, including Language, Education and Development: Urban and
Rural Tok Pisin in Papua New
Guinea and Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics
(both by OUP). She lives in Oxford.
"Combining perspectives from anthropology and linguistics, [Nettle
and Romaine] discuss how languages become endangered and why the
loss of linguistic diversity matters." -- Science
"Language extinction is a great tragedy for human culture and for
scholarship on all things human. This fascinating book is the
latest word on this important issue, containing a wealth of
knowledge and wisdom. If we have the good sense to rescue the
priceless legacy of linguistic diversity before it vanishes
forever, Vanishing Voices will surely deserve a good part of the
credit."--Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct and
"Words
and Rules
"Vanishing Voices is an urgent call to arms about the impending
loss of one of our great resources. Nettle and Romaine paint a
breathtaking landscape that shows why so many of the world's
languages are disappearing and more importantly, why it matters.
They put the problem of linguistic diversity into the wider context
of global biodiversity, and propose the revolutionary idea that
saving endangered languages is not about dictionaries and
educational
programs, but about preserving the cultures and habitats of the
people who speak them. Along the way it's also a fascinating
introduction to how language works: how languages are born, how
they die, and how we
can prevent their death."-- Deborah Tannen, Georgetown
University
"Combining perspectives from anthropology and linguistics, [Nettle
and Romaine] discuss how languages become endangered and why the
loss of linguistic diversity matters." -- Science
"Language extinction is a great tragedy for human culture and for
scholarship on all things human. This fascinating book is the
latest word on this important issue, containing a wealth of
knowledge and wisdom. If we have the good sense to rescue the
priceless legacy of linguistic diversity before it vanishes
forever, Vanishing Voices will surely deserve a good part of the
credit."--Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct and
Words
and Rules
"Vanishing Voices is an urgent call to arms about the impending
loss of one of our great resources. Nettle and Romaine paint a
breathtaking landscape that shows why so many of the world's
languages are disappearing and more importantly, why it matters.
They put the problem of linguistic diversity into the wider context
of global biodiversity, and propose the revolutionary idea that
saving endangered languages is not about dictionaries and
educational
programs, but about preserving the cultures and habitats of the
people who speak them. Along the way it's also a fascinating
introduction to how language works: how languages are born, how
they die, and how we
can prevent their death."-- Deborah Tannen, Georgetown
University
"[A] superb study of endangered languages.... The tapestry of
supporting detail is every bit as compelling as the central
thesis-- from an examination of how indigenous languages function
as museums of local culture to a history of the way in which
dominant languages like English,Mandarin, and Spanish have
vanquished more vulnerable tongues."--The New Yorker
"Mr. Nettle and Ms. Romaine do an impressive job of identifying the
process by which languages are abandoned or not passed down to the
next generattion, framing it in terms of disparities in social,
political, and economic status."--Red Herring
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