Language documentation and endangerment in Africa / edited by James Essegbey, Brent Henderson, Fiona McLaughlin, University of Florida Gainesville.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Essegbey, James, 1963- editor.

Henderson, Brent (Linguist), editor.

Mc Laughlin, Fiona, editor.

Series:

Culture and language use ; 17.

Culture and language use, 1879-5838 ; 17

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Endangered languages--Africa.

Endangered languages.

Endangered languages--Case studies.

Language obsolescence--Africa.

Language obsolescence.

Language obsolescence--Case studies.

Linguistic change--Africa.

Linguistic change.

Linguistic change--Case studies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (323 p.)

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume brings together a number of important perspectives on language documentation and endangerment in Africa from an international cohort of scholars with vast experience in the field. Offering insights from rural and urban settings throughout the continent, these essays consider topics that range from the development of a writing system to ideologies of language endangerment, from working with displaced communities to the role of colonial languages in reshaping African repertoires, and from the insights of archeology to the challenges of language documentation as a doctoral project. The authors are concerned with both theoretical and practical aspects of language documentation as they address the ways in which the African context both differs from and resembles contexts of endangerment elsewhere in the world. This volume will be useful to fieldworkers and documentalists who work in Africa and beyond.

Contents:

Language Documentation and Endangerment in Africa; Editorial page; Title page; LCC data; Table of contents; Introduction; References; Section 1. Language endangerment and documentation; Chapter 1. Unintended consequences of methodological and practical responses to language endangerment in Africa; 1. Introduction; 2. Scepticism; 3. Constructive responses; 4. Language documentation practices and their consequences; 4.1 Orthography; 4.2 Dangerous literacies; 4.3 Standardisation; 5. Recording, transcribing and editing; 6. Concluding remarks; References

Chapter 2. Different cultures, different attitudes: But how different is "the African situation" really?1. Some preliminary observations; 2. The Tima documentation project: A case study; 2.1 "We Tima are looking for a linguist"; 2.2 Implementing Tima school materials; 2.3 "We Tima speak a real language, not some dialect"; 3. Some reasons for doubt; 3.1 A brief look at the macro level: States and universities; 3.2 Developing instructional materials; 4. Common Ground; 4.1 A comparison with the situation in First World countries; 4.2 Language endangerment and the construction of ethnicity

5. A sentimental journey through the halls of language sciences5.1 On so-called genetic and typological diversity; 5.2 The reinvention of mixed languages; 6. Some concluding remarks: Strategizing on methodologies; References; Chapter 3. Ideologies and typologies of language endangerment in Africa; 1. Introduction; 2. The present is in the past: Colonialisation and the creation of African languages; 2.1 The invention of social categories; 2.2 The creation of languages; 2.3 The obsession with literacy

3. Africanist views on the vitality of African languages, contrasted with global endangerment crite3.1 African languages: Doubly marginalised; 3.2 Some unfounded assumptions on African languages and their patterns of interaction; 3.3 Positioning African languages according to the UNESCO endangerment criteria; 3.4 Locating African languages on Fishman's Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale; 4. African language ecologies and the social factors nurturing them; 4.1 Exogynous marriage patterns; 4.2 Language acquisition in peer groups and age classes; 4.3 Child fostering

4.4 Professional, ritual and crisis mobility and migration4.5 Joking relationships and patronymic equivalences; 4.6 Multilingualism and polylectality for hierarchical, ritual, and other purposes; 4.7 Literacy practices relying on conventionalised exographia and multigraphia; 5. Towards Africa-specific vitality and endangerment criteria; 5.1 The existence of communities of practice and social networks for language socialization in a given language ecology

5.2 A home base providing the opportunities for maintaining and creating communities of practice and social networks in a given language ecology

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9789027268150

9027268150