Date: 17-Nov-2008 From: Luke Roberts <lrobertscontinuumbooks.com> Subject: Globalization and Language Vitality: Vigouroux, Mufwene (Eds) E-mail this message to a friend
Title: Globalization and Language Vitality
Subtitle: Perspectives from Africa
Published: 2008
Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
http://www.continuumbooks.com
This book discusses the effects of globalization on languages in Africa. In contrast to previous studies, the contributors examine whether or not globalization is affecting African languages in the same ways and at the same rate in different countries, and how local experiences of language change vary from place to place. Rather than seeing English as the 'killer language' par excellence, the contributors probe ways in which languages are being used side by side to complement each other in some contexts while competing against European colonial languages in others. The result is a diverse canvas of language vitality in the African context, including matters of endangerment and loss, through the lense of globalization in its various interpretations.
This book is a must read for students and researchers interested in language change and death and in the fate of European languages in the rest of the world.
Editors Cécile B. Vigouroux is Assistant Professor in the Department of Romance Languages at Simon Fraser University, Canada.
Salikoko S. Mufwene is the Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics as well as Professor on the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago, USA.
Reviews "If there is an African way of finding appropriate solutions for linguistic interaction in a situation of increasing cultural, economic, and political globalization then it is to be found in this book. The book presents a range of exciting perspectives on how African societies have dealt and are dealing with their communication problems." - Professor Bernd Heine, Institute for African Studies, University of Cologne, Germany.
"A superb collection of essays by well-known regional specialists on a topic that will affect more and more African speech communities in the near future." - Professor Gerrit J. Dimmendaal, Institute for African Studies, University of Cologne, Germany
Linguistic Field(s):
General Linguistics
Sociolinguistics
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