AUTHOR: Evans, Nicholas TITLE: Dying Words SUBTITLE: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us SERIES: The Language Library PUBLISHER: Wiley-Blackwell YEAR: 2010
Daniel W. Hieber, Endangered Language Program, Rosetta Stone
INTRODUCTION Continuing the recent trend of writing towards a general audience on the issue of language endangerment (see Nettle & Romaine 2000; Crystal 2000; Harrison 2007), this book aims to show what is lost when languages die, why this matters, and what we should do about it. Whereas previous books on the topic have featured primarily Asian languages (Harrison) or have offered a sweeping overview (Crystal), this book's author, Nicholas Evans, comes from a background in both Australian and Papuan indigenous languages, bringing new expertise, new data, and a fresh approach to the set of popular books on the topic.
SUMMARY The book has five sections, plus a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue opens with a vignette of Pat Gabori, one of the last speakers of the Kayardild language indigenous to Australia. Evans presents a good example of what has become the typical scenario for languages worldwide. He explains how, having never had a large speaker base, the language fell into decline after the imposition of colonial schooling and forcible relocation. He notes that Kayardild poses challenges for Universal Grammar, and that the language requires conceptualizing the world in ways unfamiliar to English speakers (the language has absolute directional reckoning, rather than relative). This real-world example both gives the reader a preview of topics to come, and is representative of endangered languages globally. Evans here introduces his central point for the first time, which is that any one of these endangered languages may contain a key to unlocking knowledge about the language instinct, human cognition, or world history. The prologue ends by introducing the concept of the ''logosphere'' (a term coined by Michael Krauss) to refer to the world's diverse ''ecosystem of languages'', with a call to protect it.
Part I: The Library of Babel, is an introduction to language diversity (Ch. 1) and the history of our academic interest in language (Ch. 2). Evans points out that Western tradition sees linguistic diversity as a detriment (as seen in the Tower of Babel myth), whereas many cultures value diversity as a badge of identity. Continuing the biosphere analogy, Evans notes in Chapter 1 that languages are adapted to meet a variety of different cultural and ecological demands. He shows how the growth of the state has led to an unevenly distributed reduction in language diversity around the globe, measured in terms of the loss of distinct language families. Chapter 2 outlines the development of interest in language and the tools available to document it, starting with the proselytizing efforts of the Catholic church and Spanish missionaries in the Americas, and then the quest to reconstruct the divine languages, capped by a rising interest in linguistic diversity following Humboldt, Boas, Sapir, and finally Whorf.
Part II: A Great Feast of Languages, surveys typological diversity across languages in relation to sound, meaning, and grammar (phonology, semantics, and morphology) (Ch. 3), as well as evidentials or 'Social Cognition in Grammar' (Ch. 4). The Navajo language is the star of Chapter 3, beginning with a look at the unbreakable World War II code, then moving into a discussion of phonemic differences between languages. Artfully skirting a discussion of Sapir-Whorfism, the cross-linguistic discussion on semantics is a rich yet concise look at the issues speakers face in mapping meaning across languages. The chapter ends with an introduction to morphology via an examination of animacy hierarchies in Navajo. Chapter 4 presents a wealth of examples illustrating evidentiality in language, and makes the point that language forces the mind to attend to certain categories or features of the world around us.
Part III: Faint Tracks in an Ancient Wordscape: Languages and Deep World History, is the largest section of the book, falling squarely in the center and occupying the most page real estate. It begins with an introduction to comparative philology (Ch. 5), moves into a discussion of linguistic archaeology (Ch. 6), and ends with an interesting insight into how modern languages can unlock ancient writing systems (Ch. 7). Evans piques the reader's interest in Chapter 5 with stories of Hrosný's decipherment of Hittite and Sir William Jones' discovery of the links between Sanskrit and Latin, sparking the development of modern comparative philology. After detailing the techniques of the comparative method, Evans explains the difference between synchrony and diachrony, then illustrates how diachronic approaches can inform synchronic ones. Chapter 6 covers the various subfields of linguistic archaeology, including dating archaeological sites, locating the origins and migration patterns of language families, and using toponyms in historical linguistics. Chapter 7 wraps up by looking at several cases in which modern languages helped scholars to unlock previously undecipherable scripts.
Part IV: Ratchetting Each Other Up: The Coevolution of Language, Culture, and Thought, includes the expected discussion of Sapir-Whorfism (Ch. 8), followed by a look at verbal art in oral societies (Ch. 9). In the introduction to this section, Evans focuses on coevolution, pointing out that the ability to code important information into languages decreases and in part replaces the load on our genetics for adaption, so that culture and learning can be seen as coevolving with our genes. His examples of linguistic relativity draw from a variety of languages, and include excellent discussions of absolute versus relative reckoning, metaphors for time, and shape and spatial systems in languages. Evans concludes the chapter by noting that Sapir-Whorfism is making a ''comeback'' as more and more evidence points to the fact that our psychological categories are influenced by language. He also suggests that a great deal can be gained from expanded cooperation between linguists and psychologists. Chapter 9 focuses primarily on epic oral poetry, what this requires mentally from a speaker, and how they accomplish it. Evans cites evidence (Parry 1930) that there still exist orators capable of producing poetry on the scale and style of Homer.
The last section, Part V: Listening While We Can, is where Evans turns to the process of language shift or death, and language documentation (Ch. 10). This is where he answers his original question, ''What do we do about it?'' He offers a number of useful suggestions to those in the discipline, such as training 'insiders' (native speakers as linguists), and notes the inconsistent practice among universities which admit PhD candidates with training in general linguistics, but not those with deep knowledge of an understudied language. U.S. universities typically disdain language documentation as an acceptable doctoral topic, despite its being ''about the most demanding intellectual task a linguist can engage in'' (223). Evans also suggests using a combination of elicited and natural data to address the fact that languages have an infinite combination of utterances. As he notes in Part I, linguistics is not a science in the same way as physics, because it rarely makes testable predictions. The great discoveries among minority languages are typically accidents, so we must simply obtain as much data as possible.
The Epilogue rounds out the book by recalling the death of the eloquent informant Pat Gabori – a serious blow to the Kayardild language. Evans then returns to his original set of questions, and reiterates the book's central theme: ''The crucial evidence for any of these questions, and for others we have yet to think of asking about, may lie in Eyak, Migama, Kayardild, Kusunda, or any of the world's 6,000 languages'' (231).
EVALUATION Evans has made an outstanding contribution toward increasing awareness of endangered languages with this book, and it deserves to be one of the go-to books on the topic. He does the lay reader a great service by presenting an engaging introduction to many central topics in linguistics in a style that is clear, intelligent, and profound. This book is an excellent choice for anyone with an interest in language, linguist and non-linguist alike.
One of the merits of this book is that Evans approaches the topic from a vastly different angle than others who have written on the topic. In some ways, it appears as though he set out precisely to present arguments which have been overlooked by other authors. Most notable is his section on world history (Part III), and his decision to include chapters specifically on the scope of linguistic diversity (Ch .1) and the history of our interest in it (Ch. 2). And while other authors oscillate between discussions of endangered CULTURES – plus all the cultural and ecological knowledge that goes with them – and endangered LANGUAGES, Evans stays firmly focused throughout the book on what is lost when we lose a LANGUAGE, even when discussing Sapir-Whorfism (the exception perhaps being his chapter on oral poetry).
Whether this is a merit or a detriment is open to interpretation. Consider David Harrison's _When Languages Die_ (2007), where Harrison also asks the question ''What do we lose when a language dies?'' but often seems to be arguing for the intrinsic value of the associated cultures instead. By contrast, Evans' main argument, which he reiterates throughout the book, is essentially that endangered languages are a rich and bountiful source of potential data for answering many questions across a variety of scientific and humanistic fields of inquiry. This utilitarian approach, while convincing, might be seen as operating somewhat aloof of the speakers themselves. In fact, much of Part III of Evans' book (Languages and Deep World History) tends to lose sight of endangered languages in favor of major Indo-European ones, though this is due in part to the fact that work in comparative philology has been done primarily on Indo-European languages. Evans does of course include excellent illustrative examples from endangered languages in this section as well, but these typically come at the end of the chapter and don't receive as much stage time as do Indo-European ones.
But on the whole the criticism that Evan's approach is too ''linguistic'' is an unfair one. Evans makes clear that he values the cultures which encompass these languages, as evidenced by his ''sense of despair at what gets lost when such magnificent languages fall silent'' (xviii). The book has several emotive vignettes and personal accounts of speakers of these dying languages, and one of the most impressive features of the book is the extent and variety of data Evans gives from endangered languages across the world. Rather than opting for stock examples, which are easier to use but come from majority languages, he brings an absorbing new set of data to the existing set of books on the topic.
One final note of praise is for Evans' treatment of Sapir-Whorfism, which is cautiously affirming. Evans adheres to the sensible claim that language interfaces with our psychological categories, thereby influencing them. He very skillfully summarizes the topic in Chapter 8, containing its treatment to that chapter alone. For an issue like language endangerment, where linguistic and cultural loss are so closely intertwined, it is difficult not to let questions of linguistic relativity seep into most aspects of the discussion, muddling the structure of the book. There are many who would see this as a detriment, pointing to the inseparability of language and culture, but it is refreshing as a lay reader to be given a discrete treatment of each topic.
Evans does an outstanding job laying out the framework for discussion, and keeping to that framework throughout the book. He does this in a thought-provoking manner, avoiding classic examples in favor of his own, often better ones. _Dying Words_ has its place among books for a general audience on linguistics and makes a persuasive case for preserving endangered languages everywhere.
REFERENCES Crystal, D. 2000. _Language Death_. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harrison, D. 2007. _When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge_. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nettle, D.; Romaine, S. 2000. _Vanishing Voices: The Extinction of the World's Languages_. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Parry, Millman. 1930. Studies in the epic technique of oral verse-making, vol. 1: Homer and the Homeric style. _Harvard Studies in Classical Philology_ 41.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER Danny Hieber is Content Editor for the Endangered Language Program at Rosetta Stone. He holds a B.S. in Linguistics and Philosophy from The College of William & Mary in Virginia. Currently he is working with the Chitimacha, Navajo, and Iñupiaq language groups to create Rosetta Stone software in their languages. His primary interests are Swahili, and language documentation and revitalization with an eye towards theoretical implications for syntax and semantics.
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