On the Death and Life of Languages

On the Death and Life of Languages
ISBN-10
0300137338
ISBN-13
9780300137330
Category
Language Arts & Disciplines
Pages
364
Language
English
Published
2009
Publisher
Yale University Press
Author
Claude Hagège

Description

Twenty-five languages die each year; at this pace, half the world’s five thousand languages will disappear within the next century. In this timely book, Claude Hag�ge seeks to make clear the magnitude of the cultural loss represented by the crisis of language death.

By focusing on the relationship of language to culture and the world of ideas, Hag�ge shows how languages are themselves crucial repositories of culture; the traditions, proverbs, and knowledge of our ancestors reside in the language we use. His wide-ranging examination covers all continents and language families to uncover not only how languages die, but also how they can be revitalized—for example in the remarkable case of Hebrew. In a striking metaphor, Hag�ge likens languages to bonfires of social behavior that leave behind sparks even after they die; from these sparks languages can be rekindled and made to live again.

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