Description
Book SynopsisThe Southwest Pacific from Southern China through Indonesia, Australia and the Pacific Islands constitutes the richest linguistic region of the world. That rich resource cannot be taken for granted. Some of its languages have already been lost; many more are under threat. The challenge is to describe the languages that exist today and to adopt policies that will support their maintenance.
Trade ReviewThis book, reflecting UNESCO’s emphasis on the preservation of endangered languages, is an important contribution to the literature on language diversity. Most of that literature currently deals with Western societies and occasionally with Africa, the Middle East and India. The articles in this book widen and enrich the field. This collection of articles should become a standard in analyses of language policy.
-- Richard D. Lambert, Professor of Sociology Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
Reports and studies on the linguistic situation in a number of countries in this volume are informative and thought provoking.
-- Picus Sizhi Ding, Macao Polytechnic Institute * Linguist List 17.2290 *
Table of ContentsForeword F. Marti (UNESCO Advisory Committee for Linguistic Pluralism and Multilingual Education)
1. Language Diversity in the Pacific: An Overview D. E. Ingram
2. World Languages Review A. Barrena (Univ. of Salamanca), I. Idiazabal, P. Juaristi (Univ. of the Basque Country), C. Junyent (Univ. of Barcelona) & P. Ortega (Secretary General of Pax Romania ICMICA)
3. Naming Languages, Drawing Language Boundaries and Maintaining Languages with Special Reference to the Linguistic Situation in Papua New Guinea P. Mühlhäusler (Univ. of Adelaide)
4. Obstacles to Creating an Inventory of Languages in Indonesia M. Lauder (Univ. of Indonesia)
5. Keeping Track of Language Endangerment in Australia P. McConvell ( Australian Inst. of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies) & N. Thieberger (Univ. of Melbourne)
6. Papua New Guinea’s Languages K. Sumbuk
7. Language Endangerment and Globalisation in the Pacific D. Tryon (Australian National Univ.)
8. Endangered Languages of China and South-east Asia D. Bradley (La Trobe Univ.)
9. On the Edge of the Pacific: Indonesia and East Timor J. Hajek (Univ.of Melbourne)
10. The Future of the languages of Vanuatu and New Caledonia J-M. Charpentier (Centre National de la Recherche Sientifique, Paris)
11. Trends and Shifts in Community Language Use in Australia, 1986-1996 M. Clyne & S. Kipp (Univ. of Melbourne)
12. Directions for Linguistic Research R. Amery (Univ. of Adelaide)
13. The Contribution of Language Education to the Maintenance and Development of Australia's Language Resources D. E. Ingram
14. Globalisation, Languages and Technology: Some Recommendations D. Cunningham
