The role of colonial languages in language endangerment in Africa

Author(s):  
Bruce Connell
Linguistica ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Swiggers

In the contemporary context of world-wide language endangerment, of linguistic imperialism and regression of minority languages, it is of vital importance to take initiatives for the maintenance and protection of linguistic biodiversity.  Languages that become extinct are a major loss, not only for the communities concerned but also for humanity in general. The role of linguists should not be confined to documentation and recording of threatened languages, but should be extended to policies  aimed at the revitalization of languages in the process of obsolescence and extinction, and to programs for stimulating language awareness and language cult. Although practical work and immediate political interventions remain the most urgent tasks, there is also need for a theoretical discussion on the value of language maintenance and preservation. It is important to define adequately the basic concepts to be used in discussions, as well as in scholarly and "bureaucratic" writings in the field of language endangerment. The aim of the present paper has been to clarify the concepts of 'language obsolescence' and 'language death', with an eye at offering a general characterization and typology of both phenomena. Accurate information on the causes and contextual factors involved in language obsolescence and language death can help to elaborate a theoretically coherent frame for construing open-minded language policies and for arousing a widespread feeling of respect for the linguistic rights of speech communities, however small and unprotected they may be.


Author(s):  
Lenore A. Grenoble

Linguists have become increasingly engaged in language documentation, working to record languages while they are still spoken. Speaker communities often turn to revitalization programs, attempting to strengthen the speaker base of their ancestral languages and make them vital again. This chapter addresses the factors that enter into the decision of what kind of revitalization to pursue and then discusses different kinds of models for language revitalization. It examines revitalization as a response to language endangerment, language attitudes, language domains and social networks, the role of the external linguist, and a successful revitalization in the case of the Hebrew language.


JAMA ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 195 (12) ◽  
pp. 1005-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Fernbach
Keyword(s):  

JAMA ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 195 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Van Metre

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnifred R. Louis ◽  
Craig McGarty ◽  
Emma F. Thomas ◽  
Catherine E. Amiot ◽  
Fathali M. Moghaddam

AbstractWhitehouse adapts insights from evolutionary anthropology to interpret extreme self-sacrifice through the concept of identity fusion. The model neglects the role of normative systems in shaping behaviors, especially in relation to violent extremism. In peaceful groups, increasing fusion will actually decrease extremism. Groups collectively appraise threats and opportunities, actively debate action options, and rarely choose violence toward self or others.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arceneaux

AbstractIntuitions guide decision-making, and looking to the evolutionary history of humans illuminates why some behavioral responses are more intuitive than others. Yet a place remains for cognitive processes to second-guess intuitive responses – that is, to be reflective – and individual differences abound in automatic, intuitive processing as well.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefen Beeler-Duden ◽  
Meltem Yucel ◽  
Amrisha Vaish

Abstract Tomasello offers a compelling account of the emergence of humans’ sense of obligation. We suggest that more needs to be said about the role of affect in the creation of obligations. We also argue that positive emotions such as gratitude evolved to encourage individuals to fulfill cooperative obligations without the negative quality that Tomasello proposes is inherent in obligations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Whiten

Abstract The authors do the field of cultural evolution a service by exploring the role of non-social cognition in human cumulative technological culture, truly neglected in comparison with socio-cognitive abilities frequently assumed to be the primary drivers. Some specifics of their delineation of the critical factors are problematic, however. I highlight recent chimpanzee–human comparative findings that should help refine such analyses.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Parr

Abstract This commentary focuses upon the relationship between two themes in the target article: the ways in which a Markov blanket may be defined and the role of precision and salience in mediating the interactions between what is internal and external to a system. These each rest upon the different perspectives we might take while “choosing” a Markov blanket.


2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 387-388
Author(s):  
Gaetano Belvedere ◽  
V. V. Pipin ◽  
G. Rüdiger

Extended AbstractRecent numerical simulations lead to the result that turbulence is much more magnetically driven than believed. In particular the role ofmagnetic buoyancyappears quite important for the generation ofα-effect and angular momentum transport (Brandenburg & Schmitt 1998). We present results obtained for a turbulence field driven by a (given) Lorentz force in a non-stratified but rotating convection zone. The main result confirms the numerical findings of Brandenburg & Schmitt that in the northern hemisphere theα-effect and the kinetic helicityℋkin= 〈u′ · rotu′〉 are positive (and negative in the northern hemisphere), this being just opposite to what occurs for the current helicityℋcurr= 〈j′ ·B′〉, which is negative in the northern hemisphere (and positive in the southern hemisphere). There has been an increasing number of papers presenting observations of current helicity at the solar surface, all showing that it isnegativein the northern hemisphere and positive in the southern hemisphere (see Rüdigeret al. 2000, also for a review).


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