Language vitality: The weak theoretical underpinnings of what can be an exciting research area
Language vitality: The weak theoretical underpinnings of what can be an exciting research area
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语言活力：令人兴奋的研究领域的理论基础薄弱
DOI：
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发表时间：
2017
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
S. Mufwene
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
S. Mufwene
摘要：当语言学家对语言濒危和丧失（LEL）进行理论化研究时，我们必须了解语言在特定政治体系中的共存以及有时出现的竞争是如何解决的。自20世纪90年代初以来，人们就对低水平英语表达了许多担忧，但关于语言活力的理论发展远远落后于语言学家目前在语言倡导方面的投入。在讨论诸如未能将主题与语言进化联系起来的问题时，将LEL框架几乎只对“土著人民”有害，缺乏历史时间深度，以及在典型的LEL方法中遗漏生态因素，我认为语言学应该比迄今为止的情况更充分地理论化语言活力。
Abstract: As linguists theorize about language endangerment and loss (LEL), we must understand the big picture: the coexistence of languages in particular polities and how the competition that sometimes arises is resolved. Many concerns have been voiced about LEL since the early 1990s, but theoretical developments regarding language vitality lag far behind linguists’ current investment in language advocacy. While discussing issues such as the failure to connect the subject matter to language evolution in general, the framing of LEL as deleterious almost exclusively to ‘indigenous peoples’, a lack of historical time depth, and the omission of the ecological factors in typical approaches to LEL, I argue that linguistics should theorize about language vitality more adequately than has been the case to date.