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This chapter exemplifies the scenario approach to language endangerment. In this approach, language endangerment is not defined with respect to a list of more or less disparate criteria but rather it is seen as the result of a specific and complex constellation of varied factors, some of which may be conducive to language shift, others to language maintenance. The Tomini–Tolitoli languages of northern Central Sulawesi are its main example, and the chapter concludes with a brief assessment of the vitality of each of the eleven Tomini–Tolitoli languages.

This introductory chapter describes current research in the field of language endangerment studies. It outlines the scope of the book, and draws out the key issues and themes which emerge in each of the sections and chapters.

This introductory chapter gives some background on the loss of linguistic diversity worldwide and the increased interest in this field since the late twentieth century: in academia, among the (Western) general public and in communities affected by language loss. A major factor in language shift is negative attitudes, which often become ‘naturalized’ through hegemonic ideologies of linguistic inferiority and inculcated beliefs regarding the value or utility of particular ways of speaking. The chapter discusses the nature of beliefs and ideologies as they relate to endangered languages, and some terminology relevant to the book, especially ‘speech communities’. The Introduction also provides an overview of the chapters in the book, highlighting recurring and emergent themes and key contributions that the collection makes to the field.

This chapter traces three identifiably distinct groups or movements associated with the concept of language rights and reviews the differences and similarities between these groups. Despite their differences, the three movements share a particular conception of language, one that assumes the existence of neat and clear boundaries between languages. Also, for all three movements, the prototypical cases motivating the appeal to language rights involve speakers of ethnic minority languages. These observations serve to delineate the conceptual and empirical scope of language rights.

This chapter contends that the disciplinary context of linguistics makes certain information about languages and contiguous matters more readily available to us than others and, relatedly, it makes certain languages more readily apparent to us than others. These preoccupations and barriers to engagement reflect ideological positions within the discipline. They impact on our ability to identify languages worthy of study, to describe these languages and their social contexts adequately, and to plan for them in appropriate ways. This chapter aims to show how our ideas about what a language is predetermine to a significant extent what we are able to study (and fund) within the discipline, given that we can (and do) identify specific collections of people with shared practices that we call languages. A model for understanding the impact of these ideologies is critical insofar as work with speakers of endangered languages involves a clash in ideological perspectives.

Losses associated with language endangerment need not be restricted to individual language systems but can also involve the disappearance of distinctive language ecologies. This chapter explores the language dynamics of the Lower Fungom region of Northwest Cameroon, which offers an extreme case of linguistic diversity, from an areal and ethnographically informed perspective. Key aspects of local language ideologies are explored in detail, and it is argued that in this area languages symbolize relatively ephemeral political formations and, hence, should not be taken as reflections of deeply rooted historical identities. This conclusion has significance both regarding how research projects in the area should be structured as well as for what it might mean to ‘preserve’ the languages of a region that historically appears to have been characterized by frequent language loss and emergence, conditioned by changes in territorial and political configurations.

How can studies of language change in Iberian America help us better understand related phenomena in the Caribbean, and vice-versa? I raise some fundamental issues about language contact and its linguistic, cultural and socio-political consequences in Latin America, alongside challenging questions regarding the relationship between power and the production of knowledge in and about Latin America. These issues conjure up the foundations and politics of Creole studies and of education in Haiti. Here, Haiti serves as a spectacular case study to probe the effects of (neo-)colonialism on language diversification, vitality and endangerment throughout Latin America. Rejecting Creole Exceptionalism (i.e., the dogma that Creole languages are exceptional languages on either developmental or structural grounds), I compare Haitian Creole with its counterparts in continental Latin America, particularly Amerindian languages. This exercise sheds new light on the common socio-historical roots of various myths about Creole and Indigenous languages. I then consider how the past can help us analyze, then deconstruct, some of the racially- and ethnically-based hierarchies in Latin America. I conclude with a plea for a North-South collaboration among linguists and, also, between the latter and educators—collaboration toward social justice through quality education for all in Latin America and beyond.

This chapter develops and presents a tool, the Music Vitality and Endangerment Framework (MVEF), for identifying and measuring music endangerment, based on a framework developed by UNESCO for identifying and measuring language endangerment. Such a tool is important for at least three reasons: to be able to diagnose situations of music endangerment and determine the urgency to implement support; to ensure the right remedial action is taken, since assessing the factors causing endangerment will help establish focus and priorities for action; and finally, so that the efficacy of any efforts to support a given music genre may be subsequently evaluated in a consistent way. This chapter identifies some possible problems with the original UNESCO language framework, suggests how these might be rectified for music, and then systematically builds a 12-factor framework for assessing music endangerment. The resulting MVEF represents the first standardized, replicable tool for gauging the level of vitality of music genres.

This chapter investigates the nature of ideological transformation among Wangkatha language consultants in Western Australia, highlighted in the wake of Native Title legislation designed to determine the veracity of Aboriginal claims to land rights. It identifies a schism between the actual and perceived benefits of successful claims, and explores the role of language as it is used by expert witnesses and community members. On-the-ground perceptions about how linguistic practices may be interpreted by a land claim judge influence practice and, potentially, ideology, with a transition from a dialect mesh to an ideologically bounded mosaic, from the prestige of language ownership to the power of language proficiency, and from extreme individual multilingualism to language guardianship. Proficiency in an unchanged, well-bounded traditional language is simultaneously venerated and guarded while traditional ideologies about linguistic identity are overshadowed, at least in the political and legal context.

The lack of adequate documentation for African languages is a major challenge facing linguists. Understandably, priority has often been given to the most endangered languages, but the level of language endangerment in Africa has been grossly underestimated. Language shift can occur in a single generation, so population surveys that are 20 or more years old cannot be used to label a language “safe,” particularly when it is used by only a few thousand people. High rates of language shift are being reported in different parts of the continent, and even larger languages (with 100,000 or more speakers) might best be considered threatened. Documenting an obsolescent language is a difficult task, made even more difficult if the language is essentially undescribed. Since basic phonological and grammatical sketches are lacking for so many African languages, we should try to address the challenge of documenting these poorly known languages while they are still used by all generations.

Portugal and Spain engaged in the effective colonization of the New World at least 100 years before England, France, and Holland did. The Portuguese started producing sugar on the industrial scale in Brazil also way before the English, the French, and their Dutch did in their tropical colonies. Brazil imported more slaves than all the other colonies combined; and, along with Cuba and the Dominican Republic, it abolished slavery only in the late 19^th century. Yet, Iberian Latin America has produced no creole other than the Spanish-based Palenquero, which emerged indisputably among Maroon slaves, and the largely Portuguese-based Papiamentu, which is associated with the Netherlands Antilles. What can Latin America teach us, even if only negatively, about the ecological conditions that produce creoles? What can it also teach us about the survival of indigenous languages after the colonists contributed to the attrition of Native Americans both by miscegenation and by the genocides committed especially by the Spaniards during the early stages of colonization? From a language evolution perspective, what are the critical differences between the colonization of the New World by the Iberians and by the other European nations?