Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies

Over the last few decades or so a growing variety of books, scholarly articles and media reports have predicted an alarming decline in the number of languages. The prospect of the loss of linguistic diversity on such a large scale has prompted scholars such as Fishman and others to propose programs of intervention to 'reverse language shift' (RLS). Most RLS theories and efforts are byproducts of European indigenous minority problems, and the ideological bias of Fishman's model of RLS (reversing language shift) privileges intergenerational transmission in the context of stable diglossia. My talk examines the utility of this framework as an appropriate model for the stabilization of endangered languages or for their eventual revitalization as fully functioning native languages. I will argue for the need to question the assumptions and theoretical perspectives underlying terms such as 'reversing language shift' and 'language revitalization' and to reconceptualize what it means for a language to be maintained and survive without intergenerational mother tongue transmission. As an increasing number of communities around the world face the impending loss of their languages, it is imperative to clarify these issues not just for theory's sake, but in the interest of providing sound advice.