Creating Orthographies for Endangered Languages

Description

Creating an orthography is often seen as a key component of language revitalisation. Encoding an endangered variety can enhance its status and prestige. In speech communities that are fragmented dialectally or geographically, a common writing system may help create a sense of unified identity, or help keep a language alive by facilitating teaching and learning. Despite clear advantages, creating an orthography for an endangered language can also bring challenges, and this volume debates the following critical questions: whose task should this be - that of the linguist or the speech community? Should an orthography be maximally distanciated from that of the language of wider communication for ideological reasons, or should its main principles coincide for reasons of learnability? Which local variety should be selected as the basis of a common script? Is a multilectal script preferable to a standardised orthography? And can creating an orthography create problems for existing native speakers?

Mari C. Jones has published extensively on language death theory and dialectology, principally in relation to Insular and Continental Norman. Major research monographs include Jersey Norman French: A Linguistic Study of an Obsolescent Dialect (2001), The Guernsey Norman French Translations of Thomas Martin: A Linguistic Study of an Unpublished Archive (2008) and Variation and Change in Continental and Insular Norman: A Study of Superstrate Influence (2015). Her co-authored textbook, Exploring Language Change (with Ishtla Singh, 2005), also engages with many aspects of language variation and change. Dr Jones has experience of editing several volumes including Language Change: The Interplay of Internal, External and Extra-Linguistic Factors (with Edith Esch, 2002), The French Language and Questions of Identity (with Wendy Ayres-Bennett, 2007), Les Langues Normandes: Pluralite, Normes, Representations (2009) and Language and Social Structure in Urban France (with David Hornsby, 2013). She is editor of Keeping Languages Alive (with Sarah Ogilvie, Cambridge, 2013), Endangered Languages and New Technologies (Cambridge, 2014) and Policy and Planning for Endangered Languages (Cambridge, 2015). Damien Mooney's research focuses on contact induced transfer in bilingual speech, language death theory, and the role of language and dialect contact in the loss or retention of pronunciation and grammatical features in regional varieties of French and the regional languages of France. His major publications include the monograph Southern Regional French: A Linguistic Analysis of Language and Dialect Contact (2016).

'These case studies from multiple continents provide an illuminating view into the world of endangered languages and the very specific challenges of providing practical orthographies for them. The wide variety of sociopolitical situations and historical backgrounds is fascinating, especially balanced against the fact that some issues arise quite commonly across languages.' Michael Cahill, Orthography Services Coordinator, SIL International 'This volume of case studies brings it all together for readers to not only learn about, but also pause and marvel at the astounding amount of work that goes into creating an orthography for unwritten and vulnerable languages.' Lionel Mathieu, LINGUIST List