BOOK
Language Diversity in the Pacific
Dr. Denis Cunningham | Prof. David E. Ingram | Prof. Kenneth Sumbuk
(2006)
Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
The Southwest Pacific from Southern China through Indonesia, Australia and the Pacific Islands constitutes the richest linguistic region of the world. That rich resource cannot be taken for granted. Some of its languages have already been lost; many more are under threat. The challenge is to describe the languages that exist today and to adopt policies that will support their maintenance.
This book, reflecting UNESCO’s emphasis on the preservation of endangered languages, is an important contribution to the literature on language diversity. Most of that literature currently deals with Western societies and occasionally with Africa, the Middle East and India. The articles in this book widen and enrich the field. This collection of articles should become a standard in analyses of language policy.
Richard D. Lambert, Professor of Sociology Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
Denis Cunningham is Assistant Principal in the Victorian School of Languages. He has published widely in journals, reports and conferences around the world, and was made a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators in 2001.
David Ingram is Professor and Executive Dean in the School of Applied Language Studies in Melbourne University Private, Melbourne Australia. He has published extensively in applied linguistics.
Kenneth Sumbuk is Professor and Executive Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Papua New Guinea. His research specialty is in Papuan languages, Pidgin and Creole linguistics and dying languages.
Reports and studies on the linguistic situation in a number of countries in this volume are informative and thought provoking.
Picus Sizhi Ding, Macao Polytechnic Institute
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contents | vii | ||
| Foreword | ix | ||
| Editors’ Note | xii | ||
| Chapter 1 Language Diversity in the Pacific: Endangerment and Survival: An Overview | 1 | ||
| Chapter 2 The World Languages Review: Some Data | 15 | ||
| Chapter 3 Naming Languages, Drawing Language Boundaries and Maintaining Languages with Special Reference to the Linguistic Situation in Papua New Guinea | 24 | ||
| Chapter 4 Obstacles to Creating an Inventory of Languages in Indonesia: A Dialectology Perspective | 40 | ||
| Chapter 5 Keeping Track of Indigenous Language Endangerment in Australia | 54 | ||
| Chapter 6 Papua New Guinea’s Languages: Will They Survive? | 85 | ||
| Chapter 7 Language Endangerment and Globalisation in the Pacific | 97 | ||
| Chapter 8 Endangered Languages of China and South-East Asia | 112 | ||
| Chapter 9 On the Edge of the Pacific: Indonesia and East Timor | 121 | ||
| Chapter 10 The Future of the Languages of Vanuatu and New Caledonia | 131 | ||
| Chapter 11 Trends and Shifts in Community Language Use in Australia, 1986–1996 | 137 | ||
| Chapter 12 Directions for Linguistic Research: Forging Partnerships in Language Development and Expansion of the Domains of Use of Australia’s Indigenous Languages | 162 | ||
| Chapter 13 The Contribution of Language Education to the Maintenance and Development of Australia’s Language Resources | 180 | ||
| Chapter 14 Globalisation, Language and Technology: Some Recommendations | 196 | ||
| The Contributors | 212 |