OSHER 58 - Documenting Endangered Languages and Cultures

This course will provide an overview of language endangerment. We will examine situations confronting threatened languages from both a linguistic and a sociological perspective. We will also explore efforts to reverse language shift and look at methodologies to assist speech communities in revitalizing their language. We will discuss what (beyond a language system) can be lost when a language ceases to be spoken. The instructor's own fieldwork will illuminate all course topics.