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Threatened languages and how people relate to them: a Cameroon case study

The Conversation,

By Jeff Good, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

The world is going through an unprecedented period of language endangerment. Some experts predict that half of the world’s languages will disappear within a century, with urbanisation and the increasing use of major world languages diminishing smaller languages’ chances of survival.

The death of a language can be a significant loss for speaker communities who view their language as a key part of their heritage. This has led to revitalisation efforts, especially in parts of the world dominated by settler societies, such as Australia, Canada and the US. But the link between language and identity can differ greatly from community to community and is especially complex in societies dominated by multilingualism. Read more...>>>