Linguistic Topography and Language Survival

Title
Linguistic Topography and Language Survival
Publication Date
2017
Author(s)
van Driem, George
Editor
Editor(s): Ramazan Korkmaz and Gurkan Dogan
Type of document
Book Chapter
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Brill
Place of publication
Leiden, Netherlands
Edition
1
Series
Languages of Asia
DOI
10.1163/9789004328693_019
UNE publication id
une:21152
Abstract
A number of heterogeneous factors determine the survival and death of languages. At Ardahan in 2014, I coined the term 'linguistic topography' to denote the sociolinguistic situation of endangered languages in terms of the diverse factors which determine a language's prospects for extinction or survival.1 The notion of linguistic topography is inspired by August Schleicher and Salikoko Mufwene and opposed to a distinct and, as I shall argue here, complementary approach to language, of which I am a proponent, inspired by Friedrich Max Müller. Charting the linguistic topography of any particular language embodies an attempt to distinguish, analyse and quantify the heterogeneous factors which determine the propensity of that language at any given time in its history to thrive or to fall into desuetude.
Link
Citation
Endangered Languages of the Caucasus and Beyond, p. 258-274
ISBN
9789004328693
9789004325647
Start page
258
End page
274

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