Things people speak?: A response to Orman's 'Linguistic diversity and language loss: a view from integrational linguistics' with rejoinder

Abstract

This article is presented in two parts. The first is a response to Orman's integrationist critique of orthodox theorising of linguistic diversity and language loss. It asks how integrationist claims might be empiricised and translated into a practical research programme. A discussion of the ontology of Norf'k and the pitfalls of employing metalinguistic terminology is followed by the second part: an argument claiming an integrationist investigation of language loss/death is possible if conceived as a lay-oriented enquiry.