Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages

Even better than his Prodigal Tongue, Mark Abley's explorations of diminishing (and the very occasional not-yet-diminishing) languages fascinated me from beginning (aboriginal Australian) to end (Welsh). The political implications of Mohawk and Iroquois, the literary ones of Proven��al and Occitan, the religious ones of Yiddish and Hebrew (and Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Proven��al and Judeo-Persian, of which I had heard of only the first), are endlessly intricate and packed with meaning and possibility.

Imagine the philosophical posers that cultures with several different forms of first-person plural (they and I but not you; two others and I and you; more than two others and I and not you, and so forth) could present to the show more Indo-European language speaker. Try to grasp the mindset of a someone whose speech relies on state of being as well as, or separate from, location and linear time. Mourn the knowledge that would be lost if the words for plants and their uses specific to pinpoint locations on the edges of maps were forgotten. Wonder how four different words for pre-dawn light can remain useful if their speakers sleep indoors. show less

This was really quite a fascinating book. Mark Abley tours the world, seeking languages that are disappearing as their last native speakers pass away. It was surprising how many of these there are.

Some of the most interesting aspects of the book were the times when he was able to explain how another language could express concepts that we find troubling or awkward to express in English, or when the language embodied a different world view.

Very interesting book. Mark Abley travels to several parts of the world where languages are nearing extinction, including the Isle of Man, and Indian Reserves in Quebec. I especially enjoyed his discussions of how different languages express different world views -- we are at risk of losing more than a few minority languages, we are really at risk of losing diverse perspectives.

Easy to read, thought-provoking and you will learn something. Perfect combination!

Interesting and very accessible travelogue about endangered languages. Abley spends a fair amount of time making the "why should we care" case, which would be useful for readers who had never considered the issue before, but which I found somewhat tiresome -- I wouldn't have picked up the book if I weren't concerned with disappearing languages, so I would have rather seen that space devoted to more about the actual languages themselves. The structure of the book -- a portrait of a languages and its speakers, followed by a brief interlude about more general topics -- lends itself well to being read piecemeal, and the final chapters about languages making a recovery makes this less bleak than it could have been.

Because I had an English education, I don't speak any language other than English, but I am fascinated by languages, and eager to learn about them if not actually to learn them. This book is an excellent tour d'horizon of languages whose existence is threatened (mainly by mine). It has much to say about the structure of languages, and why diversity is important, and is written in an accessible, readable manner. Recommended to anyone with an interest in language and languages.

Abley takes us around the globe to sample life in remote areas where native languages are threatened. He doesn't just address the language itself, but shows why the language matters . . . showing glimpses of residents' lives, filling out "issues" with flesh and blood. The end result is a mix of travelogue and commentary on linguistic food chain processes.

This was a very interesting book about language and culture. I especially liked the chapters about the Isle of Man and the Yuchi Indians.