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OverviewIn Spoken Here, Mark Abley takes us on a world tour, from the Arctic Circle to Oklahoma to Australia, in a fervent quest to document some of the world's most endangered languages. Abley delves deep into why some languages are fading into oblivion, while some endangered languages continue to thrive. His mission in Spoken Here is urgent: Of the six thousand languages spoken in the world today, only six hundred may survive into the next century. Abley visits the exotic and frequently remote locales that are home to fading languages and constructs engaging and entertaining portraits of some of the last living speakers of these tongues. Throughout this exhilarating travelogue, he points out that the same forces that put biological species at risk--development, globalization, loss of habitat--are also threatening human languages, and with them, something very basic about their speakers' cultures. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Mark AbleyPublisher: Harper Paperbacks Imprint: Harper Paperbacks Dimensions: Width: 14.20cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 21.00cm Weight: 0.422kg ISBN: 9780618565832ISBN 10: 0618565833 Pages: 322 Publication Date: 04 April 2005 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Awaiting stock ![]() The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you. Table of ContentsReviewsThis generous, sorrow-tinged book is an informative and eloquent reminder of a richness that may not exist much longer. Publishers Weekly A humanistic approach to linguistics and a scintillating read. Kirkus Reviews Weaving its way with grace and lucidity through a tangle of political, economic and technologcial factors, Spoken Here is a must for anyone concerned with the survival of Earth's cultural eco-system. TimeOut New York Abley...does his research and writes with the passion and understated eloquence of a concerned citizen of the world... The San Francisco Chronicle -- Gracefully written, funny, and frequently heartbreaking. Author InformationMark Abley, an award-winning journalist, writes for the Montreal Gazette, the Times Literary Supplement, and other publications. He speaks English, French, and a little Welsh. His previous book, Spoken Here, was named a Best Book of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle and Discover magazine. He won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005 for work on language change and the future. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |