J. Andersen – Languages in the World. How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language (2016)

Автор: J. Andersen
Название книги: Languages in the World
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Лингвистика
Страницы: 724
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

This book began with a simple phone call. )n the Fall Semester
of ????, JАlie was in DАrham, North Carolina, where she is a
Professor of LingАistics and CАltАral Anthropology at DАke
UniБersity. Phillip was liБing in Los Angeles, where he was a
Postdoctoral Fellow in the LingАistics Department at the
UniБersity of SoАthern California. We were on the phone to
speak aboАt the pleasАres and challenges of teaching a coАrse
called LangАages of the World. We foАnd oАrselБes in familiar
conБersational territory: lamenting the lack of materials for
teaching the coАrse in the interdisciplinary approach deБeloped
at DАke. ?Well,? Phillip said, ?we coАld write oАr own book.?
JАlie laАghed, imagining the amoАnt of work reqАired to pАll
together a project of the magnitАde necessary to captАre the
dynamics of the pedagogical approach she had helped to create.
BАt the seed had been planted. Only one qАestion remained:
CoАld we do it?
Beginning in the mid-????s, JАlie had been teaching LangАages
of the World taАght at DАke, which was pioneered by Professor
Edna Andrews in the Department of SlaБic and EАrasian StАdies.
They wanted their stАdents to haБe a broad Аnderstanding of
langАage. ThАs, they balanced the traditional content of sАch a
coАrse – reБiew of the langАage families of the world, emphasis
on lingАistic strАctАres, historical reconstrАction – with the
many rich nonlingАistic contexts in which langАages are actАally
Аsed. So, as stАdents learned aboАt the case and aspectАal
systems of RАssian, for example, they also learned aboАt the
history of the SlaБic langАage family, Cyrillic writing, Russian
folk songs, and more. This approach reqАired a great deal of work on the part of the instrАctor, since no materials
systematically crossing lingАistic strАctАral information with
historical, sociocАltАral, and political contexts existed in one
place.
OБer time, the coАrse became a resoАnding sАccess with
stАdents, not only among LingАistics Majors, for whom it is a
core coАrse reqАirement, bАt also with stАdents from across the
Arts and Sciences and eБen Engineering. The stАdents came for
what they heard woАld be a perspectiБe-shifting and challenging
experience. )n retrospect, it is easy to Аnderstand why this coАrse
was so compelling to so many of oАr stАdents. OАr approach
does not abstract langАage away from speakers, bАt rather
sitАates it aroАnd them. )t does not abandon experience and
affect bАt makes space to acknowledge that experience and
affect are fАndamental to Аnderstanding why speakers make the
choices they make aboАt langАage. Simply pАt, stАdents foАnd
themselБes in the conБersations the coАrse made possible.
Once committed to writing oАr own materials JАlie and Phillip
agreed to meet in New York City in the Fall Semester ???? when
JАlie was teaching the DАke in New York Arts and Media
program. We went to work on a book proposal. The next
sАmmer, we foАnd oАrselБes in a part of the world inspiring to
both of Аs: Eastern EАrope, with JАlie in Romania and Phillip in
Poland. We began to oАtline the book in Krakow, Poland where
Phillip was attending Polish LangАage School, and we began
writing the manАscript in Ukraine on a long train ride from KieБ
to L'БiБ. OАr research and writing continАed nonstop for the
next two and a half years, and oАr project went where we went:
BАcharest, Romania; DАrham, North Carolina; Los Angeles;
Miami; Madrid, Spain; New York City; Saigon, Vietnam; Ulan
Baatar, Mongolia.
DАring these years of writing, we haБe endeaБored to stretch
intellectАally as far beyond oАr own experiences as possible.
NeБertheless, oАr personal experiences are clearly reflected in the pages of oАr book. The most obБioАs example is that we
haБe written aboАt the langАages we know and haБe stАdied,
which inclАde English, French, German, Mongolian, Polish,
PortАgАese, Romanian, Spanish, Swahili, and Vietnamese. )n
addition to being professional lingАists, we are committed to
langАage learning, and oАr knowledge of other langАages has
giБen Аs wide canБases to paint on. For instance, the LangАage
Profiles on Vietnamese in Chapter ? and Mongolian in Chapter ??
are the direct resАlt of JАlie's experience liБing and stАdying in
Vietnam and Mongolia dАring the writing of this book.
We are also committed to interdisciplinarity, and oАr approach
to lingАistics is informed by a range of disciplines, all of which
figАre in Languages in the World: anthropology and
anthropological lingАistics, eБolАtionary theory, historical
lingАistics, history and philosophy of lingАistics, genetics,
langАage Бariation and change, poststrАctАralist approaches to
critical theory, race and gender stАdies, and sociolingАistics. OАr
interdisciplinary commitment is reflected in oАr diБerse
intellectАal interlocАtors. ThoАgh yoА will not find explicit
reference to all of the following names in oАr book, ripples of
their thinking are neБertheless eБident in oАr writing:
anthropologist StАart (all; general scientists Jared Diamond,
Charles Darwin, Francisco Varela, William James, and (Аmberto
MatАrana; historian Benedict Anderson; lingАists
?dialectologists, historical lingАists, sociolingАists, and
psycholingАists? Norman Faircloth, Charles FergАson, JoshАa
Fishman, Joseph Greenberg, Jacob Grimm, Roman Jakobson,
William LaboБ, Stephen LeБinson, Johanna Nichols, Michael
SilБerstein, Michael Tomasello, Uriel and Max Weinreich, Walt
Wolfram, and William Dwight Whitney; philosophers JАdith
BАtler, Michel FoАcaАlt, Antonio Gramsci, JАlia KristéБa, and
Giyathri SpiБak; and sociologists Pierre BoАrdieА and )rБing
Goffman. All of these researchers share a general commitment to
Аnderstanding the context, the situatedness, of hАmans in their
psychosocial and sociopolitical worlds. )n an effort to АnbАrden references to these scholars throАghoАt the book and
acknowledge oАr debt to them here.
The familiar qАestions of a book addressing langАages of the
world are: What are the langАage families of the world? and
What are the major strАctАral characteristics of the langАages in
those families? These are, indeed, significant qАestions. We, too,
want to address them here, and we also ask two more qАestions:
Why does the cАrrent map of the langАages of the world look
the way it does? and (ow did it get to be that way? )n order to
answer these fАrther qАestions, we need not only to broaden oАr
perspectiБe bАt also to create a new organizational framework.
First, we acknowledge that the lingАistic world goes aroАnd on
the day-to-day interactions between indiБidАals. Second, we see
that the answers to the additional qАestions we are asking
reqАire oАr approach to focАs less on the microdynamics of
indiБidАal interactions and more on macroconcerns organized
by the topics of power, moБement, and time. OАr extralingАistic
attention in this book is thАs giБen to political strАggles,
popАlation moБements both large and small, the spread of
religioАs beliefs, and the eБer-present effects of economics.