This volume reports on the World Languages Review Project, financed by the Basque Government in cooperation with UNESCO. The project's technical committee members have coauthored much of the book, with highlighted contributions from experts from around the globe. Content is based on responses to open questionnaires, distributed through the project committees' networks to individuals knowledgeable on the linguistic situation of each of the 525 languages considered. Other data come from continental meetings, expert consultations, publications, catalogues, atlases, and language centers. This information is analyzed in 12 chapters describing aspects of diversity, indices of vitality and/or decay, and key domains for language maintenance. Chapters conclude with recommendations for the development of language policy. In these ways, the authors achieve their goal of increasing awareness and “appeal[ing] to the responsibility of everyone” (p. xii) to protect languages around the world.
Chap. 1 introduces the reader to the context and terminology of linguistic diversity. It outlines the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of book – explaining (and debating) concepts such as “language” and “community,” and presenting theories of multilingualism and the ecology of languages. In chap. 2, ways of measuring linguistic diversity and vitality are described. This chapter covers types of diversity, and the extent of typological diversity on each continent (based largely on statistics from Ethnologue). Evidence of and factors contributing to threats to diversity are put forth. The authors recommend policies to enhance awareness, respect, and learning of the world's languages.
Chap. 3 addresses language policies and their role in advancing or detracting from a language's assessed worth. Official recognition is seen as prerequisite to a language's expanded use. The authors quote extensively from policies of various administrations and nongovernmental organizations as samples of language policy at national, continental, and international levels.
Chaps. 4–8 focus on particular uses of language – in public administration, writing, education, and media – all seen as favorable to a language's prestige and technical development, as well as responsive to speakers' rights. However, many languages – even those named “official” – are absent or minimally used in each of these domains. In public administration (chap. 4), the authors distinguish between different types of use (e.g. written vs. oral, formal vs. informal). They argue that all persons should have the right to interact with local administrations in their own language, although for many this is impossible.
Writing and standardization are often considered necessary for languages' implementation into administration, education, and media. The presence and emergence of writing traditions and systems (orthographies) are presented in chap. 5, with discussion of their varying degrees of use. The authors emphasize the equality and richness of uniquely oral languages, while acknowledging the increasing importance placed on literacy and the perceived power of writing. Possibilities for achieving standardization as well as its usefulness and limitations are discussed.
Chap. 6 addresses the place the world's languages hold in educational institutions, with the authors advocating for teaching all languages in schools. UNESCO has affirmed children's basic right to education in their mother tongue, but many have no access to it. The varying ways in which languages are being incorporated in the school system (oral vs. written, primary vs. secondary, etc.) and models for bilingual education are presented. Multilingualism is considered as a goal for all students and school systems.
The presence of languages in the mass media and the role media can play in preserving or undermining linguistic diversity are presented in chap. 7. Media use and favorable coverage of minority languages is desired. The radio is reportedly the medium most commonly used by and accessible to minority language groups and as such a privileged vehicle for increasing exposure to and use of minority languages.
Chap. 8 discusses the place of religion in language maintenance, development, and loss. The use of all community languages in religious practices is encouraged, and indeed, most languages reported on are used for some expression of spirituality. The spread of world religions, along with their cultures and languages, is seen, on the one hand, to have threatened linguistic diversity. On the other hand, missionary documentation and use of small languages has also led to their development and maintenance. This chapter also discusses the special religious significance of particular languages (e.g. Classical Arabic) and registers. Local religious ceremonies give rise to some of the vestigial uses of certain endangered languages.
Chap. 9 presents compelling evidence of declining linguistic diversity: Only 53% of the languages reported on are consistently being transmitted from parents to children. The causes for the partial to complete breakdown in intergenerational transmission are put forth as pressure (overt or covert) from the dominant language, pressure from the government (past or present, e.g. through assimilationist schooling), and demographic factors such as urbanization and increased migration. While schools or grandparents are filling in in some cases, the circumstances and beliefs of parents that are preventing transmission must be addressed to ensure a language's continued vitality.
In chap. 10, the importance of language attitudes as determinants of linguistic behavior is discussed. In many of the languages surveyed, speakers are proud of and desire to maintain their languages. Nonetheless, complex situations and histories deter speakers from using the mother tongue in their daily lives. The shame, insecurity, and/or indifference that some speakers feel about their language (e.g. minority groups in India) results in pressure to switch to another. The authors call for dispelling myths and prejudices that contribute to negative attitudes, and for the pursuit of activities that will enhance metalinguistic awareness and language prestige.
Chap. 11 discusses some of the factors that are contributing to language shift, as recorded in the literature and in questionnaire responses. Political, demographic, economic, and social factors, as well as physical aggression, all put pressure on speakers to cease using and transmitting their mother tongue. Deliberate status planning initiatives, including expanded recognition and use of minority languages, as well as affirmation of such linguistic communities' positive identity, are seen as favorable reactions to such threats.
Finally, chap. 12 offers a prospective of the world's languages. It recapitulates points from other chapters, giving more concrete suggestions for policy implementation. The authors positively reflect creative responses to language revitalization already underway, and call everyone – linguists, nongovernmental organizations, governments, communities, and the population in general – to contribute to increasing respect for, knowledge of, and use of the world's languages. They encourage recognition of the multilingual reality of societies, and the pursuit of individual bilingualism (including for majority group members) as a step in the preservation and celebration of such diversity.
Overall, this book communicates new ideas about language diversity, while expanding on established concepts. Its geographic range renders it useful for grasping the possibilities of contact and intervention and commonalities between groups. By incorporating diverse voices – those of questionnaire respondents and other expert contributors – the authors have attempted to overcome the potential limitations inherent in a book that tries to account for so many languages. Generally, the information is well nuanced, although some inaccuracies or overgeneralizations have slipped in. The incorporation of diverse voices sometimes disrupts the flow because inserts by specialists are not always directly linked to the surrounding text and authors at times repeat, and more rarely contradict, each other. These limitations are particularly noticeable in chap. 2, which jumps between authors in the main body of the text. Expert contributions are generally offset in blue and are a highlight of the book. Indeed, they reflect the diversity that the authors are promoting.
The book also offers some novel emphases differentiating it from other recent books on linguistic diversity, including consideration of the diversity within languages, and the challenging question of why transmission is not occurring despite positive attitudes. The inclusion of recommendations also sets this publication apart, although many appear as oversimplified ideals or principles rather than concrete plans for action (the need for local adaptation of suggestions is a limitation the authors acknowledge).
Words and worlds is unapologetically engaged and ideological. The authors transparently acknowledge their agenda, and in many ways, the book's clear activism is as much a strength as a weakness. The authors' goal of a book “of use to all citizens” (xiv) has been largely achieved. The book is highly accessible and fully indexed by subject, by expert contributor, and by language, language family, and variety. Although the authors have not included a glossary, linguistic concepts are generally clearly explained in the first chapters or where they appear. Furthermore, the use of color throughout, with glossy maps, gives the look of accessibility. Words and worlds will be appreciated by specialists, and it is highly readable for students at all levels, policy makers, and lay readers. It promises to be an effective tool in the pursuit of the authors' goal to give rise to a “linguistic ethic” (xii) and to broaden the debate around the preservation of linguistic diversity.
