The endangered languages crisis is widely acknowledged among scholars who deal with languages and indigenous peoples as one of the most pressing problems facing humanity, posing moral, practical, and scientific issues of enormous proportions. Simply put, no area of the world is immune from language endangerment.The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages, in 39 chapters, provides a comprehensive overview of the efforts that are being undertaken to deal with this crisis. A comprehensive reference reflecting the breadth of the field, the Handbook presents in detail both the range of thinking about language endangerment and the variety of responses to it, and broadens understanding of language endangerment, language documentation, and language revitalization, encouraging further research.The Handbook is organized into five parts. Part 1, Endangered Languages, addresses the fundamental issues that are essential to understanding the nature of the endangered languages crisis. Part 2, Language Documentation, provides an overview of the issues and activities of concern to linguists and others in their efforts to record and document endangered languages. Part 3, Language Revitalization, includes approaches, practices, and strategies for revitalizing endangered and sleeping ("dormant") languages. Part 4, Endangered Languages and Biocultural Diversity, extends the discussion of language endangerment beyond its conventional boundaries to consider the interrelationship of language, culture, and environment, and the common forces that now threaten the sustainability of their diversity. Part 5, Looking to the Future, addresses a variety of topics that are certain to be of consequence in future efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages.

ForewordMichael KraussIntroductionLyle Campbell and Kenneth L. RehgPart I: Endangered Languages(1) The status of the world's endangered languagesAnna Belew and Sean Simpson(2) Assessing degrees of language endangermentNala H. Lee and John R. Van Way(3) Language contact and language endangermentSarah G. Thomason(4) Indigenous language rights-miner's canary or mariner's tern?Teresa L. McCartyPart II: Language Documentation(5) The goals of language documentationRichard Rhodes and Lyle Campbell(6) Documentation, linguistic typology, and formal grammarKeren Rice(7) The design and implementation of documentation projects for spoken languagesShobhana Chelliah(8) Endangered sign languages: An introductionJames Woodward(9) Design and implementation of collaborative language documentation projectsRacquel-Mar?a Sapi?n(10) Tools and technology for language documentation and revitalizationKeren Rice and Nick Thieberger(11) Corpus compilation and exploitation in language documentation projectsUlrike Mosel(12) Writing grammars of endangered languagesAmber Camp, Lyle Campbell, Victoria Chen, Nala H. Lee, Matthew Lou-Magnuson, and Samantha Rarrick(13) Compiling dictionaries of endangered languagesKenneth L. Rehg(14) Orthography design and implementation for endangered languagesMichael Cahill(15) Language archivingAndrea L. Berez-Kroeker and Ryan E. Henke(16) Tools from the ethnography of communication for language documentationSimeon Floyd(17) Language documentation in diaspora communitiesDaniel Kaufman & Ross Perlin(18) Ethics in language documentation and revitalizationJeff GoodPart III: Language Revitalization(19) Approaches to and strategies for language revitalizationLeanne Hinton(20) Comparative analysis in language revitalization practices: addressing the challengeGabriela P?rez B?ez, Rachel Vogel, and Eve Okura Koller(21) The linguistics of language revitalization: Problems of acquisition and attritionWilliam O'Grady(22) New media for endangered languagesLaura Buszard-Welcher(23) Language recovery paradigmsAlan R. King(24) Myaamiaataweenki: Revitalization of a sleeping languageDaryl Baldwin and David J. Costa(25) Language revitalization in kindergarten: A case study of Truku Seediq language immersionApay Tang(26) M?ori: Revitalisation of an endangered languageJeanette King(27) Language revitalization in AfricaBonny Sands(28) Planning minority language maintenance: challenges and limitationsSue WrightPart IV: Endangered Languages and Biocultural Diversity(29) Congruence between species and language diversityDavid Harmon and Jonathan Loh(30) Sustaining biocultural diversityLuisa Maffi(31) Traditional and local knowledge systems as language legacies critical for conservationWill C. McClatchey(32) Climate change and its consequences for cultural and language endangermentChristopher P. Dunn(33) Interdisciplinary language documentationGary Holton(34) Why lexical loss and culture death endanger scienceIan Mackenzie and Wade DavisPart V: Looking to the Future(35) Funding the documentation and revitalization of endangered languagesSusan Penfield(36) Teaching linguists to document endangered languagesCarol Genetti(37) Training language activists to support endangered languagesNora C. England(38) Designing mobile applications for endangered languagesSteven Bird(39) Indigenous language use impacts wellnessAlice Taff, Melvatha Chee, Jaeci Hall, Millie Y?i Dulitseen Hall, Kawenniy?hstha Nicole Martin, Annie JohnstonAfterwordDavid Crystal