Language endangerment is a fundamental issue for humanity. What rights do minority communities have concerning their languages? How does each language conceptualize the world differently? How much knowledge about the world and a local ecosystem is lost when a language disappears? What is the process involved and how can insights about this process contribute to linguistic theory? What typological insights will be lost if undescribed languages disappear before their unique structural properties are known? How can language shift be stopped or reversed?This volume comprises:* a general overview introduction* four theoretical chapters on what happens during language shift* ten case studies of autochthonous languages under threat* four case studies of migrant languages at risk* three concluding chapters discussing strategies and resources for language maintenance.

Table of Figures, Maps and Tables Introduction 1. Language Attitudes: the key factor in language maintenance David Bradley 2. Strategies for Language Maintenance and Revival Stephen Wurm 3. Traditional Multilingualism and Language Endangerment Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald 4. Why One Cannot Preserve Languages (but can preserve language ecologies) Peter Muhlhausler 5. Irish and Finland Swedish Anders Ahlqvist 6. Working Together to Strengthen Sm'algyax (Tsimshian Nation, British Columbia, Canada) Tonya Stebbins 7. Language Policy and Language Maintenance: Yi in China David Bradley and Maya Bradley 8. Tai Languages of Assam, a progress report - Does anything remain of the Tai Ahom language? Stephen Morey 9. The Impact of Malay on Taba: a type of incipient language death or incipient death of a language type? John Bawden 10. Language Obsolescence: Progress of Decay? The emergence of new grammatical categories in 'language death' Alexander Y. Aikhenvald 11. Reclaiming Languages in Aboriginal Victoria Barry Blake 12. A Language Plan for Norfolk Island Peter Muhlhausler 13. Language Maintenance and Survival in East Timor: all change now? Winners and Losers John Hajek 14. Steel Tyres or Rubber Tyres - Maintenance or Loss: Pennsylvania German in the 'horse and buggy' communities of Ontario Kate Burridge 15. Language Maintenance at the Micro Level: Hmong ex-refugee communities Christina Eira 16. Community Initiatives towards Language Renewal among Moluccan Migrants in the Netherlands Margaret Florey 17. Concealment, Maintenance and Renaissance: language and ethnicity in the Moluccan community in the Netherlands Aone van Engelenhoven 18. Extinction in Whose Terms? Which parts of language constitute a target for language maintenance programmes? Nicholas Thieberger 19. Dictionaries and Endangered Languages Miriam Corris, Christopher Manning, Susan Poetsch, Jane Simpson 20. Conclusion: Resources for Language Maintenance David Bradley & Maya Bradley Contributors