Global Language Justice

Language loss has been attributed to environmental degradation, developmentalism, and the destruction of Indigenous communities. This book brings together leading experts and younger scholars to investigate what global language justice looks like in a time of climate crisis. It examines the worldwide loss of linguistic diversity and develops a new conception of justice to safeguard marginalized languages. Contributors take up topics such as mapping language communities, Indigenous innovation, and how to reckon with linguistic diversity to achieve a sustainable global economic system.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 21 November 2023
Publisher: Columbia University Press

More than 40 percent of the world's estimated 7,100+ languages are at risk of disappearing by the end of this century, a phenomenon that mirrors the decline of biodiversity. Language loss has been attributed to various factors, including environmental degradation, developmentalism, and the destruction of Indigenous communities. This book brings together leading experts and younger scholars from the humanities and social sciences to investigate what global language justice looks like in the face of the climate crisis.

Examining the worldwide loss of linguistic diversity, the contributors develop a new conception of justice to safeguard marginalized languages. They explore the socioeconomic transformations that both accelerate language decline and create new opportunities through population movement, unexpected encounters, and technological change. The book critically examines the concepts typically deployed to defend linguistic diversity, such as human rights, inclusiveness, and equality.

Contributors address topics such as mapping language communities in New York City or how Indigenous innovation challenges notions of linguistic purity. They demonstrate the need to reckon with linguistic diversity to achieve a sustainable global economic system and show how the concept of digital vitality can push language justice in new directions.

Interspersed with the essays are multilingual works by world-renowned poets and artists that engage with and deepen the book's themes. Global Language Justice offers vital new perspectives on the place of linguistic diversity in ongoing ecological crises, integrating ambitious theoretical exploration with concrete solutions.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231210386