Citation

Crawford J. Bilingual Research Journal 1995; 19(1): 17-38.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995)

DOI

10.1080/15235882.1995.10668589

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Language loss, a global phenomenon, is accelerating among indigenous groups in the United States. A large majority of Native American vernaculars are spoken only by elders and the remainder are fast approaching that status, as growing numbers of children speak only English. Inevitably comparisons are drawn between the threat to language diversity and the (better-publicized) threat to biological diversity. Yet biomorphic metaphors-e.g. "language murder," "language suicide"-can be simplistic and misleading. They tend to distort answers to critical questions in formulating a policy response: What causes language loss? How can it be reversed? Why should we care?. © 1995 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Language: en