Species aren’t the only endangered things in this world. Hundreds of languages, perhaps thousands, are disappearing because so few people speak them in everyday life.
The University of Nebraska Press can take pride that it is one of three university presses given a sizable grant to publish new works on this topic, in order to extend knowledge of these languages into the future.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln received the grant of $791,900 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and will distribute the funds equally among the NU Press, the University of Oklahoma Press and the University of Texas Press.
Each of those institutions will publish nine books dealing with rare languages. All three presses are well-respected for publishing substantive works on linguistics.
This project will be particularly important in helping to preserve knowledge of Native American languages. For example, in the United States, only 11 people remain who speak Ho-Chunk. Twenty can speak Pawnee; six, Mandan; five, Osage; and 24, Wyandot.
The figures are from SIL International, a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving dying languages.
More than 6,900 languages are recognized around the world, SIL reports. How many are nearly extinct because only a few elderly people still speak them? Some 473.
Most of the languages are spoken by indigenous peoples. The Americas have 182 of the nearly extinct languages, while the Pacific region, including Australia, has 152.
It’s fitting that a Nebraska institution has been chosen to participate in this project, given this topic’s connection to two distinguished Nebraskans: Louise Pound, a longtime NU professor, was a national leader in the academic study of linguistics, and John Neihardt provided an invaluable look into Native American culture through “Black Elk Speaks.”
The universities indicated that they hope their language project will attract junior scholars to the fields of linguistics and indigenous studies — the Louise Pounds and John Neihardts of the 21st century. The presses also seek to develop cheaper ways to publish expensive linguistic monographs and reach a wider audience.
NU Press director Donna Shear sums it up well when she says that linguistic research is valuable to “indigenous communities who wish to preserve their language and the components of their culture inextricably linked to language.”
Our society is richer for this breadth of cultural understanding.
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