Language is one of the features that sets humanity apart from other species on Earth, and wherever we find humans, we find language. This fact results in the emergence of a fascinating degree of diversity, with over seven thousand languages spoken around the world today. When we consider that the number of countries in the world is less than 200, we get an idea of how linguistically diverse our planet is, and how misguided the notion of “one country one language” can be.
Linguistic diversity is not just a property of distant lands: there are nearly 300 languages indigenous to Europe, though the majority of these languages are unknown to most, and many have dwindling numbers of speakers. In fact, according to the UNESCO World Atlas of Languages, as many as 70% of the world’s languages are endangered, some severely or critically so.
In this lecture we explore some of the issues surrounding linguistic diversity, its properties, and the forces that threaten its survival. We will engage with several core questions and their implications: Is linguistic diversity a good thing and – if so – why? Where do we find linguistic diversity, and what does it look like in modern Europe? And finally: How is linguistic diversity under threat, and can anything be done to save it?
Marco Tamburelli, professor of Linguistics, is head of the Language Attitudes Research Team at ϲʹ and director of the International Research Network on Contested Languages. His research focuses on bi- and multi-lingualism, both from a representational perspective and from a sociolinguistic/comparative perspective.
His current work focuses on the application and development of quantitative methods to investigate sociolinguistic, socio-psychological and comparative aspects of bilingualism, particularly in relation to regional and minority languages, the measurement of linguistic attitudes in bilingual communities, and the measurement of structural distance and intelligibility rates in linguistic continua.
This lecture will be given in English.
