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In Spoken Here, Mark Abley journeys
around the world seeking out languages in peril -- Manx,
Mohawk, Boro, Yiddish, and many more. Along the way he reveals
delicious linguistic oddities and shows us what is lost
when one of the world's six thousand tongues dies -- an
irreplaceable worldview and a wealth of practical knowledge.
He also examines the forces, from pop culture to creoles
to global politics, that threaten to wipe out 90 percent
of languages by this century's end.
Abley encounters one of the last two speakers
of an Australian language whose tribal taboos forbid them
to talk to each other. He spotlights those who believe that
violence is the only way to save their tongue. He meets
a Yiddish novelist who writes for an audience she knows
doesn't exist. He pays tribute to such strange tongues as
the Amazonian language last spoken by a parrot, the Caucasian
language with no vowels, and the South Asian language whose
innumerable verbs include gobray (to fall in a well
unknowingly) and onsra (to love for the last time).
Each of the languages Abley spotlights,
from the familiar to the foreign, exemplifies the various
threats that endanger languages worldwide. But many also
prove their resilience, thanks to the efforts of their determined
speakers and such unlikely tools as soap operas and pop
music. From the crusaders to the uncaring, Abley draws surprising
insight from this centuries-old debate.
Spoken Here is a singular travelogue,
a compelling case for linguistic diversity, and a treasure
trove for anyone who loves any language.
Mark Abley, a winner of Canada's National
Newspaper Award, writes for the Times Literary Supplement,
the Montreal Gazette, and other publications. He
speaks English, French, and a little Welsh.
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