Event Calendar

Date(s): October 8, 2026

Time: 12:00 PM  EST - 1:00 PM  EST

LSA Book Talk: Ecological Perspectives on Language Endangerment and Loss
Thursday, October 8, 2026, 12:00-1:00 PM ET

Speaker: Salikoko S. Mufwene, University of Chicago

Mufwene applies an ecological linguistic approach to language endangerment and loss, challenging common assumptions by examining globalization, culture, and human adaptability. He questions whether terms like "mother tongue" and "heritage language"are interchangeable and explores whether language shift ipso facto means abandoning one's culture concurrently. He suggests instead that cultures evolve and mix, and that practical pressures for survival in a changing socioeconomic structure (rather than alleged shame in one's heritage or prestige of the target vernacular), drive language shift. He argues that language vitality is shaped by local/national complex social, economic, and historical forces (including colonization and the emergence of deleterious population structures for the victims). According to the author, language birth and death are natural facets of human and cultural evolution. History has been repeating itself. This does not mean that we must accept the changes, especially for those who are disadvantaged by them. But then language advocates for revitalization must know whether they can help produce alternative socioeconomic ecologies that are beneficial to the affected populations. World-wide globalization has not generated a universal global culture and one must pay attention to specificities of each polity before claiming language endangerment (based on the small size of a particular population) and advocating a putatively universal solution to the situation. Note: I have deliberated corrected a text generated by AI to prove to myself why it shouldn't be overly trusted and then augmented it with some important considerations that it overlooked!