I'm not normally one for posting more than once a day, but as I have a couple other things to post tomorrow - Halloween! - I wanted to get this one up tonight. From 31 October until 4 November, my school (The University of Texas at Arlington) is participating in Endangered Languages Week by hosting some really great events featuring Native American, African and Polynesian languages. I'm a student in the linguistics department, so I'm already helping as a volunteer but I wanted to do a little something of my own as well, here on the blog, to help raise awareness of language endangerment and appreciation for language diversity. Language is a big part of cultural identity, and each language provides unique ways of expressing unique worldviews - and yet, according to National Geographic's project Enduring Voices, a language effectively dies about every 14 days. Some communities have language revitalization programs in place, but not all. When a language has died along with its last speakers, the world loses that community's perspective and becomes a little less diverse, a little less beautiful. Because a part of what makes our planet beautiful and interesting is its diversity.
Anyway, enough with the lecture and on to the book I wanted to share with you all!
