California Linguistic Notes Volume XXVIII No. 1 Fall, 2003

DAVID CRYSTAL. Language Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000. Pp. 198.
As the frontispiece of this slender volume tells us, Aonly 600 of the 6,000 or so languages in the
world are >safe= from the threat of extinction.@ One might naturally think that language
preservation would be at or near the top of the linguistic agenda, but such is not the case. The aptly
named author, who writes with precision and clarity where others rely on jargon and opacity, turns
his attention to this most pervasive of worldwide phenomena, one about which he obviously feels
a sense of personal urgency. The first matter is, of course, defining language death before making
the case for why linguists and even the general public should care. He then looks at the causes for
language death and proposes a plan to retard if not outright halt the extinction of so many
languages.
As well intentioned as this book might be and as well documented as language death is, the critical
Chapter 2, AWhy should we care?,@ feels belabored. C=s emphasis on the sacrosanct character of
language in this chapter, the wonder of its diversity, its testament to the variegated splendors of the
human intellect, verges on the fulsome. Furthermore, his paragraph arguing on behalf of the
preservation of languages for their value as repositories of literary traditions is ironically
eviscerated by the languages and writers that he cites, all of which are European and/or
Anglo-American in origin and thus in no imminent danger of extinction (45). And might this
overriding concern for language preservation be an obvious manifestation of the linguist=s bias?
At one point, he quotes Edward Sapir: ALanguage is the most massive and inclusive art we know@
(40). I would venture to guess that practitioners from the nonlinguistic arts might beg to differ with
him on that point.
And his crucial comparison of language death to ecological preservation efforts seemed somewhat
California Linguistic Notes Volume XXVIII No. 1 Fall, 2003

2
overextended (25, 32-34). The death of the natural world is death for all; language death, while
nothing short of devastating to a local community, even if they themselves do not view its loss in
such terms, will not impact the lives of the rest of us to any appreciable degree. This public
indifference is, of course, the crux of the matter. Perhaps what C is hoping to do is far too
high-minded for the types of appeals that would move most people to action, i.e., where their own
safety and well-being are at stake, as with obvious ecological threats. In the minds of most, threats
to language survival other than their own would appear to be matters of a less urgent nature. The
American indifference to and even hostility toward languages other than English is well known.
As described by C, language death seems to be largely a third world phenomenon, and the urban
West has been notoriously indifferent to cultures not its own.
Languages have always died (the estimate cited is 6,000 dead since recorded history began [69]),
just as organisms, animate and inanimate, have come and gone over the millennia. The American
Southwest was the site of a prehistoric ocean and is now a desert. Clearly, change is natural. But
never before has the rate of extinction undergone such a dramatic upsurge than in the present age
of globalization and its concomitant destruction of native habitats and cultures. To be sure, for
some, what they gain by integrating into a larger, dominant culture and speaking a larger, dominant
language is an increased economic viability and, thus, improved chances for survival. To such as
these, C=s misdirected concern for their lost language and culture may seem ironic and perhaps
misplaced consolation coming from an emissary from the culture that seeks to replace their own
and from which they seek to improve their livelihood.
In the end, C=s effort to galvanize support for large-scale language preservation is noble but
perhaps quixotic. The forces working to produce these changes, whether globalization or
indifference to preserving local culture and traditions, seem too irresistible, too massive in scale.

3
Moreover, the sheer astronomical number of languages to be preserved and the huge costs involved
(C estimates a total cost of $575 million over a three-year period [95]) would seem to vitiate the
force of C=s argument. And when more basic survival needs are not being met for millions, the
price tag for preserving a dying language seems at best a luxury, and at worst a kind of moral
recklessness. Besides, as C notes several times throughout the book, by the time most preservation
efforts are implemented, it is already too lateBthe language is already well on its way toward
extinction.
None of my objections to C=s cause is meant to condone the current malaise with regard to
language death. C rightfully accuses today=s university linguists of being more interested in
abstruse theories (and career advancement?) than the unglamorous field work that was once the
bread and butter of the linguist=s profession. But more salient issues will prevail in the end. If C=s
slim tome can be said to have any value, it is in the poignant awareness that it brings to those who
do care about linguistic diversity that so much has been and will continue to be lost.
John Crdenas
California State University, Fullerton

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DAVID CRYSTAL. Language Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000. Pp. 198.

preservation of languages for their value as repositories of literary traditions is ironically

him on that point.