Evaluating the Benefits of State-Led Language Preservation Efforts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21701405 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matt Watson (0000-0003-2817-6676, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia [email protected], corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 410-441 |
| Publication date | 2020-08-03 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal on Minority and Group Rights (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1385-4879 • E-ISSN: 1571-8115 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/15718115-02703002 |
| OpenAlex | W2974476234 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Advocates of government-led efforts to preserve endangered languages point to a range of benefits that are, allegedly, thereby fostered. In this article, I analyse six such arguments for preserving endangered languages, with the aim of ascertaining whether language preservation can be expected to help secure the various putative benefits. I evaluate, in turn, the claims that governments should strive to preserve languages because doing so will help to: maintain the unique worldviews of endangered linguistic groups; save scientific or cultural knowledge from being lost; preserve the aesthetic value that a diversity of languages represents; ensure minority language speakers are secure in their ability to connect emotionally with members of subsequent generations; secure for all citizens the cultural preconditions of autonomy; or resolve collective action problems. I conclude that the benefits of preserving endangered languages are considerably more modest, and more speculative, than is alleged by proponents of these preservationist arguments
Autonomy · Endangered species · Environmental ethics · Law and economics · Linguistics · Political science · Population · Public relations · Sociology · Computer Science · Diverse Musicological Studies · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |