Lecturer: Dr Jo-Anne Ferreira

The insular Caribbean archipelago has been described as a linguistic graveyard.  With longstanding intolerance towards multilingualism in small nation states, developed during colonial times, all of the Amerindian and African languages have disappeared, and some creole, and most immigrant and sign languages are facing decline and ultimate disappearance.  Even the continental (greater) Caribbean and the rest of the Americas face similar issues and challenges, especially with respect to increasingly small and threatened Amerindian communities.  In the face of the permanent destruction of the linguistic ecology of the Caribbean, its endangered languages deserve to be studied, documented and preserved.  In order to assess the current situation of dying languages of the Caribbean, the course will chart the history of the region’s dead languages, both insular and continental.  Students will be sensitised and prepared to deal with specific issues of language planning, focusing on endangered indigenous, creole and sign languages.  Students will be provided with an overview of issues related to language shift and language obsolescence, and will learn how to document and contribute towards the maintenance and/or revitalisation of endangered heritage languages.

Pre-requisite: None
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