Interdisciplinary approaches to understanding language endangerment - presented by Prof Lindell Bromham

Interdisciplinary approaches to understanding language endangerment

Prof Lindell Bromham

LB
Interdisciplinary approaches to understanding language endangerment
LB
Lindell Bromham
Australian National University

Language diversity is under threat, with between a third to a half of the world’s spoken languages considered endangered, and predicted rates of loss equivalent to one language per month for the rest of the century. This seminar focuses on interdisciplinary research adapting methods developed in biology to study patterns and causes of language endangerment and loss. While the causes of language endangerment are different to those for species, their analyses must overcome similar challenges, including detecting significant patterns over stochastic processes, and avoiding confounding correlations due to phylogenetic non-independence and spatial autocorrelation. I will briefly discuss three case studies: using population modelling to study language shift over generations; adapting the genotype concept to identify risk factors for language loss in a small community; and application of macroecological approaches to describing global patterns and correlates of language endangerment, including prediction of future language loss.

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L. Bromham (2024, September 11), Interdisciplinary approaches to understanding language endangerment
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Listed seminar This seminar is open to all
Recorded Available to all
Video length 32:44
Q&A Now closed
Disclaimer The views expressed in this seminar are those of the speaker and not necessarily those of the journal