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SUMMARY:Sustaining Myth: How Languages Get and Lose their Mojo - John E. J
 oseph (Edinburgh)
DTSTART:20111109T171500Z
DTEND:20111109T190000Z
UID:TALK33514@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Elena Pala
DESCRIPTION:Throughout the history of modern linguistics runs the theme of
  'language myths'\, folk beliefs about a language that linguists can see t
 hrough thanks to our unique scientific expertise. The myths range from nar
 ratives about the language's origin\, to views about its cohesiveness and 
 what constitutes good and bad usage\, to the role of writing and of texts 
 (broadly construed) and what they are linked to the souls of the language'
 s users. Far from being primitive falsehoods only worth dispelling\, the m
 yths often form part of a central 'sustaining myth' that connects directly
  to what gives a language 'vitality'. Understanding the myth is an importa
 nt aspect of the study of an endangered language. Analogously to the weake
 ning and loss of religions\, languages become endangered either when their
  practitioners are conquered and colonised by another people and their cul
 ture\, or when a rival practice is perceived as offering a more vital sust
 aining myth. A broad range of language situations will be examined\, and t
 wo ultimate questions addressed: How much (if any) insight can be gained f
 rom considering languages as\, not just grammars and lexicons\, but belief
  systems? To what extent can a religion or a language recover its vitality
  -- its 'mojo' -- once its myth has ceased to sustain it?
LOCATION:L1\, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
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