Language contact, language endangerment, and the role of the ‘salvation linguist’

Abstract

In the first part of this paper I address concerns in respect of certain images and notions that surround the current agenda of the study of endangered languages. In particular, I question the usefulness of, and point out some risks attached to, the self-proclaimed moral high ground of the ‘salvation linguists’, those who seem to carry the banner of language conservationism. I then go on to discuss some examples for the potential research yields in the field of endangered languages, basing my observations on two case studies, the documentation of Domari (an Indo-Aryan language spoken by traditionally peripatetic communities in the Middle East), and the documentation of so-called Angloromani (the mixed speech varieties used by Romanies in England and Wales). Special attention will be given to the role of language contact, arguably a principal common denominator of endangered languages. I conclude by returning to the issue of activism and the role of the linguist studying an endangered language.

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