Languages in danger : what are the causes ?

Abstract

After presenting the concept of " endangered languages " and the factors accelerating this phenomenon " naturel ", my talk will focus on the particular situation in Africa. The vehicularization of a language can lead to assimilation and, consequently, to the disappearance of languages. In this respect, Africa differs from other regions of the world. Historically, local languages acted as lingua francas for different populations, and the emergence of European languages and their subsequent establishment as official languages has never hindered their expansion. Furthermore, the vehicularization of a language and situations of multilingualism do not necessarily lead to assimilation. The relationship between languages in Africa shows that the use of another's language is common practice. Speakers have fairly rich linguistic repertoires. However, the " death of languages " on this continent remains a reality, and raises the question of how to safeguard this linguistic diversity. The situation in Senegal will be the regular reference point for this presentation. It offers different contexts and will enable us to position French in these different balances of power.

Sylvie Voisin

Sylvie Voisin is a lecturer and researcher in the description of poorly documented languages and typology, and a member of the Laboratoire dynamique du langage (UMR 5596). She teaches at the University of Aix-Marseille in the Department of Language Sciences, mainly in syntax, typology and language contact. A specialist in Atlantic languages and a field linguist, her work focuses on morphological and syntactic aspects, verbal extensions and argumental structures. More recently, she has focused part of her research on variation, varieties and ancient documents. On Wolof, this work explores ancient texts and attempts, through these writings, to better define variation over time and the ancient varieties described in these documents. On Badiaranke, this research questions studies based on second-hand data and the difficulties of interpreting and using these data presented in theoretical frameworks that have now been abandoned. All this research contributes to the documentation of languages, some of which are endangered in the short or medium term.