1. Language and Power in Multilingual Contexts
Rebecca Still for Massey University; Language, Discourse and Power.

2. Top 10 Languages based on speakers
3. Definitions
Languages may be:
* Safe actively learned and promoted
*Endangered not necessarily promoted, possibly small population, likely to not survive 100yrs
*Moribund not learned by children, unlikely to survive.
Linguistic Imperialism dominance through military or economy
Cultural Hegemony dominance with support of minority
Linguicism discrimination on basis of language
Linguistic Genocide individuals who do not wish to identify with own culture and language
4. EXAMPLES OF LINGUIstic decline
Aboriginal languages of Australia Dyirbal
Irish Language
UNESCOs Atlas of the worlds languages in danger... has a list of 2,500 endangered languages ranked according to five different levels: unsafe (607), definitely endangered (632), severely endangered (502), critically endangered (538) and extinct (200). Of these languages, 199 have fewer than 10 speakers, and 178 have between 10 and 50 speakers
5. Dyirbal
One of 250 Australian languages, now moribund
Reasons:
Taking of land by European settlers
Introduction to disease they brought
Prevented from education
Nowadays no one under the age of 15 is even able to construct a Dyirbal sentence.
Fluent speakers...(can) easily create new utterances...(Dyirbal speakers now) depend much more on routine and formulaic speech
6. Kevin Rudds Apology
"For our nation, the course of action is clear ... and that is to deal now with what has become one of the darkest chapters in our nation's history."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2161227.htm
"As Prime Minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the Government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the Parliament of Australia, I am sorry. And I offer you this apology without qualification."
7. Aborigine Languages
Aboriginal deaths from preventable infectious diseases still exceed the white average three hundredfold, and Aboriginal infant mortality in Western Australia is higher than the level found in Bangladesh.
[It] leads to the disappearance of many forms of intangible cultural heritage, especially the invaluable heritage of traditions and oral expressions of the community that spoke it from poems and legends to proverbs and jokes. The loss of languages is also detrimental to humanitys grasp of biodiversity, as they transmit much knowledge about the nature and the universe.
"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry,
land tribunals...have provoked a backlash from racist politicians
Shows Linguistic Imperialism even today
many Aboriginal languages and dialects became extinct because their speakers were forbidden to use native language over many years
8. Rise, fall and rise of Irish
14th Century after coexisting for 200 years with English, Irish was suppressed, teaching banned and speakers threatened with beatings at school endorsed by parents Cultural Hegemony
Emigration and The Great Famine
Gaelic League was founded in 1893
1921 Irish free state
2005 became an official language of the EU
9. Language Distribution 1851 and early 20th Century
10. Language Maintenance a Success or Failure?
Declined from 1.5 million speakers in 1861 to around 600,000 in 1901 where this level has stayed...despite political support revitalization of Irish has been widely judged a failure
Without political policies and grass root effort Irish would not be in such a position today
11. Summary
Effects of Power, Multilingualism and Bilingualism
Why linguistic diversity is important
What methods can be used to revitalise endangered languages
Impact language and culture have together
How we can embrace linguistic diversity and learn about ourselves, the planet and our history.
12. References
P. 2, 7 & 10 Nettle, D. and Romaine, S. (2000) Vanishing Voices; the extinction of the worlds languages p. 29, 123 & 189
P. 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language
P. 4 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/?cat=7
P. 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyirbal_language
http://www.macalester.edu/linguistics/endangered/Dyirbal/Dyirbal.htm
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/racism.html
P. 7 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2161227.htmhttp://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2009/03/06/the-unesco-atlas-of-the-worlds-languages-in-danger/
P. 8 http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-fall-and-rise-of-the-irish-language.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language
p. 9 http://www.uni-due.de/DI/Modern_Irish.htm
P. 10 http://www.uni-due.de/DI/Modern_Irish.htm
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=44605&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html