Language Preservation Begets Language Documentation

Abstract

Language preservation is the recording in various media of a language that is losing its speakers. A language is “reduced” to writing, a grammar is written, and a dictionary compiled. A set of texts (usually myths and oral history) is gathered. Such are the efforts of language preservation. Language documentation, in the current sense of the term, goes beyond language preservation to include sociolinguistic data, sound and video recording of texts (illustration sentences, dictionary entries), as well as a variety of genres (conversation, myth, oral history, biography, ethnography, folklore). Language preservation of Native American languages is not enough; we must demand language documentation if there are still speakers willing to cooperate with the effort. Language documentation is needed before actual language revitalization can proceed.