References:

Adger, D. (2017). Structure, use, and syntactic ecology in language obsolescence. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 62(4): 614-638.

Blasi, D., Schmid, M., Kasstan, J. R., Poblete, M., Hammarström, H., Gray, R. & R. Zariquiey. (Fc.). World’s surviving languages remain diverse and complex in spite of waning usage.

Bloomfield, L. (1927). Literate and illiterate speech. American Speech 2: 432-439.

Bousquette, J. & M. Putnam. (2019). Redefining language death: Evidence from moribund grammars. Language Learning 70(1): 188-225.

Bromham, L., Dinnage, R., Skirgård, H., Ritchie, A., Cardillo, M., Meakins, F., Greenhill, S. & X. Hua (2021). Global predictors of language endangerment and the future of linguistic diversity. Nature: Ecology & Evolution 6: 163-173.

Dal Negro, S. (2004). Language contact and dying languages. Revue française de linguistique appliquée 9(2): 47-58.

Dorian, N. C. (1981). Language Death: The Life Cycle of a Scottish Gaelic Dialect. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Dorian, N. C. (ed.) (1989a). Investigating Obsolescence: Studies in Language Contraction and Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dorian N. C. (1989b). Introduction. In: N. C. Dorian (ed.), Investigating Obsolescence: Studies in Language Contraction and Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-12.

Dorian, N. C. (2010). Investigating Variation: The Effects of Social Organization and Social Setting. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kantarovich, J., Grenoble, L. A., Vinokurova, A. & E. Nesterova. (2021). Complexity and simplification in language shift. Frontiers in Communication 6: 1-17.

Kasstan, J. R. (2019). Emergent sociolinguistic variation in severe language endangerment. Language in Society 48(5): 685-720.

Lee, N. H. (2020). The status of endangered contact languages of the world. Annu. Rec. Linguist. 6: 301-318.

Leivada, E., Rodríguez-Ordóñez, I., Couto, M. C. P., & S. Perpiñán. (2023). Bilingualism with minority languages: Why searching for unicorn language users does not move us forward. Applied Psycholinguistics 44(3): 384-399.

Nance, C. & S. Kirkham. (2019). Articulatory variation and change in a minority endangered language: An ultrasound study of Scottish Gaelic sonorants. Paper presented at UK Language Variation and Change (UKLVC) 12 Queen Mary University of London/University College London (3-5 September 2019).

Roesch, K. (2012). Language Maintenance and Language Death: The Decline of Texas Alsatian. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Sasse, H.-J. (1992). Theory of language death. In: M. Brenzinger (ed.), Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 7-30.

Swadesh, M. (1948). Sociological notes on obsolescent languages. International Journal of American Linguistics 14: 226-235.

Trudgill, P. (2011). Sociolinguistic Typology: Social Determinants of Linguistic Typology. Oxford: University Press.

Confirmed contributors:

Jonathan Kasstan (Westminster, j.kasstan@westminster.ac.uk)

Pierpaolo Di Carlo (Buffalo, pierpaol@buffalo.edu) & Jeff Good (Buffalo, jcgood@buffalo.edu)

Nala H. Lee (National University of Singapore, nala.lee@nus.edu.sg)

Katie Carmichael (Virginia Tech, katcarm@vt.edu) & Aarnes Gudmestad (Virginia Tech, agudmest@vt.edu)

Gareth Roberts (Penn, gareth.roberts@ling.upenn.edu)

Kazuko Matsumoto (Tokyo, kmatsu@boz.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp) & David Britain (Bern, david.britain@unibe.ch)

Lenore A. Grenoble (Chigaco, grenoble@uchicago.edu) [Discussant]

It has been 34 years since the publication of Dorian’s (1989a) volume Investigating Obsolescence. Building on earlier pioneering work (Bloomfield 1927, Swadesh 1948, Dorian 1981 etc.), this edited collection is widely regarded as setting the foundational theoretical and methodological principles and assumptions for the study of ‘language obsolescence’ (Sasse 1992:9), and it remains a crucial benchmark for such study today (Dorian 2010).

It is nonetheless time for renewed reflection. Much has happened since the 1980s, both in Linguistics—which has seen considerable theoretical, technological, and methodological advances—and in the world, in which—alongside geopolitical change—new technologies play a role in both supporting and threatening language communities worldwide.

There are several reasons to feel that established narratives of language obsolescence require reappraisal. For example, obsolescent languages are exoticized–erroneously–as exhibiting very different patterns of variation from ‘healthy’ languages. Claims that structural simplification necessarily follows from language disuse, in turn leading to complete loss, are increasingly revealed to be idealized and predicated on social context (cf. Roesch 2012, Bousquette & Putnam 2019). Similarly, the obsolescing variety’s functional restriction is argued to result in monostylistic speakers, a claim which ignores different types of language users and emergent usage contexts (cf. Dal Negro 2004, Kasstan 2019). More recent research has encouraged a departure from the Dorian tradition of language obsolescence in light of advancements across sub-fields (sociophonetics: Kasstan 2019, Nance & Kirkham 2019; syntax: Adger 2017; language attrition: Bousquette & Putnam 2019; language contact: Kantarovich et al. 2021, Blasi et al. fc.; psycholinguistics: Leivada et al. 2023).

At the same time, language obsolescence remains a pressing concern for Linguistics. Lee (2020) suggests that one language ceases to be spoken every three months, an estimate that could rise to one per month without intervention (Bromham et al. 2021). The need to push forward with documenting variation in language obsolescence and encourage cross-disciplinary theorizing is urgent (Trudgill 2011:187-8).

Dorian’s introduction was cautious in proposing ‘stepping stones in order to promote a forward movement’ (1989b:7). In that spirit, the aim of this panel is to step forward by stimulating interdisciplinary discussion and by proposing research questions motivated by recent theoretical and methodological advances:

Structure: What forms of variation are observed in obsolescing languages? How can they be explained by contemporary linguistic theory?
How are innovations diffused (if at all)?
What are the constraints on changes to mature grammars across the lifespan?
Are certain levels of linguistic structure more susceptible to change than others?

Agency: How does variation in language obsolescence accrue social meaning?
What do patterns of variation contribute to our understanding of structure and social meaning?
How does variation emerge from structural constraints and speaker agency?
How is variation acquired? How does fluency level impact usage of socially meaningful variation?

Methods: How does interdisciplinarity and innovation upend our thinking on variation in language obsolescence?
How do the probabilistic factors that have been the focus of variable-rule analysis interact with the type of grammar-generated variation in Principles and Parameters?
How can new technology provide novel insights about variation?