#RareTongues "essential reading for linguists, anthropologists, and activists alike. It earns its place in academic discourse by challenging disciplinary boundaries and advocating for a more inclusive, compassionate linguistics” Thank you so much Language in Society #languageinsociety
Having an amazing time at #wigtownbookfestival
Lovely, interesting people, comfortable hotel, and a packed event for #RareTongues Great party and fireworks last night too!!
Yet another amazing review for #RareTongues Thank you Nature magazine! I am starting to enjoy the review period now (usually I live in dread).
So excited to have this piece as an intro to #RareTongues on the mighty beast that is Lit Hub! Thank you!
Huge thanks to Gibb for joining us on #ThatWordChat. A brilliant conversation on endangered languages, identity, and what it means to keep a tongue alive. #RareTongues is out now: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Now that #RareTongues is out, what's next for @drlornagibb.bsky.social? She’s drawn to the mysteries of how language lives in the brain. A new book might be brewing. Or two.
We’ll be watching (and reading).
#ThatWordChat #LanguageAndTheBrain #WritersLife
In Australia, Gibb spoke with an Aboriginal woman who pointed out: The only documentation of some languages came from missionaries. "You get this very circular, contradictory reality." - Gibb
#RareTongues #ThatWordChat #LanguageJustice
Are non-written languages more endangered?
@drlornagibb.bsky.social breaks it down: without a written record, many languages disappear without a trace. The irony - some of the best records we do have of endangered oral languages were created by the very people who endangered them. #RareTongues
So what can we do to help protect endangered languages? Apps like Duolingo are now offering courses in rare languages. Others are creating digital archives, youth programs, language camps. Sometimes, just caring is a step toward helping. #RareTongues #ThatWordChat
Are countries doing better at protecting endangered languages? There’s great work happening at the global level, says @LornaGibb. UNESCO and the UN are pushing awareness campaigns. But the most interesting work is happening locally. #RareTongues #ThatWordChat
Compare that to a place like Iceland, where isolation still shaped the language, but the population was relatively unified. Isolation happened at micro scales. The result is hundreds of languages, each surviving side by side.
#RareTongues #ThatWordChat
For generations, communities were self-sufficient.
Villages didn’t trade much. Travel was limited. There was no pressure or need for linguistic homogenization.
Each group kept its own language, its own culture.
#RareTongues #ThatWordChat #EndangeredLanguages
Why do some places have so many languages?
@drlornagibb.bsky.social reflects on this in #ThatWordChat. The answer has less to do with geography and more to do with isolation and autonomy. #RareTongues #Linguistics #LanguageDiversity
Hawaiian is another story of hope. So is Māori.
In both cases, young people are proud, motivated, and pushing for recognition and use, not just at home, but in schools, media, and government.
#RareTongues #ThatWordChat #IndigenousLanguages
In South Africa, young people are reclaiming languages like Khoekhoe. They’re writing plays, running community centers, building global networks to reconnect diaspora speakers.
#RareTongues #ThatWordChat
Do endangered languages really die? Some linguists and activists say they simply go dormant. If we have sound recordings, written records, and cultural memory, a language can live again.
#RareTongues #ThatWordChat #LanguagePreservation
Technology helps and hurts. Take whistling languages. In mountainous regions, they once carried messages across vast distances. But mobile phones made that function obsolete. #RareTongues #ThatWordChat #EndangeredLanguages
Then there's modernization. Even robust languages like Icelandic feel the pressure. The dominance of English online and in tech can quietly push smaller languages to the margins, even in their own countries. #RareTongues #ThatWordChat #LanguageShift
Some languages are lost due to colonization, its long tail still erasing native tongues across generations. Others disappear under authoritarian regimes that ban minority languages as a means of control. #RareTongues #ThatWordChat #Linguistics
Are we in a language crisis? The number of endangered languages is rising, and the reasons for their disappearance are as complex as they are concerning.
#RareTongues #ThatWordChat #LanguagePreservation
“The book is also, in part, a memoir.”
In "Rare Tongues," @drlornagibb.bsky.social weaves together endangered languages with personal stories, choosing tongues that moved her or shaped her life.
What language has left a mark on your life?
#ThatWordChat #RareTongues #Linguistics #Memoir
“I thought it was about time I brought the two things I love together.”
In "Rare Tongues," @LornaGibb blends her roots in theoretical phonology with her storytelling craft, making endangered languages accessible and fascinating for a wider audience.
#ThatWordChat #RareTongues
Tiggy is completely unimpressed by the lovely @princetonupress.bsky.social box. Wonder if I can get her more keen when this lovely US edition launches in less than 3 weeks! What do you think?
#RareTongues #Princeton
It's been a wonderful whirlwind of a London visiting. Signings, too little time thinking about a new book in the BL, and seeing old friends in the evening. One bookshop visit and a publisher lunch to go, then back to Scotland to read from #RareTongues at a conference tomorrow!
Perfect celebration in #Glasgow Byres Rd #Waterstones for the launch of #RareTongues So grateful to the friends who travelled a way to be there, to John Cavanagh for being a fantastic interviewer, and to the audience for such great questions!
Palazzo Massimo, and possibly the most beautifully decorated room I've ever seen. Around 2000 years ago someone painted these frescoes...they survived despite the odds. My obsession with Ancient Rome continues. You can find out where it all began for me in my new book #RareTongues (Atlantic, Feb).
