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Article published In: Language Ecology
Vol. 1:1 (2017) ► pp.75–103

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Individuals, populations, and timespace

Perspectives on the ecology of language revisited

 | University of Chicago
 | Simon Fraser University
Published online: 13 July 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/le.1.1.05muf
Abstract
In the present article we distinguish the concept of ecology of language as articulated in 2001. The Ecology of Language Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar from that of ecolinguistics developed especially by Mühlhäusler, Peter. 1996. Linguistic Ecology: Language Change and Linguistic Imperialism in the Pacific Region. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Fill, Alwin and Peter Mühlhäusler, eds. 2001. The Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment. London: Continuum Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Couto, Hildo Honório do. 2009. Linguística, ecologia, e ecolinguística: contato de línguas. São Paolo: Editora Contexto.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, and several contributors to Fill, Alwin and Hermine Benz, eds. to appear. Handbook of Ecolinguistics. London: Routledge.. We explain how Mufwene’s ecology of language concept, inspired primarily by macroecology, applies to language evolution. We articulate various factors internal and external to a language that bear on how it emerged phylogenetically, underwent particular structural changes, and, in some cases, may have speciated into separate varieties. The external ecology also influences the vitality of languages, rolling the dice on whether they thrive or are endangered. Because these particular phenomena have been elaborately discussed in Mufwene’s earlier publications, we devote more space to explaining how the notion of language ecology, as others call it, also applies as a useful heuristic tool to qualitative sociolinguistics.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Individuals and populations
  • 3.TimeSpace as a composite ecological factor
    • 3.1Space
    • 3.2Time
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (102)
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