From linguistic elicitation to eliciting the linguist: Lessons in community empowerment from Melanesia

TLDR

Language preservation is a community decision, and outsiders should not impose, as language choice is a human right and maintaining indigenous languages is a matter of human rights. The outside expert’s role is to provide motivated community members with the means for language survival or revival and to offer encouragement and hope that it can be achieved. Leanne, pp.

Abstract

As an outsider, I would feel very uncomfortable if I were to advocate to a speech community that it ought to try to keep its language alive. It is entirely up to the community or to individuals within a community as to whether they want to put in the effort to develop new speakers for their language. Community members have the right to advocate within their community for the survival of their language; someone from outside the community does not. The right to language choice includes the right to choose against a language. This is the logical result of believing that maintaining an indigenous language is a matter of human rights, a belief virtually all language advocates must share. The outside expert’s role is to assist in providing the means for language survival or revival to motivated community members and perhaps to provide encouragement and a sense of hope that it can be done. (Leanne :151–52)