Language Shift and Cultural Reproduction
Language Shift and Cultural Reproduction
Looking for an examination copy?
If you are interested in the title for your course we can consider offering an examination copy. To register your interest please contact collegesales@cambridge.org providing details of the course you are teaching.
Don Kulick's book is an anthropological study of language and cultural change among a small group of people living in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea. He examines why the villagers of Gapun are abandoning their vernacular in favor of Tok Pisin, the most widely spoken language in Papua New Guinea, despite their attachment to their own language as a source of identity and as a tie to their lands. He draws on an examination of village language socialization process and on Marshall Sahlins's ideas about structure and event.
- Paperback of successful title
- High-profile author, both in Europe and the United States
- Lucidly written, subtle, rich material
Reviews & endorsements
"An excellent guide to the cultural logic and sociopolitical contradictions of language loss." Language
"Kulick displays formidable talents as both ethnographer and linguistic investigator." Anthropological Linguistics
Product details
- Published: April 1997
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9780521599269
- Length: 336 pages
- Dimensions: 226 × 150 × 23 mm
- Weight: 0.45kg
- Contains: 12 b/w illus. 3 maps 3 tables
- Availability: Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction: Papua New Guinea and the study of language shift
- 1. Villagers and their village
- 2. Language and talk in the village
- 3. Having 'hed'
- 4. Showing 'save'
- 5. Preparing the change
- 6. Becoming monolingual
- 7. Contextualizing the self
- Conclusion: the process of language shift
- Appendix: On being a ghost.
- Show more
