MLC

This multifaceted lecture will analyse the moral, aesthetic, epistemological, cognitive, psychological and economic benefits of language revival and diversity. With coca-colonization and homogenization there will be more and more groups added to the forlorn club of the lost-heritage peoples. Language reclamation and revitalization will become increasingly relevant as people seek to recover their cultural autonomy, empower their spiritual and intellectual sovereignty, and improve their wellbeing and mental health. There is an urgent need to offer perspicacious comparative insights, for example from the Hebrew revival, which is so far the most successful known linguistic reclamation. The lecture will explore current attempts to reclaim Australian Aboriginal languages such as Barngarla.
Given capricious governmental policies, the lecture will propose (1) ‘Native Tongue Title’, legal compensation (for linguistic activities) for Indigenous peoples who lost their tongue due to linguicide (language killing), (2) making Indigenous tongues the official languages of their region, inter alia resulting in bilingual signs, (3) Cleverly-implemented bilingual education at schools.