Praise for the Prior Edition:

“This is a wonderful book. Evans canvases many issues in the nature and culture of language, languages and linguistics and the relations between these studies and other disciplines, particularly cognitive science and archaeology. … This is story telling of the highest quality.”

Iain Davidson, Aboriginal History

“Evans’s book is one of the most penetrating and insightful works we have had on language for years. It does not deserve to be relegated to a specialist literature on language endangerment when its subject is the very essence of human language and its diversity: the life and growth of languages, not their death and demise.”

Nick Enfield, Current Anthropology

“Of all the books on language disappearance that have appeared in the last decade, [it] is intellectually the most challenging and the most persuasive. Evans sets out to show why linguistic diversity is an essential part of what makes us human.”

Mark Abley, Times Literary Supplement

“The inherent beauty of these small languages is what shines through over all else in Evans’ writing … the best book I’ve yet seen in terms of its potential to persuade the broader public of the need to value endangered languages and to support the fight to keep them in daily use.”

David Harmon, Language Documentation and Conservation

In the new, thoroughly revised second edition of Words of Wonder: Endangered Languages and What They Tell Us (formerly called Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us), renowned scholar Nicholas Evans addresses the impact of mass language endangerment on the world’s “Library of Babel.” He explores issues surrounding the preservation of indigenous languages including the most effective ways to respond to the challenges of recording and documenting fragile oral traditions while they’re still with us.

This latest edition includes an entirely new chapter on new developments in language revitalisation such as the impact of technology on language archiving, the use of social media, and autodocumentation by speakers. It also includes new sections on how recent innovations in language documentation give us a fuller picture of human linguistic diversity. Seeking to answer the question of why widespread linguistic diversity exists in the first place, the book weaves in portraits of individual “last speakers” and anecdotes about linguists and their discoveries. Readers will also have access to a companion website with sound files and embedded video clips of various languages mentioned in the text.

Perfect for undergraduate and graduate students studying language endangerment and preservation and for any reader who wants to discover what the full diversity of the world’s languages has to teach us, Words of Wonder: Endangered Languages and What They Tell Us, Second Edition, is for all with a professional or personal interest in endangered languages and, beyond that, in the full wealth of the world’s tongues.

A gripping and moving text which explores the wealth of human language diversity, how deeply it matters, and how we can best turn the tide of language endangerment

In the new, thoroughly revised second edition of Words of Wonder: Endangered Languages and What They Tell Us, Second Edition (formerly called Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us), renowned scholar Nicholas Evans delivers an accessible and incisive text covering the impact of mass language endangerment. The distinguished author explores issues surrounding the preservation of indigenous languages, including the best and most effective ways to respond to the challenge of recording and documenting fragile oral traditions while they’re still with us.

This latest edition offers an entirely new chapter on new developments in language revitalisation, including the impact of technology on language archiving, the use of social media, and autodocumentation by speakers. It also includes a number of new sections on how recent developments in language documentation give us a fuller picture of human linguistic diversity. Seeking to answer the question of why widespread linguistic diversity exists in the first place, the book weaves in portraits of individual “last speakers” and anecdotes about linguists and their discoveries. It provides access to a companion website with sound files and embedded video clips of various languages mentioned in the text. It also offers:

• A thorough introduction to the astonishing diversity of the world’s languages
• Comprehensive exploration of how the study of living languages can help us understand deep human history, including the decipherment of unknown texts in ancient languages
• Discussions of the intertwining of language, culture and thought, including both fieldwork and experimental studies
• An introduction to the dazzling beauty and variety of oral literature across a range of endangered languages
• In-depth examinations of the transformative effect of new technology on language documentation and revitalisation

Perfect for undergraduate and graduate students studying language endangerment and preservation and for any reader who wants to discover what the full diversity of the world’s languages has to teach us, Words of Wonder: Endangered Languages and What They Tell Us, Second Edition, will earn a place in the libraries of linguistics, anthropology, and sociology scholars with a professional or personal interest in endangered languages and in the full wealth of the world’s languages.