Handbook of North American Indigenous Languages and Linguistics (Springer Handbooks in Languages and Linguistics)

This handbook showcases North America's indigenous languages, showing them to be numerous, diverse, complex, culturally significant, and valuable to the study of human language as a whole. The chapters run the gamut by covering those that are no longer spoken, to those that serve as a daily medium of communication. The work shows how, historically, they have suffered from the erasure efforts of genocidal outsiders, and been the subject of intense internal struggles to remain vital. The study, and maintenance, of these languages is, in a word, important. The Handbook of North American Indigenous Languages and Linguistics serves as a detailed, sweeping overview of the current trends and future directions of scholarship into the indigenous languages of North America. The volume brings together both established and emerging voices, while also showcasing the work of scholars representing their own indigenous communities. In both scope and in tone, it serves as a landmark reference for scholars and students who research this vibrant branch of linguistic study, work, and practice.