What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages?
Trilingual
What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages?
Bilingual
What do you call someone who speaks only 1 language?
American

As English, Spanish and Russian seep into every last corner of the globe, "Last Speakers" is an excellent argument that languages encode different ways of thinking about and viewing the world, and that the loss these languages in the face of more dominant languages will result in the a loss of those unique perspectives.

The

No information that was of any particular interest or use to someone with even a modest linguistics background like myself, just vague descriptions that didn't even make all that much sense without examples. And the author could not get over himself. He actually devoted half a chapter to discussing a meme he started and how many facebook friends he has. That was his most egregious act of self-promotion, but the rest of the book was sprinkled well enough to taint. ...more

I did enjoy this book--actually, it's fascinating. It is also all over the place.

I was expecting some straight-up nonfiction (languages that are dying out, what is unique to each, etc etc). This book is more of a memoir: Harrison's experiences with last speakers, the difficulties of traveling to them, logistics, why they are the last speakers, etc etc. I love me a memoir, but it was so not what I was expecting. I would rather read about the languages than about the problems of traveling with cam

I found this an absolutely fascinating, inspiring tale that truly opened my eyes to one of the planet's scariest phenomena... We hear of endangered wildlife and how our modern industrial society is harming the environment. We hear of other worrying global issues. But, often neglected and hardly publicised, is the very real situation of the reduction in global language diversity. (Minor) languages, often spoken by marginalised tribespeople in remote areas of the Earth, are disappearing into the a ...more

This book is a non-fiction account of the author's journeys around the world recording dying languages. The stories of the people he encounters and the languages and how they work is very interesting, and I loved that part of the book. However, he does a lot of preaching and teaching about linguistics in general, which made parts of the book read like a Masters Thesis. It wasn't thick, just kind of boring. I think it would have been a better book and reached a bigger audience if he had written m ...more

Fantastic book for anyone interested in language, oral storytelling, environmentalism, and the impact of colonialism and globalization. The tragedy of the rapid loss of linguistic diversity is slightly off-set by the important work that Harrison and other scholars are doing, not to mention tribal people themselves who are rallying to preserve their languages. This book offers an especially important message for those who arrogantly believe that literacy and knowledge are the the same thing or th ...more

My feelings about this book are somewhat complicated, but not because of anything that is in the book itself. The book itself is an excellent one, but the context that book is in is a troubling one. For one, this book is a somewhat obvious cash grab on the part of National Geographic to take advantage of the unexpected popular success and critical acclaim of the documentary film The Linguists, which explored the author and some of the speakers of nearly extinct languages he sees around the world ...more

The linguist K. David Harrison has been one of the most tireless activists for protecting the world's diversity of languages, some 7,000 or so by his count, but disappearing at a rapid rate through globalization. He wrote an impassioned argument for language preservation in WHEN LANGUAGES DIE, and the recent documentary film THE LINGUISTS about his work has won great praise. Harrison's new book THE LAST SPEAKERS is something of a combination of these two previous accounts written for a very broa ...more

This is an introduction to the work of field linguists who specialize in documenting endangered languages. The author is a professor at Swarthmore College, affiliated with the National Geographic Enduring Voices Project, and director of the Living Tongues Institute. He is often credited with spurring the revival of field work (as opposed to theoretical study) in linguistics.

The book is an easy read and contains some amusing and interesting stories about Harrison's travels around the world to fi

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**2.5 stars**

This book was an interesting read but not as compelling as I expected it to be.

I enjoyed reading about Harrison's travels to the world's "language hotspots," (where there is a high level of language diversity as well as a high threat of language extinction), and about his interactions with speakers of dying languages. However, lot of the other material relied more heavily on the author's opinions rather than facts (in the intro, he does refer to this book as an extended op-ed on th

The preachy, vague writing in the first section annoyed me... until the author admitted he's just trying to write an extended op-ed piece on why we should save languages. That explains it.

After the author set forth his purpose, I enjoyed the book much more. Especially when he started talking about Siberian folk-tales and vowel harmony. I wanted to read more about the Tuvan heroine Bora, who doesn't have strength or a sense of direction at first, but ends up whooping the butts of tons of warriors

This was an enjoyable pop-linguistics book that as others have noted, reads like a half-travelogue. I have some background in linguistics but still found the material relevant and important, particularly as endangered languages and their preservation is important to me.

Harrison's descriptions of his time spent with speakers of Siberian languages was the most interesting to me, in terms of explaining how different languages encode different ways of knowing. However, I enjoyed them all and feel t

A balanced blend of theory, research, anecdote and passion about the value of all human languages no matter how few their speakers. Harrison is particularly humourous at describing his first field experience. When he offers to help the people he is observing, he is deemed to be competent only to collect frozen yak manure patties and feeding the fire. (This, however, does involve him learning a lot of new vocabulary!) Throughout the book, he describes many different languages and cultures that he ...more

I've read a couple other books on the language extinction crisis, and this is my favorite so far because it give s me the sense of a travelogue that I'm into reading lately while providing insights into the scholarly world of ethnolinguistics. It isn't burdened by jargon, which is what makes some of those other books so dry to read. It is a bit repetitive at times in terms of the overall thesis of the book, but then so are many other books on academic topics. It is a champion not only for lingui ...more

This is a thought-provoking book about languages on the brink of extinction, how knowledge is encoded in language, the relationship between language and culture, and what is being done to save endangered languages. The author is a passionate advocate for language diversity and for preserving and revitalizing languages on the brink of extinction. Although I agree with his viewpoint, he comes on a bit too strong. The book reads as a rebuttal which isn't the best tone to take with people who are ne ...more

Many thanks to Kate and Tyler for repeatedly telling me to read this.

The idea that lies at the core of Harrison's book is that small languages, those that are poorly studied or documented and with dwindling fluent speakers, encode unique and specialized knowledge about human culture and history. Often these languages are spoken by people considered on the bottom of the class structure by the "dominant" culture and correspond to equally endangered biodiverse regions of the world. I can't say muc

A really enlightening read - living in Australia I am aware of how the local Aboriginal language is rapidly disappearing and I am very interested in finding out if there are any fluent or partially fluent Bunjalung speakers living locally. K David Harrison made me realize how important it is to save the diversity we still have. 885 million people speak Mandarin and only 1 speaks Wichita - sad.

Not quite what I expected. It was an eye-opening book, but I could tell the author is used to academic writing. He takes too much time differentiating himself and his work from predecessors. He doesn't do this subtly, either. I found myself wishing that he would let the facts speak for themselves without the preachiness. And the facts WOULD speak for themselves. ...more

One of the greatest if not the greatest calls for action in terms of language endangerment. David Harrison's narratives, descriptions and analyses put on the table in a clear, transparent way the question for cultural endangerment and societal equality.
Along with the rest of the materials associated with this National Geographic project, this book is a highlight regarding endangered languages. ...more

Harrison gives the non-linguist an inside look at the fieldwork required to document a hidden and endangered language. This book will open your eyes to languages and ethnic groups you never hear about on the news.

Interesting fast read. I learned a lot about the disappearance of languages. Reminds me (yet again!) that I need to get out into the world and experience it!