atlas of world's languages

From: William J Poser (wjposer@ldc.upenn.edu)
Date: Tue May 29 2007 - 17:45:07 CDT

  • Next message: Martin Heijdra: "Re: Geographical language data"

    I agree with Ken Whistler's defense of the appropriateness
    of showing the pre-contact distribution of the languages of the
    Americas. For most scientific purposes, this is the most useful.
    At the same time, I think that many of the indigenous peoples
    concerned will appreciate maps showing their current location
    as well because they don't like the idea that their cultures
    are of significance only in the past. A common complaint here in
    British Columbia is that too many anthropologists think that
    native people only have a distinct and worthwhile culture insofar
    as it is their pre-contact culture. They don't like being viewed
    entirely in terms of the loss of what they used to have.

    Bill



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