Editor: Viv Edwards (University of Reading, UK)
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Volume: 13 Number: 1 Page: 17–37
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Language Revitalisation Processes and Prospects: Quichua in the Ecuadorian Andes
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Kendall A. King
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This paper examines efforts to reverse language shift in two indigenous communities of southern Ecuador. The ongoing decline and rapid pace of extinction of many of the world's languages have received increasing
amounts of attention. Yet while the linguistic and social processes of language loss and language death have been extensively investigated and analysed, relatively little work of similar scope and detail
has addressed the processes of and prospects for language revitalisation. The paper presents findings from ethnographic work which investigated language use, language attitudes, and language instruction
in two Andean communities which are attempting to revitalise their once native Quichua. The study finds that for different reasons in neither community is Quichua transmission occurring successfully and
reveals how and why communities which are socially, economically, and culturally secure are most likely to be supportive of and participate in language revitalisation efforts.
© Multilingual Matters 1998
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