Language Loyalty, Language Planning, and Language Revitalization

Joshua Fishman needs to be read and re-read by future generations. His reverence for the small languages and peoples of this world, the holiness of his international humanity, and his fight for language freedoms, make him one of the world's most remarkable scholars. His mountain-top view of downtrodden ethnic groups and dying languages creates a universal vision of a new land.  Those who work at the sharp end of top-down and bottom-up language planning know that Fishman is a prophet in his own time.  In his writing there is a condensation of wisdom, a vision composed in one century but even more relevant in the next.  The book contains an excellent recent selection of his deep insights and vast understandings that need inter-generational transmission. While his writings continue, this collection is a priceless legacy that needs preservation and re-presentation to future generations.

-- Colin Baker * From the foreword *

Joshua Fishman needs to be read and re-read by future generations. His reverence for the small languages and peoples of this world, the holiness of his international humanity, and his fight for language freedoms, make him one of the world's most remarkable scholars. His mountain-top view of downtrodden ethnic groups and dying languages creates a universal vision of a new land. Those who work at the sharp end of top-down and bottom-up language planning know that Fishman is a prophet in his own time. In his writing there is a condensation of wisdom, a vision composed in one century but even more relevant in the next. The book contains an excellent recent selection of his deep insights and vast understandings that need inter-generational transmission. While his writings continue, this collection is a priceless legacy that needs preservation and re-presentation to future generations. – From the foreword by Colin Baker This collection of Joshua A. Fishman’s essays is well organized, providing just the right amount of breadth for an introduction. The organization of the book makes it highly readable, and allows the reader to skip directly to the section that he/she might like. When finished with this short volume, the reader will certainly be left with the desire to read more of Joshua A. Fishman’s essays and books.

-- Iris Flannery, Haas School of Business * Linguist List 18.7