A New Yorker Best Book of 2022 A Globe & Mail Book of the Year A stimulating work on the
politics of language. LA Review of Books As globalisation continues languages are disappearing
faster than ever leaving our planet's linguistic diversity leaping towards extinction. The
science of how languages are acquired is becoming more advanced and the internet is bringing us
new ways of teaching the next generation however it is increasingly challenging for minority
languages to survive in the face of a handful of hegemonic 'super-tongues'. In Speak Not James
Griffiths reports from the frontlines of the battle to preserve minority languages from his
native Wales Hawaii and indigenous American nations to southern China and Hong Kong. He
explores the revival of the Welsh language as a blueprint for how to ensure new generations are
not robbed of their linguistic heritage outlines how loss of indigenous languages is the
direct result of colonialism and globalisation and examines how technology is both hindering
and aiding the fight to prevent linguistic extinction. Introducing readers to compelling
characters and examining how indigenous communities are fighting for their languages Griffiths
ultimately explores how languages hang on what happens when they don't and how indigenous
tongues can be preserved and brought back from the brink.
