Ethics and Revitalization of Dormant Languages: The Mutsun Language

Abstract

Language revitalization (either increasing the use of an endangered language or bringing back a language with no speakers) brings up many ethical issues, beginning with whether it is even legitimate to attempt such revitalization. Language communities and linguists must address these issues if revitalization is to succeed in any of its goals. In this paper, we discuss the ethical issues we have encountered and the choices we have made about them during revitalization work with the Mutsun language (a dormant Costanoan language of California). We argue that language revitalization is a useful and legitimate application of linguistic knowledge.