LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES, RIGHTS, AND CHOICES: DILEMMAS AND PARADOXES OF LOSS, RETENTION, AND REVITALIZATION.

This article focuses on the various papers published in the December 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Anthropological Association. Articles in this issue explore the ideologies underlying the discourse of language rights on which contemporary claims for linguistic survival are largely based. Anthropological interest in and concern for threatened languages is not new. These publications reflect growing awareness in the public media of language loss and considerable anxiety felt by speakers toward consequences of this loss.