Bøker av Clive Forrester

Honouringthe remarkable career of Professor Hubert Devonish, a leading scholar inlinguistics, language education, and cultural studies, Soundsof Advocacy, Language and Liberation provides a representative spread oflinguistics addressing critical areas of academic and social responsibilitythrough the exploration and analysis of theoretical and sociocultural concerns.Through his tireless research Devonish illuminated the complexities ofCaribbean Creole languages and championed their rightful place in academia andsociety.This festschriftreveals the impact of Devonish's work on linguistic theory, spanningfascinating topics like implosives in Jamaican Creole and the mathematicalconstraints on allowable sentences in Guyanese Creole. The papers contain insightfulanalyses of the relationship between language, education, and culture, including Devonish's groundbreaking work on Creole language literacy and theimportance of promoting multilingualism. Provocative discussions on theintersection of politics, law, and language, shed light on Devonish'sunwavering commitment to social justice and the empowerment of marginalisedcommunities. Morethan just a collection of academic contributions, Sounds of Advocacy serves as a tribute to Professor Devonish'sdedication to intellectual inquiry, social justice, and the advancement ofCaribbean languages and cultures.

This volume brings together the work of six authors who explore various dimensions of language rights and how they intersect with social justice in the Caribbean context. Language rights advocacy has been an ongoing issue in Caribbean linguistics since at least the 1970s when the Society for Caribbean Linguistics was established and linguists started to turn their attention to the marginalised status of Creole languages in the region. This continued into the 1990s when dismal scores in secondary school English resulted in governments singling out Creole languages as the culprit and linguists had to get involved in shaping language policy for territories across the region. By 2011 the role of linguists was cemented in the language rights debate with the creation of the Charter on Language Rights in the Creole-speaking Caribbean. Using examples from Jamaica and St. Lucia, the current study examines the challenges that still persist ten years after the Charter, specifically in the areas of language advocacy, linguistic discrimination, and communicative hurdles in the courtroom.