1. In what ways does Eveleth provide evidence that technology and the accompanying phenomenon of crowd-sourcing offer endangered languages new resources for survival? What additional consequences might there be of a phenomenon like Viki? (To get a clearer idea of how Viki works, you may wish to visit its site: viki.com/endangeredlanguages.) How does the quirkiness of these consequences contribute to the article?

2. In what ways does this selection support the claims made by Ostler in the previous selection, “Is It Globalization That Endangers Languages?” In what ways does it complicate his argument? (Some of David Harrison’s comments may be especially helpful in this regard.) In what ways does this selection serve as an evaluative argument? (See Chapter 10 on evaluative arguments.)

3. Both the previous selection by Ostler, “Is It Globalization That Endangers Languages?” and this selection by Eveleth ultimately contain elements of a proposal argument. What is being proposed by Eveleth? By Ostler? To what extent do their proposals overlap? How do they differ? (Chapter 12 discusses proposal arguments.)

4. The last three paragraphs of this selection summarize comments by linguist David Harrison. Using his comments from either paragraph 10 or 12, construct a Toulmin argument. You will need to begin with Harrison’s comments, map them onto the framework presented for a Toulmin argument, see whether there are any missing elements, and then try to fill them in. As you’ll see, this exercise is a good way to test the strength of an argument. (See Chapter 7 for a discussion of Toulmin arguments.)

5. The selections in this chapter have all engaged the issue of language and globalization in some way. Choose some aspect of this topic and develop an academic argument that examines it in some detail. (Chapter 17 will help you think about the nature of academic arguments. The argument you construct may rely on fact, definition, or evaluation; it may analyze causes; or it may offer a proposal — the kinds of arguments treated in Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, and Chapter 12. Your argument will likely require research, and Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, and Chapter 12 will be most helpful there.)