Reviewed by Anish Koshy, The English and Foreign Languages University

This book is comprised of twenty articles, organized into six major sections, and identifies three major strands of discussion: linguistic aspects of documentation, technology in documentation, and ethical issues.

Part 1, ‘Praxis and values’, includes three articles. Empowerment of the heritage communities, capacity building, and collaborative research are strongly emphasized. While N. Louanna Furbee sees language documentation (LD) to be atheoretic, comprehensive, and multipurposed, Keren Rice considers LD research to involve ethics, advocacy, and empowerment. Martha J. Macri discusses issues of ownership, copyright, and access, and emphasizes support for continued use and intergenerational transmission.

There are four articles included in Part 2, ‘Adequacy in documentation’. Anna Berge defines adequacy as collection, preservation, and dissemination, covering all genres, registers, contexts, linguistic levels, and speaker populations. While Laura Buszard-Welcher’s case study highlights the problems with not covering all genres in LD, Verónica Vásquez Soto’s case study demonstrates the importance of oral narratives and natural conversations in LD. Barbara Lust, Suzanne Flynn, María Blume, Elaine Westbrooks, and Theresa Tobin discuss data management, the development of infrastructure, and methods for the storage and dissemination of shared data in collaborative works.

Part 3, ‘Documentation technology’, includes four articles. Jeff Good discusses the Open Language Archives Community focusing on the preservation and portability of language data. Jessica Boynton, Steven Moran, Helen Aristar-Dry, and Anthony Aristar discuss the Electronic Metastructure for Endangered Languages Data School of Best Practices, focusing on technical standards for language documentation. Nicholas Thieberger and Michael Jacobson discuss two archives Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources and Langues et Civilizations à Tradition Orale, focusing on long-term access and good practices in computerization. David Golumbia discusses the representation of minority languages and cultures on the web and warns against objectification.

There are six articles in Part4, ‘Models of successful collaboration’. Donna B. Gerdts visualizes the role of the academic in relation to the heritage community as that of a trainer, teacher, mediator, and advocate. Arienne Dwyer lays importance on ethics, design, relationships of inclusiveness, consultations, mutual training, flexibility, prioritization, and empowerment in LD. Martha J. Macri presents a case study involving the unarchiving of J.P. Harrington’s notes on the Californian Indian languages with active participation from community members. Hermelindo Aguilar Méndez et al. report a case study on Tojolabal, emphasizing the value of relationships of trust and how language renewal could lead to cultural renewal. Colleen M. Fitzgerald deals with legacy documentation on Tohono O’odham and its unarchiving with active collaboration with community members. Susan M. Burt presents a case study on language shift and pragmatic change in Hmong in Wisconsin.

Part 5, ‘Training and careers in field linguistics’, includes two papers. Judith M. Maxwell lays emphasis on flexibility in goals and commitment to dissemination apart from other best practices in the field. The case study by Frances Ajo, Valérie Guérin, Ryoko Hattori, and Laura C. Robinson presents native speakers as documenters, making the end-products more relevant and accessible to the community.

Lenore A. Grenoble concludes the book with a state-of-the-field article on language documentation and field linguistics, touching upon collaboration, accessibility, technology, training, and empowerment.

With language documentation understood as practically achievable only through collaboration, the list of online resources provided at the end proves very useful. With ample case studies, the book highlights not only the challenges in language documentation projects but also the way to move forward. Linguists, activists, policy makers, and communities interested in language documentation will find the book enlightening and resourceful.