Interview with Zygmunt Frajzyngier

At the website of the University of Colorado at Boulder, there is a news release (date: January 31st 2008) about the efforts of our colleague Zygmunt Frajzyngier and other CU-Boulder linguists to record endangered — Chadic and other — languages before they disappear:

Language is the most complex intellectual product of any community,” said Professor Zygmunt Frajzyngier, chair of the CU-Boulder linguistics department. “It is a product of evolution lasting many thousands of years.” (…) A complete description of any language consists of the discovery of all forms and functions coded in the language. This goal hasn’t been met yet for any language, including the best-described languages such as English, Russian, German and French,” said Frajzyngier, who has written several books on endangered African languages, including the recently published “A Grammar of Gidar.”

• To listen to podcasts featuring the voices of Zygmunt Frajzyngier and other CU-Boulder linguistics professors go to www.colorado.edu/news/podcasts.
• To learn more about the CU-Boulder linguistics department and faculty research go to www.colorado.edu/linguistics/.