New Books Podcast: The Last Language on Earth

The Last Language on Earth: Linguistic Utopianism in the Philippines, (Oxford University Press, 2023) by Piers Kelly, tells the story of the Eskayan language through linguistic, ethnographic, and historical analysis. Kelly investigates the origins of the Eskayan language as well as its role in political and conceptual controversies around language diversity and colonial contact. The book explores not only the nature of Eskayan, its writing system, lexicon, and syntax, but also its relationship to other languages employed in the Philippines and to the strategies of colonial resistance across Southeast Asia.

This episode was produced by NYSEAN partner the New Books Network.