Language becomes extinct as people stop using them but also when there is a fight for power. When the English came in to America and took over the land they forced few of the tribes to adapt their ways by sending the Indian children to boarding school to separate them from the native ways and tongue. United States also brought threat by stating that the tiny tribes were dead in the 1950s. These threats caused the language to be spoken less by the people and delivered on to the next generation. When a language dies, it is lost forever unless it has been recorded in dictionaries or documentaries. In the video it is mentioned how the linguists are gathering documentaries of the language and talking to the last native speakers of the language. This is my thought, but I think a way to preserve a language is to use the trend. So these days kids would usually spend hours on technology or on Netflix. I think a fun way to preserve the language is to create a show series in the language or create a game in the language that is globally known or simple to play. An example could be “among us” which is a mafia game but the language could be spoken or written in the indigenous languages so that as young kids use the app they automatically learn a new language and can speak it to preserve it.
I think a dead language could only be brought to life if it was well preserved in films, documentaries, and dictionaries. If there are enough resources about the language then it might be possible. But on the other hand, to make a language live it has to have a large group of people speaking it so it won’t die down again which is hard to keep alive. I thought it was interesting how the indigenous languages have certain knowledge that we might have recorded in a completely wrong way. For example, the two salmon and two trouts are known as the same species in some places. I wonder if we are the ones who are invading other people’s culture and language and prevent it from thriving. I think the efforts that current linguists are doing to ask the native speakers about the language and their culture is a great approach. This way we are learning new knowledge that has value and meaning to some cultures.
When I am reflecting with my target language of Korean. I think the number one reason why language dies is because there are less population in the community so speak the language. Korea is currently, struggling with increasing population with birthrates that keep falling. It is a serious problem where some say that the Koreans will be extinct in couple of centuries. That made me wonder if my target language could also die in the future. I think instead of using mix of language such as Konglish I should master this language and talk in this language more often so that I can prevent this language from dying.
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