How do languages go extinct? Respond to the readings, and reflect on what happens when a language dies? How can linguists help preserve a language? Can a ‘dead’ language ever be brought back to life? What efforts are currently underway to document linguistic diversity?
According to the 2007 interview When Languages Die, there are around 7000 languages spoken around the world- half of which will disappear by the end of the century. Even as I write this discussion 13 years after this video was first filmed, I wonder how many languages out of those initial 7000 languages have already gone extinct. Languages go extinct when there is no native speaker of the language left. This can happen for a variety of reasons. For example: languages can go extinct when a dominant culture invades smaller communities and pressurizes them to integrate. This was a very common phenomenon during colonization and continues to have long-lasting effects even today. During British colonization, some parts of India faced such high risk of cultural genocide that they adopted Christian names and English language, just for survival. Over generations, this resulted in a lot of regional languages and cultures going extinct. Another factor responsible for languages going extinct is immigration and the pressure to assimilate. As an immigrant myself, I have seen firsthand examples of Nepali immigrant communities in the US where parents refuse to teach their kids Nepali at all. This is mainly due to a combination of internalized racism and the parents’ own negative experiences in the US as a non-native English speaker. By teaching their kids English only, Nepali immigrant parents hope that their kids will have an easier time assimilating among Americans and will get better opportunities as well as acceptance. Luckily for Nepali, there is a whole country that will continue to speak and preserve it irrespective of the US immigrant communities giving up on it. However, a lot of languages do not have that sort of safety net and face threats of extinction with increasing assimilation.
When a language dies, we lose a certain chunk of human diversity and unique insights specific to that language. We also lose the knowledge and culture passed down from one generation to another. As seen in the video When Languages Die, linguists like Dr. Harrison can help preserve a language by documenting the language with the help of last remaining native speakers. The language resources documented this way, can then be used to teach new speakers. In addition, linguists can help preserve a language by highlighting the urgency of this matter to the global community- just like Dr. Harrison is doing in this video. Moreover, community members can also help preserve their language by creating online dictionaries like the Siletz Dee-ni talking dictionary. Such documentation efforts are incredibly important because they allow new learners to take up the language. A dead language can be brought back to life when there are more people speaking it. In addition to efforts from linguists and community members, there are also numerous fellowships to study endangered languages from organizations like National Endowment for the Humanities, Endangered Languages Documentation Programme etc.
Replies
Dialogue over language going extinct has always struck such a large nerve with me because it is terrible to see a people's way of life be on the verge of disappearing from the world if we do not keep up with the task of preserving what is important to us in this society. This was a great post! As an immigrant myself, I also hope my language can be passed down.
This was a really interesting read about languages "dying". The fact that we're in a course to learn about a language, to read a post about what would happen if it dies is really interesting. I understand why it would result in losing a certain chunk of human diversity and unique insights to that language as language holds a lot of a country's culture. It's nice to read that a dead language can be brought back to life, so at least it's not a permanent death, but it probably is a very difficult feat to accomplish. I'm glad to know there are organizations that are trying to tackle this issue and there definitely needs more awareness to the general public.