Dr. Harrison points out a few factors that contribute to languages going extinct. These factors include the passing away of the elderly who practice the language. As a result, this contributes to a lack of speakers to speak and continue the language. Another factor is that some of these languages are oral languages that have never been written down thus they don’t have any record of once the last speakers are gone. Other factors include the majority of people speak the major languages in the world and don’t interact with “minor” or less popular languages.
Linguists can in particular help with saving those languages at risk of going extinct. Similar to what Dr. Harrison did in his research, linguists can map out the areas where languages are going extinct and find the patterns of extinction. Second, they can find the causes behind those languages going extinct. Third, as Dar. Harrison points out people should care about those languages going extinct because there is an important lesson that it teaches humanity about our survival and existence.
According to the article written by Thomas Patterson, some languages like Siletz Dee-ni can be saved if spoken by a great number of people. Furthermore, the creation of scholarly tools such as a dictionary that demonstrates the distinctiveness of the language to the world can be another way to manage a language’s survival. Another way of preserving a language can be through cultural practices such as music and dance. Certain dances like the Persian dance of Iran have its roots back thousands of years back to the point that some words are not used today but it still exists through music and poetry. Furthermore, while it can be difficult to bring back a language that has gone extinct, I don’t think it is impossible. Because as our world progresses, more and more people will find a great interest in certain languages for the sole reasons that it may “sound pretty cool”.
Some of the efforts directed to document diversity in languages are through researching the patterns of these languages, recording and documenting some of the last language speakers, creating dictionaries and sending linguists (in addition to anthropologists) to study the environment where those languages are spoken at. This can be done through people immersing themselves in that language and environment. While it is hard to preserve certain languages and bring them back from the dead, vulnerability and genuinely valuing that language can contribute to keeping its value and significance in our society. Dr. Harrison is one of those individuals that contributed to this important work through taking the time to meet and record some of the last speakers of languages that are going extinct.
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