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?
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From a technical standpoint, a language goes extinct when people no longer speak it as a primary language. It's why, even though some people are fluent in Latin, it's considered a dead language; no one speaks it as their primary language, and the culture that the language was tied to is long gone. As the culture that used it no longer exists, there exists a more marked trait of a "dead" language: it cannot change. You can't add new words to the language because the people who spoke it didn't use those words to communicate; it would be historically inaccurate.
The primary cause of language extinction is imperialism, and the resulting globalization / cultural assimilation that occurs. It's not an accident that most languages that are lost are spoken by a non-white populace. This happens for a variety of reasons, and in the modern day it's mostly due to assimilation. This can look more sinister, like the forced assimilation in the case of indigenous groups, or as a side effect of being a minority in another country, such as second or third generation immigrants who don't speak their ancestral language(s) because it's not as useful in their host country. The reading “Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction”, discusses the importance of education in regards to younger generations learning languages. I completely agree with this sentiment, but just as we're learning in our language education that we cannot learn in a vacuum and must become knowledgeable of the cultures tied with our languages, so must the education of others when learning language. When learning a language is no longer borne of necessity, it must be continued with experiences of connection.
Some "dead" languages can be resurrected, like Hebrew was, but it depends on how well-preserved it is. It took a long time to resurrect Hebrew, which for hundreds of years was shelved for daily life and only dusted off by Jews for ease of trade or religious services, and some styles of writing and speaking were definitely lost. Even so, it's referred to as a "revival" of a dead language, because it did not go away in its entirety, it just grew is scope and popularity. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is credited as the reviver of the Hebrew language, and he is responsible for the creation of new words or even pronunciations of old words that had been lost. Even so, without Hebrew being declared the official language of the nation of Israel, I don't believe Hebrew would have been revived as it is.
I think the extinction of a language is a result of cultural assimilation from the effects of globalization, imperialism, and neocolonialism. The importance of learning one of the major languages has become so important over the years that these indigenous languages have been overlooked and neglected. As the world becomes more and more connected through globalization especially with a tool such as the internet. The need to learn one of the major languages becomes more and more dominant as people look for a way to communicate. There is also the problem with just the small number of speakers of indigenous languages due to imperialism and neocolonialism where we essentially wipe out or displace native speakers. When we lose a language, we lose the culture along with it. We lose different perspectives, ideas, opinions, and ways that could have helped us communicate or make the world a better place.
I agree with David Harrison in that preserving a language is an extremely difficult task. What linguists can do is document and record the language itself with the technology present today. Preserving a tribe is almost out of the linguist’s scope and government assistance is probably needed. What they can do is publicize and bring awareness to the problem at hand. Honestly, I don’t believe a “dead” language can be brought back to life especially in the world we live in today where the major languages dominate the world. There is just no incentive and no drive from the people to do such a thing. Currently to document linguistic diversity there are dictionaries with recordings of sound being made.
I agree with the points you made. It's really hard to keep a language alive when the people around you are speaking a different/dominant one. That's why it's also important to understand the efforts of how languages can be saved. It is a bit scary to think how language and its culture can be lost due to globalization, imperialism, and neocolonialism.
I agree with your point. I think that while globalization does have some positive affects there can be a lot of negative affects towards individual cultures where people lose some important aspects of their lifestyles such as their language. It is really too bad that this is a regular occurrence but I suppose with all the positives of globalization there are also some negative ones.
Languages go extinct when there use is confined to a small enough group of individuals for a prolonged period of time. This is because the members of the group who speak said language stop utilizing it as commonly as before. What happens when a language dies that is that the large amount of information and culture associated with that language is also lost to a certain extent. This is a blow to many different fields in whatever society or groups of people who used the language. Overall, it is important that we try to preserve languages as all languages have unique structures and aspects to them. Linguists can help to preserve languages by studying languages and understanding their various intricacies. Linguists can also promote the use of particular languages that may be at risk of going extinct. This is to keep a sizeable population using the language which can help the language avoid extinction. I think a dead language can be brought back to life but this is a rare occurrence. This is because when a language dies then whatever population stopped using it has most likely abandoned it for awhile. The efforts currently underway include academic research as well as passing on linguistic knowledge to younger people.
An article by Smithsonian highlights the importance of language preservation. When fewer and fewer people speak a language, and especially when children stop learning it as their primary language, it becomes extinct. Young people will be less likely to speak it at home or teach it to their offspring as a result. Some of the causes of this are from external influences on a linguistic community by forcing its members to choose a more dominant language are one of the key reasons intergenerational language transmission might halt. This occurs frequently because the more prevalent language is viewed or promoted as a requirement for guaranteeing a high standard of living. For example, being able to communicate in a certain language might be a need for obtaining employment, healthcare, or education. Many people choose to switch to their preferred language when faced with such difficulties. Therefore, I do not think a “dead” language can be brought to life because of these circumstances.
When a language dies, we lose information about how languages work when languages vanish. Language, for example, records information about what could be necessary for a people to live. Some languages date back thousands of years, and their speakers' survival methods are frequently embedded in them. It also has other external factors, such as human rights. For example, if a person who uses sign language visits a hospital and no American Sign Language interpreter is present, the individual will have trouble communicating. That problem in and of itself is a human rights concern since it restricts access to a crucial service.
In the reading, “Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction”, it talks about the importance of schooling and teaching the younger generation to retain the language. If some system was implemented in the education system to ensure that language learning is present, then native languages could be saved.
Its a good point how external forces cause speakers of a language to alternate to another, and over time this alternation is replaced with complete substitution. I've seen this happen with a lot of my Korean American friends, and while it isn't an extinction of a language, many of my 2/3rd gen. friends don't know how to speak Korean at all.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of Korean Americans are losing that urgency to learn Korean. I think a key difference I see between the Korean Americans that don't and do speak Korean is whether or not they go to church. I've noticed that nearly all the Korean Americans I know learn Korean from church. Non-religious Korean-Americans don't have the luxury of that resource.