Discussion 9

[Justin Park]

Languages go extinct simply when people do not speak, write, or use it enough for it to be passed on to the next generation. Eventually, the language then dies out and becomes a distant memory of th past. The sad part of the language becoming extinct, isn’t the fact that the language itself is gone, but a part of culture or tradition is now gone as well. Of course relics of the past can be studied, but without the actual language to study it can be difficult to understand the true meaning of their cultures and traditions. Especially, when it comes to small tribes that aren’t studied as extensively as say Latin. Speaking of Latin, that brings the issue of whether a language is truly dead or can even be brought back. People always talk about how Latin is a “dead language”, but truth be told, personally I don’t think it’s a dead language. It’s considered the official language of the Vatican, and mass in the Vatican are Latin. People study Latin all over the world and therefore know how to read, write, and speak it. A true extinct language is one that is unknown to the entire world. One that no one speaks or studies. But even if a language does go extinct, I believe it can be brought back. Take the Siletz language for example. Once considered extinct, it now has 4900 members in the tribes of the Siletz Indians and is being taught at the public charter school in Siletz. All the language was once considered dead, efforts to teach it and expand it helped bring it back to life. If the language is still known, even the smallest amount, I believe that it can be brought back to a wider scale if enough effort to revive it is put into place.