Our readings and class discussion on the life and death of languages is fascinating - not least of all because documenting a language and preserving not just its vocabulary, but the distinct perspectives and worldview it carries is essentially a race against the clock. Linguists armed with the ability to transcribe using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) can, much like anthropologists doing fieldwork, gather a wide array of information on the language, but also necessarily must start from ground zero and rely on learning through a common language, a local teacher, etc. in a situation that is ultimately difficult to coordinate and even more difficult to carry through. The clip we watched in class on the Himba people in northern Namibia who see and describe color differently because of their environment is only one of many facets that could be found in other, less commonly spoken languages worldwide that are quickly dying. Globalization and the importance of a Lingua Franca such as English has severely endangered less commonly spoken languages, given that it is no longer necessary or convenient for younger generations to continue to speak these languages and pass them on. Linguists can try their hardest to preserve a language, but they cannot force a generation to continue to speak it or learn it (though this might follow naturally).
When a language dies, so, too, do its unique cultural insights and legacy more broadly. Though it can be resurrected, so to speak, it also may have lost some of the distinct impressions that it left on the speakers and their outlooks, and could also have some more functional vocabulary holes as well. That said, it certainly can be brought back to life, at least in some sense of the word. The so-called Rosetta Stone, found in 1799, allowed linguists to decipher hieroglyphs and bring back some of this ancient language based on the translations of its script. Though not every language is as fortunate to have an archeological relic such as this, it showcases that clues can be found and pieced together to make larger insights for a language, much like finding disparate pieces of a puzzle and piecing it together to form some image of a completed whole.
Preserving languages and documenting the sheer linguistic diversity of humans is absolutely essential because it can provide so many insights into how we think, speak, and operate in the world. It was very interesting to learn in class that the Basque language, for instance, is largely unrelated to neighboring languages and closer to what Neanderthals may have spoken. The presence of linguistic "islands" that are outliers in Hungary, Estonia, and Finland is another example of the ways in which language and linguistic diversity can deeply impact a country and its culture. Programs currently in existence, such as the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme and a similar one by National Geographic, draw from endowments equip linguists with funding and give them the ability to undertake these documenting projects, which are themselves of monumental significance to humanity and, as previously mentioned, more and more urgent.
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