Discussion Post #9

[Isaac Choe]

Efforts are currently underway to document and preserve linguistic diversity around the world, and as someone with a great fascination with linguistics, I’m really hoping that these efforts are actualized eventually. Some of these efforts include the creation of language archives, the development of language revitalization programs, and the use of technology to facilitate language documentation and analysis. Organizations such as the Endangered Languages Project, the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, and the Linguistic Society of America are actively involved in promoting linguistic diversity and language revitalization efforts–– these were just some of the organizations I came across through a perfunctory google search. While I’m not sure a ‘dead’ language can ever be fully brought to life, I do think that it can exist, a dichotomy between living and existing when it comes to languages exists, in my opinion. Even if a language is resurfaced of sorts–– its syntax, phonology, and distinctions able to be recorded, the beauty of language stems from its use, people using and evolving a construct in their everyday lives–– something I don’t think a dead language is capable of having without extraordinary circumstances. Finally, I am interested in this debate on multilingualism and intelligence. Overall, I think I approach this apprehensively since intelligence, despite its ubiquity, is nearly impossible to define, making any influence of language on it that much harder. Its benefits to the brain are unequivocal, but if it does indeed make you smarter, are the world’s most prolific polyglots that much smarter as a result? I’m not sure, but it is something I’m continuing to wrestle with.