Cultural assimilation may be the biggest threat to a language dying. This brings light to the conflict of globalization and the ever so subtle penetration of large firms into different cultures of the world. Firms that move into these new areas put massive amount of pressure on the indigenous population whether it be political, social or economic. As this occurs, bilingualism emerges in which many participants being to understand and use the new. Before you know it, the language that used to be in existence is no longer there. It is a downward spiral because as individuals stop using this language there are less and less of those with whom to speak. Therefore, families may not teach their children the language since it may no longer be as useful.
In order to revitalize such languages it is extremely important for the community to take action. Though it is difficult since funding is lacking, those within the community need to be willing to speak and teach others. If a language is lost the culture may soon follow and a homogenous world, well, it simply isn’t as interesting or exciting. Some languages that have been dead for quite some time are being revived as we speak, such as the British Cornish and Manx languages.
The beginnings of languages, and most commonly these lost languages started out very small. In fact, they were called Pidgin languages and were used as physical gestures to identify needs and wants. These languages usually do not last long, maybe a year, as they are meant to provide a quick means of communication between languages. However, the ones that do stick are dubbed creole languages and they become the mother tongue for communities.
Creoles present a unique argument in which they suggest that cultures, not matter how different they become, will have strikingly similar languages and customs. This is due to the fact that if the origin is the same than they are considered monogenetic and do not have many differences.
Some languages may have even been created through oral sounds that were uttered by the reaction to “stimuli” from the outside world. For example “buzz”, or any onomatopoeia. This can be built upon as cultures learn to use tools and record such sounds. As this happens writing forms which creates the language on paper. Languages will change through the culture including accents which can play a big part in societies like Britain. Based upon how you speak individuals can tell where you are from and surmise potential upbringing. All in all, language can be used for many things as discussed above.
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