Journal Entry 7 - SDLC 105 - Rein

[Christopher Carl Rein]

I always get a bit bummed out when I think about the idea of a language, or any other large human endeavor like that, dying out. It is a little strange to think that something that had developed over thousands of years could just die out. In truth, many languages, like Latin or Sanskrit, do not really die, but rather are relegated to academic and religious contexts. Similarly, many small tribal groups (like those in the articles) are attempting to preserve and document their languages, so I think that the rate of language extinction might slow down, even as the world becomes more globalized and larger languages become the norm. But, I am afraid that these languages might become museum pieces, only preserved for the academic and cultural significance.