How do languages go extinct? Respond to the reading, reflecting on what happens when a language dies. How can linguists help preserve a language? Can a language ever be brought back to life?
Languages are linked directly to the people who speak them. Therefore, when the people of a language are dying and there is not readily accessible documentation of the language, the language begins to die. Languages die when the inheritants of said language and culture are not able to continue that language’s legacy. The hierarchical linguistic remnants of colonization is the prime example.
Linguists can help preserve a language through documentation. This way, the people of that culture can pick up the language again and so that non-natives to that language may indulge their interests. Furthermore, linguists can help marginalized populations fight to preserve their linguistic heritage. Language is identity and culture. No one should be forced to give that up.
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