Learning Journal #7 What is Lost When Languages Die?

[Henry Trinh]

The reading was very interesting in the fact that a language was kept alive by basically four native speakers. I thought the entire process made a lot of sense of how it trickled down in order for the language to stay alive. However, when a language is lost, a large part of the culture goes with it. For example, the person in the reading talked about how many of the words in his language are not like any other words in any other language and instead he compared it to "spitting". This motion of creating these unique sounds is tied to the culture and would be lost if the language died. Also the fact that the language had been preserved in "song for their native dance" tells us that that the language is very prominent among the the arts as well. Basically, the language can be expressed through song and reflected through dance. This is something that is once again very unique to that culture.