In a world where English is ever-prevalent all over the world – on the internet, on television, in books, in airports, virtually anywhere and everywhere – it is no surprise that less prominent languages can die out under its shadow. Languages spoken by indigenous groups with a very small community of speakers face huge risk of extinction. First and foremost, the amount of people you can speak to and utilize that language with is greatly diminished. If you are forced to use English the majority of the time and rarely get the chance to use your other native language, it will be very hard being immersed in it. In cases like the article mentioned in which Native American children were forced into public schools that “aimed to stamp out native ways and tongues,” generations of Natives are taught to never learn their mother tongue and have incredibly restricted usage.
But there are other factors as well. As discussed by David Harrison, many of these languages’ speakers are elderly. The younger population have not inherited the language from their elders, and the last speakers of the language face the risk of passing away without the language not being passed on. Even in the case of linguists who want to document these languages so that they do not become extinct, it is difficult being able to communicate with elderly people because of issues with geriatric health, like deafness or hardness of hearing. Without being able to communicate with these speakers, you cannot retrieve the knowledge they can potentially impart. The language is not transmitted and dies out. In addition, younger generations may be impacted by low self-esteem as Harrison also mentioned, thinking English may be a superior language or that their parents’ native language is unworthy of being learned. This again is also connected to what Native American children experienced in their public schools, with their native tongues being forcibly ignored and stamped out.
Linguists can help preserve a language the same way Bud Lane is doing with his online Siletz Dee-ni Talking Dictionary and David Harrison did in his recordings of native languages in Siberia and other indigenous cultures as well. It is important for pieces of language to persevere so they can be picked up again. It is through this record that a dead language can be revived again.
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