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Dying Languages

Posted by Pete Minassian on October 14, 2010 at 2:24pm
The reading this week in How Language Works describes what happens as time progresses with regards to various languages. The author specifically mentioned how languages are starting to die out, about one every two weeks. These languages that are dying out may seem to be worth nothing to the average person; however, if you think about it, these languages hold so much information about our past. And indeed, past does transcend borders and cultures, because we are all human beings, regardless of what part of the planet we call home. These languages, unfortunately will die out. There is nothing that we can do about it. The author says that there are a few methods, including digitizing the languages, but regardless - we will never speak olde english or latin ever again.

I feel as though if a nation has adopted a language as its official language, then that language will never die. In this day and age, even languages like Armenian have been recorded and written down, allowing us to forever retain a copy of this language that stretches back thousands of years.

I wish that I could learn at least a little bit of each of the 6,000 languages in this world, but alas, there are not enough semesters left at UR for me to take self-directed study classes! :(
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