The first section of the book brought me back to my great grandmother, or "ma" as i used to call her when i was little. Ma could speak Yiddish fluently, and would often hold conversations with me in Yiddish. I don't remember these conversations but my mom has told me time and time again about them, so I can almost picture them. Yiddish is almost a dead language, many attribute the huge decline in this language to the Holocaust, a correct and devastating fact. Page 338 talks about how hard it is to revitalize a language, it states that "the speakers are too few or too old" and with Yiddish that its the actual case. Ma passed away when I was a child, and thus did my exposure to Yiddish. It is sad to think that such a special language that I had exposure to will no longer be around. Languages can be saved, on page 339 the book states that "if the will and funding were available" languages can be saved and perhaps one day that can happen with Yiddish, but for now the language might go extinct.
Languages can be formed just as they can become extinct. There are various theories as to how languages begin, however ultimately language serves as one of many outlets for us to express ourselves and communicate with one another. How languages change was a section that really caught my attention, how we learn about past languages and pronunciations are even more interesting. Through comparative reconstruction, and written language, we can learn a lot about the history and evolution of language. Languages change for various reasons: social factors, cultural developments, imperfect learning, social prestige, and more. We can see how languages evolve just by looking at different generations, what our grandparents say versus our parents and then how we speak. Languages are always evolving, always changing, and are great reflection of our culture. So i guess languages are not just a way to communicate, they are a direct reflection of our culture and society.
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