I love the story of the graduate student Ms. Johnson in the reading. For me, the fact that her learning of linguistics helped the tribe build its dictionary was very touching and impressing. I believe that every language has its necessity to exist because it also symbolize the culture behind the language. For example, when I am learning Korean and doing research on it, I am unconsciously seeking for information about Korean culture. Language is closely connected to the culture. To be more specific, the history of a languages cannot be separated from the history of country’s development and human culture.
On the other hand, if the culture of a country or a group of people is destroyed or ruined, the language will lose its meaning and context. If nobody uses the language, it won’t have further progress. Under this circumstance, it’s very hard to save or revive that language. Moreover, commonly used languages like English, Spanish and French are dominating the world. People from all over the world are learning these languages, and it leads to a tendency that minor language will be overlooked.
Comments