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the world is in danger because of the losing of a variety of languages and cultures. Why it comes and should we stop it?
It is estimated that of the 6,000-strong languages in the world at present day, around 90% are likely to die or will be on the verge of extinction within
this century. Disappearing with the death of these languages will be the cultures that are dependent on them. In short,
the linguistic and cultural diversity of us mankind is shrinking at an alarming speed.
Generally, language death can be attributed to two reasons. One is bilingual speakers shift from using two languages,
to just using the socially dominant one. This often happens when people know they’ll be held in high regard or get a good job if they speak the dominant language. The benefits attached to the prestigious
language make people happy, or even eager, to abandon the minority language in their linguistic repertoire. Parents
will avoid speaking the disadvantaged language at home, and stop getting their children exposed to the language that
has fallen from favor. More often than not, the minority language will die out within a generation or two. The other
is that a language borrows too much material - first words, and then grammar - from a usually dominant language that it gets diluted beyond recognition and can no longer be called a separate
language. This is the case with some creoles which are transformed back to the parent language. Languages carry too much things with them, such as identity, culture, knowledge and etc. Firstly, people often look
on their mother tongue the way they see their lives. Language is part of people's identity. If a language perishes,
it takes away a vital part of its speakers’ identity. Next, language is bound in culture.
And culture comprises traditions, customs, institutions and the like. A people who loses its language pays the price
of beingdisinherited of these defining and irreplaceable heritages. Lastly, a language not only may contain biological
and
medical knowledge that we probably have no other means to learn about, but helps us better understand language
in gereral by serving as an example.
Given the aforesaid merits language possesses, we should spare no effort to buck the trend of massive language
extinction. The more quickly we take action, the more effective our measures are, the better chance of success
we stand. We should bear this in mind: dying languages are not just facts and figures, but a host of unique,
and mutually supplementary, perspectives on this world.
