Neolithic Objects: Ancient Language, Engraved Stones found in Glozel (8000-10,000 BC)
10,000 years ago the population was between 5 and 10 million
Leading anthropologists estimate that nearly 12,000 languages (or more) were spoken at that time.
Today our population is 6.5 billion
Approximately 7,000 languages are spoken today
At this rate in 100 years from now, in the year 2108, only 2,500 languages may be spoken.
One language goes extinct every month.
In lecture you may have heard me comment on these facts: "While it is important, for the sake of biodiversity to have a variety of languages spoken, what about the fact that more people are communicating?" This may not be a fact at all- sadly, we are loosing many indigenous cultures.
What does this mean?
What do you think about this data and the potential future of lost languages?
11 comments:
The way we communicate is, to me, a mind-blowing construct that is much like the internet in the way it has taken off and exploded with infinite possibilities. Using 44 phonetic sounds, we have found immeasurable ways to combine them and create a voice to things expressed: thoughts, emotions, dreams, fears, information, warnings, love, colors, poetry, names.
While talking about language in Trumpey's lecture, the number 7,000 seemed incredible for the 195 (or so) countries in the world. But then I actually thought about it, and as I thought about dialects and isolated areas and tribes, that number in my mind had gotten much smaller. What does language reflect about its speakers? It shows what's important in the culture, what's valued, what kind of thinkers they are, what foods and animals are special, the religious and philosophical thoughts of the people, etc. Understanding the overlaps in different languages is, I think, a critical experience in realizing much of the inherent similarities between people all over the world. We share so many hardships, so many struggles, and likewise as many moments of pure joy and satisfaction. In Culture Jam, for example, Lasn refers to a Buddhist term 'satori' that was described as a 'peak experience.' What words are similar to that? Epiphany? Enlightenment? Nirvana? This is the lingual diversity that allows so many people to simultaneously understand a concept or feeling.
According to an online article "The Importance of Language," scholar Benjamin Whorf has noted that language shapes thoughts and emotions, determining one’s perception of reality. If it does in fact help shape our perception of reality, then diversity is absolutely necessary to the perpetuation of that perception! Losing a language every month is a terrifying reality to be faced with, and I find myself (as a particularly language-smitten individual) with an urge to find any means to stop this linguistic extinction. To me, this is just as important as biodiversity! We must have variation in our languages; otherwise, we are faced with a world of like speakers, and therefore like-thinkers and do-ers. And that's a scary thought.
It's interesting to see even how the English language has been shaped in the last few centuries.
American-English has now become so estranged from its mother tongue that, due to the culture of its speakers, carries many new words not spoken in the British isles.
Interestingly though, due to the influence of the United States over the course of these last fifty or so years we notice an Americanization of other languages to some degree.
Part of it is practicality. English at times offers a simpler, less complex way of saying something—thus its title of a 'peasant language.' But also, English has become a middle ground for communication.
If one person speaks German and another French, they may not understand the native tongue of one another but can scrape by in English. So certainly, modes of communication plays into it.
Complexity, though, plays the largest role in the destruction of a language. Modern languages have been forced to simplify their structures over time. A good example of this are the Dutch, who unified their male and female gendered articles in the early 1900s to a 'common gender.' So they now have neuter and common gender, as opposed to masculine, feminine and neuter.
Those that fail to adapt find themselves by the wayside. Welsh illustrates this beautifully. In Wales, only about 14% of the country actually speaks Welsh, despite it having duality with English.
As the popularity of a language declines, so too does its culture as it is absorbed into a majority.
I think that there is a fine line between maintaining cultures, and wanting to experience them. So many people want to travel to foreign countries to experience new cultures so that they can be enriched by what they found. However I believe this need for other cultures is the same reason they are disappearing. If you travel to a foreign place you are absorbing some of their customs, unfortunately you are also leaving an imprint of your own culture on to them people there. While this is not a terrible thing for one person, the actual impact of this is multiplied by millions of people each year. If everyone gives and takes a bit of their culture then each culture becomes a little less unique, and a little more like the cultures around it. I don’t think there is way for us to preserve the small tribal cultures that are so different than us just because there is a need shared by both of us to connect to each other.
As for languages I think the same is applicable, especially when viewed from the world vs. the U.S. Today if you want to visit another country you can. It no longer matters if you don’t know their language. Why? Because they no yours. I have experienced this many times in foreign countries when I have spoken in English to a native citizen because it is easier for us to understand each other. Even when English-speaking countries are not the visitors or the hosts, it is usually easier for people to speak in English than try to communicate with their own languages.
When I heard the dying language statistics in lecture, I found it hard to comprehend what I was hearing. It struck me so deeply, especially how that translates to about one native language dying out each month. There is a part of me that just finds that appalling. I suppose I may be coming from a slightly different perspective. My school K-5 was a Spanish immersion program that taught Spanish and various Hispanic cultures so that kids would come out bilingual and with an appreciation for another culture. I also have close friends who only speak a language other than English to their families. Currently, I am volunteering at Whashtenaw Literacy where free classes and conversation groups are held to help people of all ages and ethnicities learn English. I work with a group primarily from China and there is a huge language barrier and they know very little English, but it is fantastic to watch as they translate into Chinese for each other and see their faces light up as they begin to comprehend. It has been an amazing opportunity to help communicate objects and ideas through my drawing abilities, a sort of common mode of communication. While I think it’s fantastic that they are learning English for free at Washtenaw Literacy in order to pass citizenship tests, I would never want their native language to be lost. It is wonderful to hear them speak to each other and see them draw out beautiful, intricate characters that represent each word. Seeing this on a weekly basis made me think of how language has evolved over the centuries.
Originally language was primarily based on sound communication and often drawing. Learning to read and write became a privilege and a scholarly thing to do. I can’t help but admire language that is symbol based as opposed to alphabet based because I think it is a much more artistic way of communication. I believe native languages in their original form are so varied and unique and artistic and I absolutely love that! It deeply saddens me to watch such a loss in diversity weather it be culture, language, architecture, etc. I think part of the problem is the idea of standardization. We try to standardize the world for sake of efficiency and “equality.” Of course there are benefits but there are also large repercussions. Alphabets are a good representation of standardization. Thanks to alphabets, many languages can now use the same set of letters, just arranged differently and with occasional symbols to indicate pronunciation stress. Compared side by side, we can begin to see similar combinations and decipher another language. Our programs can recreate another language easily; people can better learn the language. This does make sense, but in doing this we lose the unique combinations that existed among tribes and cultures before. I was rather surprised when a good friend told me that Vietnamese used to be a language of symbols but the French came and created an alphabet and now you would be hard pressed to find someone who still knew the characters that once constituted their language.
Across my education, this made me think back to reading the journals of Christopher Columbus in my Spanish class this semester. The idea of colonialism was one of superiority. The people felt they should be able to go to another country, settle their land, take its natural resources, and exploit the people because they considered themselves more civilized. They construed it as helping civilize the indigenous people with their clearly better religion and language. They didn’t bother to learn the language - they often just imposed their own. This disregard I believe led to many losses in culture. Yet it does bring up a difficult issue. We want to communicate, but in learning ways to communicate, there seems to be this tendency to give in and just go with a convenient language. This language seems to have become English. In many ways America has this imposing sort of power. We outsource to other countries, we travel and are tourists in their cities, we control many things and have spending power so many countries have begun to learn English. It’s quite unfortunate. Convenient, for sure, but sad in many ways. Other countries learn English, but we can’t seem to do the same. We may study a foreign language for a few years, but most people know they can rely on English to get them through most situations. Like some of my peers have said, study abroad can now happen even if you don’t know the language. It seems to have become a default, another standard. Sure communication is vastly important, but how sad would it be to move towards a universal language?
There is something so rich about language, something so personal and deeply ingrained and I think we lose that as we try to standardize. People come to America and learn English because they often have to in order to get by. They don’t have time to make sure their kids grow up bilingual, so many kids start speaking English and know very little of their native language. Languages get mixed together and altered until the original version becomes a thing of the past. Perhaps that’s just the natural process of things as we become a multicultural nation, but I still find it unfortunate and a bit ignorant on our part. The whole world shouldn’t have to adapt to our language. We are certainly not repaying the favor. And the idea of losing a native language a month! Maybe that doesn’t hit home for a small tribal dialect, but what if a major language was one to go? What if that language was French, or Italian, or Japanese? Of course that threat may not be in the immediate future because those languages happen to be very popular, but if we do keep moving towards a standard universal language, it certainly could happen. I truly believe that is something we should try to stop in any way we can, because people should not have to give up an essential part of their heritage and culture for “convenience’s sake.”
I find it hard not morn over a over the death of a language, mainly because that language could not have been developed with out the culture behind it. There for the death of a language is in many ways the death of a culture. What would it mean to have an expansion of global culture? Would the isolation and preservation of cultures solve the problems of a global culture? I would find it impossible to return to a society based in isolation and exclusivity. However I believe the benefits of cultural diversity are similar to those of biodiversity and are necessary to evolve as Homo sapiens.
I am interested to see what happens to Europe in the next few decades and how they hope to preserve their each individual cultures and languages, while hoping to grain economic political strength through the European union. Already in our life time we have seen the creation of a continental currency, will see the creation of a more powerful governing body? As well as a standardization of language?
As the technology to communicate expands, we frequently hear people say things like: “it’s a small world,” like it is such a great aspect of our cultures. Until recently I would have agreed with this idea, but while reading Culture Jam and as part of our lectures revolving around biodiversity, I began to see the ability to communicate so easily as another thing entirely. When I look closer at the ease with which I can touch base with my friends from Europe and my cousins from California, I started to realize that this is another mechanism that enhances the power of corporations and individuals that strive to make us all the same. It is frustrating to hear that more and more people want to be like Americans (especially as we begin to see many of the negative effects of our lifestyles) and realize this has a lot to do with out communication. It is sad to think that we may be influencing so many people to become like ourselves and that we may be loosing cultures and languages that are a testament to amazing lifestyles that avoid problems for our earth.
On a far smaller scale, it is sad for me to see what communication can do between smaller groups. For instance, my 8th and 9th grade cousins spend hours and hours on Facebook, creating the perfect image for themselves. These girls completely fit the description of American consumption. They know nothing but a life of things and big houses and fake people, and they spend their days making sure their friends know exactly how much they have by dressing a certain way and maintaining this image through texting, facebook and whatever other means of communication they have at their fingertips via ipone. To me, this is a huge process that shrinks the ability to think for ourselves. While they may be young, learning and lifestyles start from an early age and these girls teach each other just what to wear and what to care about thus beginning to take away many options from all of us, and giving that much more power to certain corporations and lifestyles. So, while it’s awesome that I can communicate daily with my friend from Germany, I also become wary of what it means when people say “it’s a small world.” Does this mean we all eventually become the same?
Kelsey Sovereign
Language is so interesting and I had no idea there were so many. It's sad to hear so many have been lost because language is a large part of culture. If the language dies off, the culture surely will too. Cultures teach us a lot and learning about different people and their lifestyles is very interesting.
It is a plus that people are more connected with each other though. Communication is costantly improving, which is very important. Especially concerning global issues, interaction among everyone across the globe is important. Language diversity dies, as communication improves. If everyone spoke one language, we would be able to connect with each other easily and efficiently.
However, people would gradually become the same if this happned. We would all form into one culture. And the differences among us all are what makes people and places interesting. The holidays, food, music, religion, practices, and language should all be appreciated more. I don't pay attention to other cutures much, as i am consumed in my own life. But i have learned more and more about the rest of the world, and I want to learn more. We can learn so much from different cutures and the difference among us all is something to enjoy. We need to save these languages and cultures to keep the originality across the globe, and prevent us all from turning into the same person, speaking, living, and believing in the same way.
It is very sad to me that there is such a large number of languages being lost and that even so much as once a month a language vanishes and ceases to be spoken or written. Language is a huge part of culture and tradition and when that part of a community is lost, a lot more is lost along with it. I know for me, my heritage consists of being an American with Mexican roots as well as Jewish roots, and along with all of those cultures comes three different languages, all of which I speak to some extent and wish to continue to learn and improve on. Being able to speak different languages makes for a deeper connection to that community you are immersing yourself within. Along with language comes oral traditions passed down from generation to generation, and certain phrases or words or which may not be able to be translated into a different language and still mean the same thing.
While I think it is important to be able to learn from other cultures and for everyone to be able to communicate with one another, I do not think that should be accomplished by the loss of languages. I think people could learn to communicate with others or learn more than one language while still keeping their own language, which has been grounded in their roots and culture over many generations. I think it would be an absolutely terrible thing if we as a country or world ultimately lose diversity with the continued loss of languages.
I tend to go back and forth with the language issue. It seems that communication is important, and that if everyone spoke the same language it would be a lot easier. The problem with that is there will be no diversity. What makes traveling so interesting, or meeting people from a different background is the language and their culture.
I am always fascinated by people who speak multiple languages. It saddens me that at one point in my life I was bilingual but can no longer say that. I have lost my Spanish roots. The language issue is something that hits close to home with me. My grandmother speaks six different languages and learned three of them in six months. She was forced to learn three languages so she could communicate with my grandfather, but in the end it has benefited her. My family is part Chaldean, and Chaldeans speak both Chaldean and Arabic. The problem is the language, Chaldean is considered a lost language. My grandparents generation is the last to actually speak it. It is rare to see someone my age or my parents age speaking Chaldean. It is something that I have tried to learn, but it is close to impossible for me to learn it. There are no books or classes that I can take. Instead I would have to learn from my grandparents.
I think that a diversity in language is extremely important. In the end it makes for a more interesting world. It would be easier if everyone spoke the same language, but it seems that it would be boring. There would be little diversity in the world, and there would not be a point to visit another country. Why would someone want to visit a place that was exactly like their home?
I think the topic of language is fascinating. While the number of traditional languages that are spoken world-wide is decreasing, what about the number of non-traditional languages? There are new communication methods being developed every day. New idioms, new dialects. So, while our population expands, and while the number of traditional languages decreases, the number of non-traditional languages increases. Interestingly, it can also be said that the decline in the number of traditional languages is due to the increase in the opportunity to communicate due to the spread of communication technologies. While at the same time, the greatest spikes in non-traditional languages are occurring around the technology itself. Have you ever seen that shirt "There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't"? In this situation, the saying is reference a culture of people who understand a similar, non-traditional language: in this case the language of computer binary. Here 10 actually means 2. There is also the advent of "chat-speak" of texting, of phrase contractions. So, while we are losing languages, we are also gaining them. At the end of the day, I believe that languages are a reflection of culture. The more cultures, the more languages. To this end, we can definitely propose that there are fewer languages because there are fewer cultures in the world. And for me, this is sad. The fewer cultures there are in the world, the fewer new places there are for us to explore.
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